Best Site Competition
The Best Site in Birmingham competition features the name of Professor Harry Thorpe who was responsible for the national Thorpe enquiry and report on the provision of allotments published in 1969. At that time there were 9000 plots in Birmingham rather than around 7200 as now, and the Committee he chaired advocated a complete ‘facelift’ of what he called ‘horticultural slums’. His vision was to turn allotment sites into ‘Leisure Gardens’ which would appeal to the many flat-dwellers who wanted a garden according to his research.
Are you on a site with a classic green pavilion?
If so, you are one of the beneficiaries of his efforts to change things in Birmingham, but the money did not stretch to providing such a facility on every city site.
Today’s allotment is a very different place to what it was in 1969 when Thorpe was active, and many of us have invested a lot of money as well as time in upgrading our sites as well as plots. We can also now celebrate a much more diverse range of gardening traditions and crops grown by tenants originating in many parts of the world – from SE Asia to Eastern Europe and the Caribbean to Eire. Every site has a different story to tell, and it’s not just the born and bred Brummies whose allotment memories stretch back decades.
What do judges hope to see in judging a Best Site?
The judges will be focusing on many of the concerns of today that impact allotments – the impact of climate change and the need for people from different communities to meet, to share the passion they have for growing and to co-operate over a common interest.
They will hope to see:
- A welcoming, tidy and pleasing visual appearance showing good maintenance, presentation and management of communal areas, creativity and innovation in maintaining the site and overcoming site difficulties such as access or security problems.
- Evidence of public and community engagement – signs that the Association on the site welcomes and involves local people and other partners in maintenance and development of the site.
- Evidence that the site and its plotholders are engaged in environmental activities such as heritage or water conservation, composting and recycling, creating or maintaining green space and sharing knowledge and skills and understanding of different gardening practices.
If this list seems way beyond where you are at as a site at the moment, it’s still worth entering.
Why is it still worth entering?
- Everyone’s a winner if people on your site see this as a prompt to make improvements that will benefit all your members.
- There will be Gold, Silver-gilt, Silver and Bronze awards which can give you an idea of how your site compares with others.
Aspire to match the best in the city!
Entries can only be accepted on-line from the main site contact (or BDAC in the case of the 7 directly managed sites).
CLOSING DATE: 28th June 2026