Farm Terrace team suffer High Court blow on allotments

Campaigners say they’re devastated after a High Court decision on the future of Farm Terrace condemned the allotments to a concrete grave. After 120 years of being a centrepiece in the local community, the green space between Vicarage Road and Watford General Hospital will become part of the new Watford Health Campus. Save Farm Terrace Allotments and leader Sara Jane Trebar had made their way to central London on October 21 along with their legal team as they continued their fight against Watford Borough Council (WBC). However, on November 2 the final judgement was announced by Mrs Justice Lang, and Sara immediately took to Twitter to say she was heartbroken about the result. She said: “Unfortunately I have some very bad news which is that the judge agreed with the government and the council and has agreed that the allotments and land can be disposed of. “Basically she’s given the green light for WBC, for Dorothy Thornhill, to concrete over the land for whatever purposes they want. “This is obviously heartbreaking for us, it’s been a long four year battle. It feels a bit like grief to honest with you.” Meanwhile, Watford Mayor Dorothy Thornhill wrote on Twitter: “High Court give go-ahead for Farm Terrace to be used for WGH expansion & Health Campus. Great news for our hospital & our town!” Plot holders from all over the country came to support the Farm Terrace group due to the importance of the case. If they had won, allotments would have had greater protection. Sara promised to continue fighting despite the result. She said: “We are not the owners of our plots, we are simply custodians. But we will not stand back and let allotments be consigned to the history books.” Hear more about this story and other community news in the November edition of MyWatfordNews, which will be distributed on November 11.