With demand for community growing spaces higher than ever, a private allotment company that’s been bedding in all over the UK has just opened its first Welsh site in Cardiff. But it hasn’t all been plain sailing for Roots Allotments, as co-founder Christian Samuel tells Jessica Fotheringham.
When Christian Samuel and his two friends, Ed Morrison and William Gay, went looking for an allotment in London in 2021, they were met with a 28-year waiting list. All three were 28 at the time, so they decided to build their own. Together, the businessman, the gardener and the farmer devised a business model that lets people rent allotments privately, supplying them with the tools, seeds, compost and online tutorials they need for a thriving patch.
Five years on, Roots Allotments has just over 6,500 members across the UK and a mission to get 250,000 people growing their own food by 2033. Its Cardiff site is at St Nicholas Meadows, two minutes from Culverhouse Cross, and has around 400 plots. It’s the company’s 21st location in the UK, and its first in Wales.
Samuel tells me there’s a clear desire for allotments and community gardens in Wales. “We’ve had lots of messages from people in Cardiff asking us to come,” he says. “Cardiff is actually the fastest-selling site we’ve ever had; most sites only sell 20% in the first month, but the Cardiff site is already at 70% capacity.”
This newest site is the first to include polytunnel patches, which allow growers to increase the variety of their crops and extend their growing season. Allotment sizes range from a small starter patch to larger group plots. The first allotments went on sale on the first day of October, and a launch party was scheduled for Sat 17, then pushed back to Sat 24: roadworks around the site delayed the delivery of compost, and the allotments were not yet ready.
Speaking of pushback, Roots Allotments has met with opposition over previous sites, notably Bristol’s Leigh Woods Meadows. Locals heavily protested against Roots’ site there, with the Guardian reporting claims that the company did not have the right planning permission for its shipping container tool sheds. Samuel counters that most councils do not require planning permission for a shipping container, do not want to penalise allotment sites for having a tool shed, and support the group’s work.
“People are generally very anti-change,” he says, “but my job here is to build allotments for local people, not to sympathise with people who don’t want allotments. I’m just trying to get people to grow their own food. The majority of residents across our sites don’t complain. The majority join.”
Roots, Samuel tells me, does not directly engage with residents neighbouring a site, though the process does involve speaking to a lot of farmers. “Farmers inherently want to make as much money as they can from their land, but Roots can’t afford a lot of rent. So it’s really difficult to get sites.” With this in mind, the process behind securing St Nicholas Meadows was easier than Samuel expected. “We came across this site and the landlord said, ‘I love what you do, and I’ve got some land if you want it,’ and we felt very comfortable that we could fill it.”
Councils, Samuel says, “have let people down” and it’s the positive feedback from growers and locals which keeps him going. “It means the world to people. They call it their second home and spend their entire summers out there. We’re trying to create incredible communities that have not just growing at heart, but the community at heart.” Samuel adds that each location has a site manager who ensures people attend events and help their neighbours, including a scheme that encourages allotment holders to water each other’s patches.
Roots offers local charities a free patch and lets them run workshops on site. It will also build an education area and partner with schools and has already given a free patch to a Cardiff Girlguiding group. “It’s what we’ve always done as part of our mission,” Samuel says; “it’s how we integrate ourselves into trying to get the local people growing their own food.”
Whilst Roots’ business model is charitable and supplies growers with everything they need for a small joining fee and monthly rent, Cardiff residents may notice that their starter allotments cost £24.99 a month, compared with £19.99 elsewhere in the UK. In addressing this, Samuel notes that due to the cost of living, worldwide inflation and the high fuel consumption involved in transporting compost and planting materials, allotment prices across the UK will soon be rising in general.
“We’ve never raised our prices since day one, and costs across the world have risen dramatically. We’re trying our very best to not raise prices for old customers, so that’s why they have to rise for new customers.” Although some growers might not be happy with these upcoming changes, Samuel says “it’s a bargain relative to what you get elsewhere in the world.”
Roots arrives at a pivotal time for community growing in Wales. After the Senedd elections in May, the new Welsh government set out a first phase of legislation that includes a community right to buy, giving community groups the first opportunity to purchase local assets. The criticism Roots’ private business model has attracted is unlikely to disappear entirely, but Samuel’s perspective is one of defiance.
“Nobody else is focusing on the issue to a point that they have capital behind them to solve the problem. It is not a cheap problem to solve. Roots is here to help: if anyone wants help on how to set up their own version of something like Roots, we will help them.”
The group has future aspirations to expand across Wales, and though Samuel says that Roots has led to a “love-hate relationship” with allotments, thanks to the sheer number of sites and people he has to manage, his goal hasn’t changed. “We’re making mistakes – and we’re learning from those mistakes.”
Roots Allotments opens on Sat 24 Oct.
Info: here
words JESSICA FOTHERINGHAM
