Families fight back over cockerel ban on allotment after officials receive ONE noise complaint
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Cock-a-doodle-boo! Families fight back against rooster assignment ban after officials receive ONE complaint about the birds’ crowing
- One noise complaint has led to roosters being banned from allotments
- A 72-year-old law has been implemented after a change of ownership of allotments
- The Rotherham Allotment Alliance took over an allotment company in Yorkshire
- As a result, bird-loving gardeners formed a group called Cockerel Lives Matter
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Cockerels and their dawn choir have been a part of life on a Yorkshire allotment garden for decades.
But a new management regime and a 72-year-old law banning the noisy birds from the country’s allotments have left them all ignored.
The Rotherham Allotment Alliance (RAA) recently took control of the Avenue Road Allotments in Wath-upon-Dearne, South Yorkshire.
And it has decided to impose the dormant law to ban all roosters from the site – after receiving just a single noise complaint.
This has upset the feathers among bird-loving gardeners who have formed a group called Cockerel Lives Matter to save them.
This has upset the feathers among bird-loving gardeners who have formed a group called Cockerel Lives Matter to save them
A new management regime and a 72-year law banning roosters from the country’s allotments are leaving them all facing the heel
The group has vowed to fight the order to release the roosters and said it will refuse to pay fines and ignore orders to expel the birds from the allotments.
Leading rebel Jean Wilson, 62, said she will “chain herself to the fence” before giving up her three beloved roosters. She said: ‘Each of them has their own beautiful personalities and they are part of our family.
“We’re looking to relocate them, but not many places allow them, so the most viable option is to get them out.” About 20 roosters on the allotment site are at risk if the control is carried out.
Ms Wilson said roosters have been on the plot for 60 years and they have started a petition to save them. The allotment garden has 76 plots and about ten members have joined the group so far.
Prominent rebel Jean Wilson (pictured with husband Alan), 62, said she will ‘chain herself to the fence’ before giving up her three beloved roosters
The RAA sent a letter in August stating: ‘Under the Allotments Act 1950, your lease and the Alliance’s agreement with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, roosters are not allowed on the property.’
When the Mail visited the area, local residents had no objection to the roosters. Dale Scott, 52, said, “We hear them, but they’re not worth the effort.”
Brian Steele, of the RAA, said: “The only livestock allowed by law are chickens, rabbits and bees. Roosters are not allowed.’