What's all the fuss about?

The Town Ham was an allotment site just across the river from the city of Gloucester.

Back in the 30s it was a busy place full of people from the Victorian terraces nearby or the mediaeval tenements across the bridge, but since the Westgate slums were cleared in the 60s the number of plotholders had dwindled.

It was pretty much forgotten about until April 2004 when there was a little influx of new gardeners. One of them was concerned when he dug up an oil drum on his plot. Everyone else knew the place was a rubbish dump in the early years of the previous century; that was the reason it didn't flood like everywhere around it. Anyway, he thought he'd struck crude and phoned the council to ask for the soil to be tested.

Next thing there were signs on the gate saying the allotment was closed. As it was now May and the busiest gardening period of the year most people took no notice. We thought if there was some contamination we'd sign a disclaimer saying we didn't mind. We all got so much out of our allotments; exercise, fresh air, great food, social drinking around the sheds; we weren't going to stop because of a few chemicals.

Then the council wrote to us saying that they were closing the site and giving us plots elsewhere. Levels of lead, arsenic, benzo-a-pyrene and nickel were above EU guidelines but there was 'no significant risk' to our health. They invited everyone to a meeting at the council offices; we went with a lot of research and alternatives to closure but these were ignored. Although the site had been in use since the 30s it had never been officially adopted so the council could do what it liked.

We were, however, told we could look for funds to clean the site up and reassured that the council wanted to work with us to re-open it if we were successful.

For the next two months we waited for the soil test results for the new plot; we weren't going to start digging until we knew our tenure was secure. In the meantime we chased up potential funders, we started a recruitment drive to convince them and the council that there was a demand for allotments in the city and signed up thirty new members. We did research into how other councils had kept similarly contaminated sites open and found out through our MP that central government money was available to clean up the soil. We started to feel quite optimistic.

The contractors rang us at the end of July saying our new plot was ready. The following day the council wrote to us asking why we hadn't moved our plants from the Ham and threatening to cut off our - possibly contaminated - water supply.Finally they sent us the soil test results (mysteriously delayed for a month) and said the Town Ham wasn't eligible for government money because they'd closed it.

At this point we realised we were wasting our time.

Rather belatedly they offered us blood tests. It transpired that even Mr Shakes, who's been eating Ham-grown veg since 1986, has perfectly normal stuff in his veins. By now it was August and our little community had dispersed to different sites or given up altogether.

Somehow the whole episode seems symptomatic of what's happened to Gloucester - and most other cities - in the past. Things which made them uniquely liveable were destroyed because nobody valued them, so now everybody really wants to live in the country. Lucky Gloucester, to have the countryside so close to the city centre. Unlucky Gloucester to miss the opportunity to create an urban Eden because no-one could be bothered.