Welcome to the sad tale of the Lost Gardens of Westgate

This website was originally set up to recruit hemmed-in city folk for a community garden in Gloucester.

We were a group of allotment holders whose site had been closed when minor levels of contamination were discovered in the soil.

At the time we believed that the city council was sympathetic to our resolution to raise money, clean up the land and re-open the site; we just needed to show them that this was what people wanted.

Too late we realised that no matter how thorough our research, how good our arguments or how many people we signed up they weren't interested and we were powerless to do anything about this.

To allotment holders everywhere we say

• Check the status of your site; if it's temporary try to get it made official. It is now government policy to encourage this.
• If contamination is found insist on a proper risk assessment.
• Start campaigning immediately.

Or you too could lose the plot.

For an account of the whole sorry affair and some useful contacts read on.