HC Deb 28 July 1949 vol 467 c2654
51. Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he will arrange for allotment holders in Brock-well Park, Lambeth, to continue the cultivation of their allotments.

Mr. T. Williams

Early this year the London County Council proposed that a large proportion of the temporary allotment sites in their parks should be released after the present season and, notwithstanding our food difficulties, I felt that their claims for the early restoration of the land for sports and general recreational purposes could no longer be rigidly denied. I was, however, able to arrange that only half the total acreage under allotments should be released at the end of the year, the first to go being in the more congested areas and that the remainder should continue in cultivation for the present. The selection of the land for early release has been left to the Council and, in the circumstances, I should not feel justified in intervening in the case of Brockwell Park.

Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

Does my right hon. Friend satisfy himself in all such cases that the recreational facilities are being so seriously prejudiced as to outweigh the need for growing more food?

Mr. Williams

I can assure my hon. and gallant Friend that I am constantly fighting a rearguard action, my partiality being always in favour of food production.