Can you dig it?

In May this year, Roots Allotments arrived in Butterthwaite, a tiny hamlet in north Sheffield just east of Ecclesfield. The private allotment company had agreed to lease a field from the landowner, who had previously rented it out to a local farmer to graze his cows on. At 7am on May Day bank holiday, they began mowing the field, taking a meadow down to short grass. Then, three shipping containers arrived and were sighted near the top of the field off Loicher Lane. Finally, an almost two metre tall fence was installed around the perimeter of the field, held up with thick wooden fence posts. “I was sat in my office and everything started vibrating,” says Stuart Davidson, whose home on Butterthwaite Lane lies adjacent to the Roots site. Walking out, Stuart saw a “gigantic machine” hammering huge fence posts into the ground next to their house. “The whole house was shaking,” says Stuart’s wife Susan Davidson. “It was unbelievable.”

Later the same month, on Spring bank holiday, Roots returned for a second time to cut back the hedges at the edge of their new plot. Cutting back hedges is something that is regularly done by farmers, but should be avoided during nesting season, which runs from March 1st to August 31st. “They were literally hacking at the trees,” says Susan. “It was the most horrific sight — there were birds flying out.” She called the police to report it as a potential wildlife crime.

Relationships that get off to such difficult starts are often very difficult to repair. And so it has proved between Roots and the Davidsons. Ever since Roots came into their life, the couple have been at the forefront of the campaign to fight the firm’s plans in Butterthwaite. Speaking to me in the dining room of their sizable detached home, Stuart tells me he spoke to Christian Samuels, one of Roots’ three directors, during the summer. “He said: why are you so against us?’,” says Stuart. “I told him I’m not against allotments, I’m against the way your company operates because you're dishonest.” The company has since blocked Stuart from commenting on their Facebook site.

Seven months later Roots is up and running, and has about 70 members who use the site. But earlier this month Sheffield council refused them planning permission. If that sounds a bit strange to you then you’re not alone. Normally, planning permission is something sought before a development takes place, not after. But Roots believe they didn’t have to, citing legal precedent that converting farmers’ fields into allotments is allowed.