Warsop allotments set to close as campaign launches to save them

The Town End Allotments, located off Askew Lane behind Mansfield Road, are scheduled to close after allotment holders were notified that the site would be returned to its owners – Warsop Estates – in November 2025.

A campaign has been launched to save the allotment site in response.

The demand for allotments nationally has surged in recent years, as The Guardian reported in October 2023 that the waiting list for allotments in England had doubled in 12 years.

The latest data, collected by independent researchers and backed by Greenpeace through freedom of information requests, reveals that there are currently at least 157,820 pending allotment applications in English local authorities.

This number has surged by 81 per cent from 12 years ago when the figure stood just under 87,000.

Allotment use has increased due to the rising cost of living with many families choosing to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

Local demand shows a similar story as Mansfield Council shared with your Chad current allotment figures, showing how there are at present just over 900 plot holders on council-run allotments with a waiting list of more than 1,300.

The Warsop Town End allotments are overseen by the Warsop Allotments and Leisure Gardeners Association (WALGA).

The allotment committee sent a letter to its members, seen by your Chad.

The document stated that a recent inspection by Fisher German on behalf of Warsop Estates found that the allotment site was not being used for gardening as intended.

The letter also states that due to a decline in allotment plots and the overturning of land to use as grazing, the allotment committee were requested to return the land to its owners on November 30, 2025.

The committee offered plot holders the chance to get in touch to assess the availability of other plots in the area and “sincerely apologised” for any inconvenience caused.

Some allotment members are unhappy with the decision and claim they were not consulted.

They have launched a campaign titled ‘Save Warsop Allotment Gardens’.

Ricky Hobson has been on the site for almost six years and frequently brings his children to the allotment to cultivate produce together and engage with the community.

He said: “We have chicken and ducks up here, with my tomatoes making real progress.

“If this was taken away, I would feel like moving.

“This a family project for me. A real sense of community.”

Long-standing member Martin Nicholson has been on the site for 20 years.

He said that allotments are a family tradition, as his son recently secured a plot to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Martin takes great pride in his flourishing fruit trees, which he said would be a “devastating” to lose.

Louise Graham, who shares a plot with her neighbour, said the allotment is her “mental health space”.

Chris and Nigel Coope, who have been living on Mansfield Road for three years and have had an allotment for two of those years, said the community response has been overwhelmingly positive with eight residents interested in becoming an allotment member.

Fisher German, acting on behalf of Warsop Estates, has been approached for a comment.