Allotments in Brandon bought back to life thanks to compost created by green waste

Allotments in Brandon have benefited from the compost created by the county’s green waste and given freely as part of FCC Environment’s community outreach.

The allotments are on land gifted to Brandon and put to use with a newly renovated sports centre, football fields, a bowls green and fish ponds. The allotment site is adjacent to the Little Ouse River.

In December, the exceptionally high rainfall together with the need to manage the river levels on the Little Ouse caused inundations of water in both Thetford and Brandon.

Allen Coulson, the secretary of Brandon Allotments Association, said: “The allotments were inundated with water over the Christmas period, flooding of the River Ouse was over a foot of water. That is just one of the ‘benefits’ of a riverside location.

“Normally our water level is fairly close to the surface of the plots – but now with the works on the staunch and the current river management, about half of each plot is saturated and is no use for growing.

“We appealed for an amount of compost/soil improver to both improve the nutrient value of the soil and bulk out/dry out some of the saturated areas.”

The water completely flooded the allotment site to a depth of up to 30cm and with the river being high, did not drain for over a week. The water table is inches below the surface of the plots and most plots have various levels meaning that half of each plot has been unviable. In addition the nutrient content of the wet soil has degraded.

Compost delivered to the Brandon allotments.

The allotment Association appealed to FCC Environment for help and 10 tonnes of compost have been delivered and used to allow planting to continue.

Unfortunately extra rainfall in April once again flooded part of the allotments and FCC again helped with an extra 10 tonnes.

The allotment association have been delighted at this assistance, which has made a real difference and allowed planting to start in conditioned soil. There is also no doubt that some people would have given up, were it not for this response to the flooding emergencies, said Mr Coulson.

FCC Environment’s information and education manager for Suffolk, Sarah-Jane Clarke, who helped organise the compost delivery, said: “We were happy to help the Brandon Allotments. Places like these are a way for communities to come together and in this time of lockdown, have been good for people’s mental health and well-being. I am glad we were able to help, not once but twice, after the flooding’s.

FCC are contracted to manage Suffolk’s Recycling Centres on behalf of Suffolk County Council and is one of the UK’s leading recycling and waste management companies, providing a range of services, from collecting business and municipal waste to recycling and processing, and the generation of green energy from waste.