The History of Millfield Allotments:
The allotment gardens at Millfield, Faversham, have a long and varied history dating back to the mid 1900s, originally occupying a larger area to the North of Whitstable Road. The form that Millfield Allotments takes in the present day is a result of several planning and housing decisions made since the Second World War, with the current site being established in 1946.
━━━━ October 1944 ━━━━
The Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act was passed authorising the Government to spend up to £150,000,000 on the provision of temporary houses. This was known as the Temporary Housing Programme. The then Faversham Borough Council were offered, and accepted, fifty temporary houses as part of the programme.
━━━━ February 1945 ━━━━
Proposals for the siting of the temporary housing include the erection of twenty houses in Lower Road, with the remaining thirty being sited at Millfield.
━━━━ March 1945 ━━━━
At the beginning of March 1945 the proposals changed following a meeting of the Housing Committee, where the Town Clerk suggested that an application be made to the Minister of Health to site all fifty houses at Millfield on twenty-nine acres, two roods and thirty-nine perches of largely arable land currently owned by The Right Honourable Earl Sondes. This was due to issues with the electrical supply in Lower Road, and the lower capital expenditure involved in building on a single site.
A site plan was submitted by the Borough Surveyor, Mr A. C. E. Richardson, which proposed the use of some land currently occupied by allotment gardens at Millfield. It was appreciated that by this time allottees had started to work their plots by purchasing seeds and manure, and digging the earth, and that earlier notice of the change in proposals may have mitigated some of this expenditure by allotment holders.
The Faversham Borough Council adopted the Housing Committee’s recommendations to erect all of the houses at Millfield, and a Compulsory Purchase Order application was submitted. The Ministry of Health suggested a revision of the proposed layout so as to avoid using the part of the site that was currently in use as allotment gardens.
━━━━ 22nd March 1945 ━━━━
The Compulsory Purchase Order, known as the Faversham (Millfield) Compulsory Purchase Order 1944, was confirmed, and was published in the Faversham News and East Kent Journal the following day. Confirmation was also received from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of a second Compulsory Purchase Order, known as the Faversham (Millfield Allotments) Compulsory Purchase Order 1944, for the purchase of an additional five acres of land at Millfield for the provision of alternative allotments. These five acres make up the present-day Millfield Allotments site.
━━━━ 8th June 1945 ━━━━
The Town Clerk had received notice on behalf of Earl Sondes for compensation for the acquisition of the land for use as housing at Millfield to the sum of £4,462. An additional notice for compensation was also made in regard of the land proposed to be used for allotment gardening, to the value of £778.
━━━━ July 1945 ━━━━
In July 1945 works began to prepare the Millfield site for the completion of groundworks, and the construction officially begun.
━━━ 9th November 1945 ━━━
The Borough Surveyor had received several claims for compensation from allottees whose allotments had been replaced with roads and sewer works. It was decided that these claims would be heard at a future meeting as it was likely further claims would arise throughout the works. A submission was also made showing where the new land on the Millfield site would be acquired for the purposes of the allotment siting, and to which any displaced allottees would be transferred if they so desired.
━━━ 18th December 1945 ━━━
By the 18th December 1945, sewer-laying and construction of roads had been ongoing for twenty-two weeks, and progress was good. The sewer works were practically complete, and 3,120 feet of kerbing and carriageway shaping had been accomplished.
━━━━ January 1946 ━━━━
After months of failed negotiations between the District Valuer and agents acting on behalf of the Earl Sondes as to the value to be paid by Faversham Borough Council for the Millfield housing and allotment site, the Council made an unconditional offer of £2,600, comprising £2,350 for the thirty-four acres, three roods and twenty-nine perches proposed for housing, and £250 for the five acres, nought roods and thirty perches for allotment gardening. The offer was not accepted by Earl Sondes, and so the matter was heard by arbitrators on the 6th February 1946.
━━━━ 20th June 1946 ━━━━
Allotment gardens on the Millfield estate are formally acquired and designated as allotments gardens under the Small Holdings and Allotments Acts 1908 to 1931, and the Allotments Acts 1922 and 1925. This has been the home of Millfield Allotments ever since.
━━━━ July 1946 ━━━━
Work on the housing at Millfield began in July 1946. Owing to labour shortages, German prisoners of war were employed as labour to assist with the construction. Thirty prisoners were employed on the site.
━━━━ August 1962 ━━━━
Faversham Town Council Housing Committee conduct a vote to determine whether to replace the Millfield temporary houses with bungalows or houses, voting in favour of permanent houses.
━━━━ 1st April 1974 ━━━━
Following local government reorganisation in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, Faversham Borough Council became Faversham Town Council. The newly formed Swale Borough Council took control of allotment gardens at Millfield as well as a number of other properties and services.
Without their own self-management association, the allotment gardens at Millfield are managed by the Stonebridge Allotments Society.
━━━━ 15th August 2001 ━━━━
Following years of neglect and a recent spate of vandalism on the site resulting in a number of sheds being burned to the ground, a small group of plot holders began to come up with ways to turn the site around. Inspiration came from Ospringe Allotments' Manager Alan Gidlow, who had completely turned the allotment site on Water Lane around.
━━━━ October 2000 ━━━━
By October 2000, the more than sixty-two plots at the allotments at Millfield had become neglected and overgrown, with little cultivation occurring on the plots.
A meeting was arranged for the 15th August 2001 at The Market Inn, Faversham, with the intention of separating from Stonebridge Allotments Society to self-manage the site. Millfield Allotments Association was formed, with elected Association representatives being Sandra Todd (Chairperson), Matt Care (Secretary), and Carol Bullen (Treasurer).
Both Swale Borough Council and Stonebridge Allotments Society were informed of the Association's intention, and agreed to the self-management scheme.
The Millfield Allotments Association established a three phase plan of action to rejuvenate the site.
━━━ Autumn / Winter 2001 ━━━
A work party of volunteers met every fortnight and worked hard to clear the site of debris and weeds, prune overgrown trees, form parking areas, tidy existing plots and create new ones, and incorporate wildlife areas and a picnic area.
━━━━ 21st April 2002 ━━━━
Millfield Allotments Association hold their first Annual Open Day and Scarecrow Competition, giving members of the local community the opportunity to look around the site, raising awareness of the achievements made, and developing new interest in plots. The Scarecrow Competition sees entrants into three categories, including Little Kids, Big Kids and Adults. The competition was judged by Councillor Joan Tovey.
━━━ 5th November 2002 ━━━
Millfield Allotments Association hold their first Annual Bonfire Night, with many plot holders and their families attending.
━━━ 19th November 2002 ━━━
Millfield Allotments Association hold their first Annual General Meeting
━━━━ 28th May 2004 ━━━━
Millfield Allotments Association formally undertake the management of the allotment site in an agreement with Swale Borough Council.
And the rest is history!