ONE bit of British demand that has surged despite the wider slump is an appetite for garden allotments. A hobby once derided as fustian has become fashionable. Raw economics play a part: fruit and vegetable prices are up 30% since 2008, while overall inflation was 13% and wage rises much lower.
Allotments have changed since they began as relief for the poor. Under a 1908 law local authorities must seek a plot of land for cultivation if six or more people petition for one. During the second world war the number of plots rose to 1.4m as Britons followed the government’s encouragement to dig for victory. When the war ended however, allotment demand declined. As incomes rose, most Britons chose to spend their free time indoors. Now there are only around 300,000 left.
Still, allotments are cheap—rents are usually around £40 ($65) a year—with the scarce land rationed using queues. The waiting list is equivalent to half the allotments in England, but supply of new plots is inflexible. Only 1,950 new strips of land have been set up by councils in the past two years. They are expensive to develop—a typical one costs £2,000.
An obvious solution to the supply-and-demand problem is to create a market. Allowing rents to rise, reflecting scarcity, would get rid of uncommitted gardeners. Higher revenues would spur investment too: councils would have an incentive to protect allotments from developers. Private landowners might be drawn in as well.
But allowing wealthy gardeners to queue-barge would run against the spirit and history of the allotment movement. Research by the late Elinor Ostrom, a Nobel laureate, suggests an alternative. Ostrom’s work shows how common resources can be sensibly managed without using prices. Often a group sets rules to safeguard the resource; they then take turns to monitor behaviour and punish those who flout the club’s rules. Fishermen in Massachusetts use a similar system to help ensure local lobster stocks are not depleted.
Something like Ostrom’s solution is happening already in some places. The conservative-run Barnet Council in north London is now signing leases with societies rather than tenants. The council provides advice on finance and law; groups then manage the land, sharing maintenance. Entrepreneurial outfits could charge a fee, using the proceeds to invest in new plots. Allotments started out as a way to hand land to Britons. Handing control over to those who run them might be the best garden path to growth.