Jeremy Corbyn has attacked his former Labour colleague Angela Rayner for signing off the sale of land at eight allotment sites since the general election.
Allotments are small, rented plots of land where residents can grow their own fruit and vegetables, and are protected from development or sale under the Allotment Act 1925, except with ministerial sign-off.
A government spokesperson said strict criteria were in place for allotment sales, which should only be made where they are “clearly necessary”.
Writing in the Telegraph, keen allotmenteer Corbyn extolled the “joy of digging ground for potatoes” and warned that sales made “the future of these precious spaces even more perilous”.
The former Labour party leader, who has recently launched an as-yet-unnamed rival party, has regularly talked about his love of growing crops at his north London plot, where his favourite vegetable is the marrow.
In his letter to the Telegraph, the Islington North MP sets out the history behind the allotment, which started when landowners enclosed common land in the Middle Ages.
The right to access common land for growing and grazing was a key demand of the Diggers during the English Civil War, Corbyn says, claiming the Enclosure Acts were “one of the most grotesque abuses of power by Parliament”.
Losing access to land led to the rural poor “facing starvation” and being “forced to migrate to industrial cities” like Birmingham, he writes, adding “allotments, then, grew out of opposition to enclosures and the privatisation of common land”.
Figures from the National Allotment Association suggests allotments are still vital for many people today, with one-in-eight of the UK population having no access to a garden, rising to one-in-five in London.
About 100,000 are currently on waiting lists for allotments, some waiting decades for a plot.
Rayner’s decision to give permission for eight allotments to be sold by councils was revealed in a parliamentary answer last month, including sites in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Kent, Hertfordshire and West Sussex.
Developers plan to build new homes on sites that are currently community allotments in Derbyshire, Somerset and West Sussex.
“Of course, social housing is desperately needed, but we need not sacrifice these vital green spaces to build it,” says Corbyn in his letter.
“We can build on ex-industrial land and take over empty properties. Even then, we should ensure social housing is accompanied by community gardens and adequate growing space.
“Is this government going to put the nail in the coffin of the joy of digging ground for potatoes on a cold, wet February Sunday afternoon?
“The battle for the grass roots is on!”
Angela Rayner’s Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has been contacted for information on how many allotments have been disposed of in previous years.
A spokesman said that councils should only sell off allotments “where it is clearly necessary and offers value for money”.
He added: “We know how important allotments are for communities, and that is why strict criteria is in place to protect them, as well as school playing fields.”
But the Conservatives said the policy was “a kick in the teeth to local people who don’t have access to their own gardens” and called for the government to do more to protect green spaces.