Town hall being urged to use proceeds to improve the area

Brent Council has been urged to use an expected £1million boost to their coffers from the sale of an allotment in Sudbury to make improvements to the area rather than spending it elsewhere.

The council are due to pass through a report at the upcoming executive meeting which will see the derelict Elms Court Gardens allotments in Sudbury sold off.

Council officers are recommending that the allotment site, abandoned more than 10 years ago is split to two with one half is due to be leased to a residents group and the other half to be sold off.

It is estimated the sale will bring close to £1m into the cash-strapped council’s coffers with some funds going towards new housing on the site.

However, the council is considering spending around £250,000 of the windfall on new allotments in Gladstone Park a move that has been criticised by the opposition.

Cllr Paul Lorber, leader of the Liberal Democrats and a Sudbury ward councillor said the funds should be spent on much needed improvements to the area.

He told the Times: “It would be extremely unfair if Labour Councillors repeated this unfair action.

“It is only just that money raised from sale of allotment land in Sudbury is substantially used to improve facilities in the Sudbury area this time”.

Cllr Lorber claims the council previously used a similar windfall from the sale of the WASPS Rugby Ground on the Sports Centre in Willesden rather than Vale Farm.

Among the improvements the funds could be spent on include; Improvements, for the 16 flats for the elderly in Elms Gardens, improvements to Barham Park, home of the former library and investment in Vale Farm Sports Centre in Watford Road, which will need substantial funding for its eventual replacement.

A Brent Council spokesman said: “We are required to provide replacement allotments, the most suitable site we’ve been able to identify is adjacent to Gladstone Park. This proposal also benefits Sudbury by bringing part of a disused and overgrown allotment back into use as a community garden.”