BURNHAM Town Council has assured allotment owners that it is “fighting hard” to remain in control of the land.

In a statement at a council meeting on Tuesday, Burnham mayor Wendy Stamp told councillors and the public gallery that the council are fighting to ensure the council controls all of the allotment land on Arcadia Road.

The mayor stated two potential options were for Moat Housing to offer a 999 year lease to the council, or negotiate giving ownership of all the land back to the council.

However, she did not share details of possible lease agreements due to the fact that public discussion could be prejudicial to the public interest, as stated by the Public Bodies Act 1960.

Mrs Stamp’s statement follows the revelation in May that half of the allotment land, which was always assumed to be fully owned by the council, has been owned by Moat since 1995.

Land registry documents discovered by a history project showed half of the land had been given to the housing company by Maldon District Council as part of a Large Scale Voluntary Transfer of land.

The news caused concern amongst plot holders, with the allotment association calling on the town council to reaffirm their commitment to protecting them.

At the council meeting, Mrs Stamp said: “Councillor Mr Elliott, councillor Bob Calver and I met with representatives of Moat Housing on May 15.

“We were due to receive an email from them before this meeting which would allow us to report back, but this has not arrived.

“Negotiating a 999 year lease is not as simple as it sounds. We at the town council can’t discuss any lease matters with the public by law.

“Please don’t think we are trying to hide anything, but we just can’t discuss it.

“They [Moat] have not come back to us on the second issue, which could involve giving all land back to us; at the moment we are unclear what Moat’s position is.

“We are not being un-transparent, we’re saying what we can whilst awaiting a response from Moat.”

Peter Elliott said: “We made it quite clear we wanted our allotments back.

"It is our land and it should never have been transferred in the first place.”

Nick Skeens said: “There has been all sorts of fears and concerns that it was a plot to get the land sold off for profit. That will never happen.

“The allotments are such a wonderful example of community life and people working the land is part of the wider community. The council would be insane to consider such a possibility of selling it off.”