ALLOTMENT holders are angry at council plans to increase fees for older gardeners.

People of state pension age who have town council allotments in Stokesley currently receive a reduction of nearly 50 per cent of the annual allotment fees charged by the town council, paying £26 instead of the full amount of £41.

But as of next year, everybody will pay an annual £40 fee, regardless of their age.

The council says the fees have been overhauled as the allotments have to be self-funding, but with most allotment-holders qualifying for the older person concession, this isn’t the case and it’s being subsidised from the council precept.

One allotment holder, Bill Markwick, from Riversdene, Stokesley, said there was a “lot of anger” among the allotment-holders at the increase for older people.

Mr Markwick, who has a plot at the allotments off Malvern Drive and Rose Hill Way, said: “For the normal allotment holders this will be a reduction of £1, but for pensioners it’s an increase of £14.

“I was told there’s a lot of OAPs and they need more money. But it seems stupid to get more money from pensioners and give a reduction to the rest.”

He said when he broached the council on the issue, he was told it was to pay for projects such as a new toilet block.

“Nobody has heard of plans for a new toilet block.

“I’ve been an allotment-holder for 46 years and we’ve never had a toilet block,” said Mr Markwick, who said there should have been a consultation on the move. He said he still would like to hear an explanation as to “why OAPs should bear the whole increase in the funds”.

Chair of Stokesley Town Council, Cllr Caroline Seymour, said the increase would come into play next year and a years’ notice was being given.

She said: “The allotments are supposed to be self-funding; we’re not supposed to subsidise them.

“But for a lot of years we have spent quite a lot of money on them. It’s not the allotment-holders’ fault - but we have had a lot of trouble with water supplies and things and over the years have spent a lot of money.

“Over the last five years we’ve also spent a lot of money improving the roads and fencing to stop people trespassing on to the allotments.

“One of the problems now is that nearly all the allotment-holders are pensioners. We were giving them a 50 per cent discount but now we have decided we can’t really afford to do that anymore.”

Cllr Seymour said the changes would come into force in January 2019 and they may consider allowing people to pay the money in two instalments if they were suffering financial hardship.