Allotment eviction ‘heartbreak’

Martin Harvey, his wife Ruby and son Liam have had an allotment in Laughton-en-le-Morthen for the last six years and have even been praised for the work they have done on the plot.

But now the family have been evicted from the allotment by the parish council because of an incident involving 20-year-old Liam.

Mr Harvey is hoping the parish council will overturn its decision and allow the family to keep their allotment.

Mr Harvey explained: “Liam had an altercation with another bloke at the allotment. None of that went any further.”

“Liam is 20 but he has the mental age of a 10-year-old - everyone knows that at the allotments.”

“We had a meeting to discuss Liam and explain what had happened. It was said it was going to the parish council meeting to decide the fate of Liam.”

“The next thing this letter arrives saying I have been evicted.”

Mr Harvey said the family visit the allotment twice a day to tend to their vegetables and look after their chickens. In the summer they spend most of the day there.

“It has saved us a lot of money because we grow our own vegetables,” said Mr Harvey, of Kingswood Avenue, Laughton-en-le-Morthen.

“It’s quite a close-knit community. Everybody helps each other.”

“If you have too many vegetables and you’re overflowing with them then you give them away to other allotment holders.”

Mr Harvey and his family are now facing up to the prospect of having to leave their allotment by 10th December.

Mr Harvey said he could accept if Liam was banned from the site, but can’t understand why the whole family has been punished.

He said: “At the end of the day it has nothing to do with me. I have done nothing wrong at the allotments.”

“At the beginning of the year we got a letter from the parish council praising us for the work we had done there.”

“The allotment is in my name. The meeting was all about Liam and their decision was to punish me.”

“I think they are out of order and shouldn’t be allowed to act like this.”

A spokesman for Laughton-en-le-Morthen Parish Council said: “The decision to evict Martin Harvey was made at a full parish council meeting on 9th November and the parish council has no further comments.”