South Yorkshire allotment users call for coronavirus clarification

As the UK enters its second full week of lockdown, residents have been told they can only leave the house for essential supplies, daily exercise, or for any medical need.

Government minister Michael Gove gave the clearest indication that tending to an allotment was allowed under the rules when interviewed on breakfast television on Monday.

But allotments users in South Yorkshire are still worried after police forces including Avon and Somerset Police stopped some from visiting their plots and local councils advised some to close.

Now, Mike Farrell from Rotherham is calling on the Government to issue a clarification, arguing that tending to an allotment should be as protected by the new legislation as walking or running.

He said: “My concern is that there is going to be a row because no one knows what the rules are. I want to know definitely that allotments are a legitimate form of exercise.

“Of course, for those allotments that have shared facilities or toilets they could close but by its nature it is a socially distanced activity and it is good for people’s wellbeing.”

Mike said that while he was happy that Michael Gove had said tending to an allotment did count as exercise, he was worried that he was just expressing an opinion, and that it had no legal force.

And he added that he had been down to his allotment this week - to set up some carrot fly nets - and would continue to do so until told otherwise.

“I remember that last time there were restrictions on movement back in 1984 during the miners’ strike,” he said.

“People would be off fishing and were told they couldn’t go because the police thought they were going picketing.”

South Yorkshire Police said they were following central Government guidance on how people could exercise while Sheffield Council all their sites were open.

On the Government coronavirus website there is no specific guidance on the use of allotments.