Cheeky bid to win back allotment
Wash Common resident asks council if he must "dig his potatoes and onions in the nude" in fight to get his allotment back
ONE Wash Common resident asked stunned Newbury town councillors whether he would have to “dig his potatoes and onions in the nude” in order to get his beloved allotment back.
Simon Kirby was evicted from his plot by the town council in 2012 after he complained that its notice period for rent increases was unlawful.
West Berkshire Council’s Trading Standards team upheld his complaint and agreed that the review term of the tenancy agreement was unfair.
However, his repeated attempts to “right an injustice” led to him being labelled a “vexatious complainant” by the town council and ended in a court case costing the taxpayer in the region of £10,000.
However, last week, after a sufficient amount of time had passed for him to no longer be considered a vexatious complainant, Mr Kirby said it was now time to try and get his plot back.
Giving an impassioned 10-minute presentation to Newbury Town Council, he said: “Declaring me to be a vexatious complainant for persisting in the face of the council’s obstinate refusal to engage with a legitimate complaint was humiliating and insulting, and designed to be so.”
He added: “It was unjust to disregard your own complaints process and forfeit my tenancy without ever considering my complaint, and once Trading Standards had upheld the complaint it was more vindictive still that you should evict me with a notice to quit.”
Following the presentation, council leader David Goff asked Mr Kirby whether he would be prepared to accept five different rules if it decided to offer him his allotment back.
Mr Kirby said he was more than happy to agree to four of them, but raised questions as to what extent he should “obey the site steward’s rules”.
He said: “What does that mean exactly? If they put up a sign on the gate saying that the path is muddy don’t drive on it, of course I won’t.
“If they are going to say to me, ‘Simon, you have to dig potatoes and onions in the nude’ then I’m not going to agree.
“I think everyone in Newbury would thank me for not agreeing to that.”
The council’s subsequent discussions about whether to offer Mr Kirby his allotment back were held in private as a part two confidential item, meaning the press and public were excluded from the meeting.
The council said it is in the process of writing to Mr Kirby informing him of its decision and that it could not confirm anything until that was done.
