Mudchute Farm under threat

The following story came in Jim Waterson's London Centric this morning. No, it's no local, but I'm reposting it since this is a worthy cause 

London city farm fights council for future

A city farm that allows London children to visit sheep close to Canary Wharf’s skyscrapers has warned that its future is uncertain after a local council declined to renew its long lease. Mudchute City Farm has launched a £75k appeal to sue Tower Hamlets council, the landlord for their site near Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs, over its decision not to renew the charity’s previous 20-year lease for the site, which ended last year. Instead, the council has offered a shorter lease and asked the farm to pay rent for the first time in its 50-year history.

The farm has been seeking to secure its long-term future on the site for many years. In 2019, the council – then run by Labour mayor John Biggs – approved a plan to grant the charity a proposed 99-year lease on a peppercorn rent but this never materialised. Current mayor Lutfur Rahman, who belongs to the Aspire party, succeeded Biggs in May 2022 following a series of brutal political and legal battles.

The farm is seeking to raise £75,000 to fund its legal challenge. When asked by London Centric about the high figure, it attributed this to fees for solicitors, who it has worked with during multiple years of lease negotiations, a surveyor, and the cost of hiring barristers for future court action.

A council spokesperson said that despite council policy “for shorter term leases, we have proposed an extended lease length”, emphasising that negotiations for “a new lease that will benefit the community” were ongoing.

Support the farm's campaign here.