In the 19th of a series of articles charting Cadent’s impact on Redbridge Lane West allotments, Sally Parker reports on the displaced plot holders who are still waiting to return five years on
Five years ago, in March 2021, plot holders at Redbridge Lane West allotments were given the upsetting news that gas company Cadent intended to take over the site to carry out upgrade works to the adjacent gas compound.
After a campaign and very well-supported petition (more than 4,000 signatures in two weeks), Cadent had to change their plans to use the whole allotment site and instead were granted permission to use a smaller part of the site. After a while, plot holders learnt the upgrade work included the replacement of the security fence surrounding the Cadent site. This work required a slice of allotment land to be taken and added to the gas compound permanently. We were told the planned work would take two years to complete, during which time nine plot holders would lose their plots. Boundary trees and habitats would be removed and the whole area stripped and concreted over to provide Cadent’s works compound.
Planning permission was eventually granted in December 2022, although nine directly affected plot holders had to vacate their plots earlier in summer 2022. The abandoned plots quickly became overgrown, but clearance work and tree felling did not start until October 2024, well over two years after plot holders had been forced out. Three-metre-high hoardings were erected in April 2025 prior to ‘construction activities’ starting.
Four of the nine plot holders who lost their plots were comparatively fortunate. They were offered vacant plots elsewhere on the site. Others decided to leave all together and others agreed to take a ‘two-year holiday’ as proposed by Cadent. That two-year break has become four years and the displaced plot holders are still waiting for news of when they will be able to return. Cadent’s online timeline has not been updated since February 2024. It says ‘landscaping and planting’ will take place between January and April 2026, although there has been no sign of this happening.
In February, we received our first communication from Cadent since last August (despite a promise of monthly updates). It said ‘the majority of work has been completed on site. However, we are still undergoing work at the allotments to ensure the safe running and reliability of the gas mains’. There is no information about a completion date.
If the restored allotment plots are not available this spring, it will mean the displaced plot holders will have lost five annual harvests. Cadent previously told us that March 2026 was the end of the regulatory period for the work to be completed. Condition 13 of the planning approval says the allotment land must be reinstated to its former condition ‘within 20 months of commencement of the construction’. Sadly, the way things are looking, this does not seem likely.
For more information on Cadent’s plans, visit wnstd.com/cadent
