Allotments deal ahead of eviction

The deal would see allotments holders stay for six months before vacating

Scores of people trying to keep 100-year-old allotments say they have been offered a deal to stay for six months if they then leave voluntarily.

Members of Haigside Allotment Society in Treherbert, Rhondda, face eviction next week if they reject the deal with the site's owners.

It is the third reprieve for those renting the land, including a riding school for children with disabilities.

Landowner Steven Evans's legal team have been asked for a comment.

But society treasurer John Evans said: "We've come to the end of our fight now and we can not see any other avenue for us."

Those renting land at Haigside, at the bottom of the Rhigos mountain, had feared the site would close in March after the landowner served eviction notices.

They were given a reprieve on animal welfare grounds as homing pigeons, livestock and riding school ponies are kept on the site, and a new date was set for next Friday.

'Legal document'

John Evans said they were given the offer of the six-month extension, on condition everyone agreed to vacate the land at the end of that period, during a three-hour meeting between society officials and landowner Mr Evans in Cardiff.

He said the face-to-face meeting had been "comfortable and professional".

John Evans said: "We're more than satisfied. It's very much better than being evicted next Friday.

"We can stay there until the end of the growing season and it will give us time to move to somewhere else.

The deal, which would see the group stay until mid-October, is to be discussed by a society meeting on Tuesday.

Mr Evans added: "It would become a legal document that we would have to commit to but at least this gives us time now to look more deeply to see if we can find different places."

He said about 80 people took part in activities on the four acre (1.6 hectare) allotments, including children using the riding school.

The society submitted a 3,600-name petition to Rhondda Cynon Taf Council calling on the local authority to protect the land.

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