A County Durham retiree claims she is being forced out of the allotment that she and her husband have tended to for decades.
Marjorie Sanders and her husband Malcolm, of Bearpark, County Durham, had been married for 52 years when Malcolm passed away during the Coronavirus pandemic on May 4 2020. For the last 42 years, they have had an allotment with Durham County Council, the second of which they have held for more than 30 years.
However, when Marjorie, 73, recently received a new agreement form for the allotment, she realised that she could not sign it as it was still in her late husband's name. Thinking it would be easy to transfer it into her own, she contacted the county council but was shocked to find out that they wouldn't change the agreement and instead gave her four weeks notice to vacate the plot on Stobbilee Farm in Langley Park, due to there being a waiting list for allotments.
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Marjorie told ChronicleLive: "I've been told I should have had my name in the contract, but we never thought about that 42 years ago. I never thought he would die, the contract is in my husband's name not mine and that's why the council are taking it away."
Since contacting the council, Chroniclelive has been told Marjorie can stay on the allotment until the authority investigates the current demand for plots at the site she has been tending.
The retired former care worker says that she and Malcolm always paid on time and stuck to the rules. Since Malcolm's death, she has tended to the polytunnels that the couple built from scratch, and still grows potatoes, carrots, cauliflowers, cabbages, sprouts and flowers.
Her son Darren, 52, also helps her out, and recently installed several new wooden posts after older ones were blown down in a storm earlier this year. Malcolm had planted an apple tree and a plum tree in the months before his death, and the latter has just flowered for the first time in more than three years.
Marjorie continued: "The allotment means everything to me because I still have part of my husband. When I go down there it's like we were still together."
"When Malcolm died, that was the only thing that kept me going. Going down to the allotment gave me something to get out of bed for and now that's being taken away."
Marjorie is not only upset at having her allotment taken away, but what she perceives to be a lack of compassion from the council. She finished: "I'm totally disgusted at the attitude I got from the council, the man I spoke to was so abrupt and rude, 42 years on the allotments meant nothing to him."
Ian Hoult, Durham County Council’s neighbourhood protection manager, said: “We would like to apologise to Mrs Sanders for any distress she has experienced, and we offer our deepest sympathies following the loss of her husband.
“It is always really difficult to balance the wishes of family members to inherit plots against the very high demand from residents who have applied to become a new holder. As such, our allotment policy has a co-worker system which allows a tenant to register a family member or friend who would be offered the opportunity to take on the plot. This would be if the holder is no longer able to maintain it or if the plot becomes available through the end of a tenancy, for example in the event of the tenant’s death. Unfortunately, Mr and Mrs Sanders did not register for the co-worker system and Mr Sanders was the sole tenant of this plot.
“We understand that following her husband’s death three years ago Mrs Sanders has continued to pay the bill and maintain the plot. We are happy for Mrs Sanders to remain on the plot while we review the availability and demand of plots at the site and will work with her regarding the tenancy once these enquiries are complete.”
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