TENANTS facing eviction from a historic allotment site in Coombe near Wotton-under-Edge have come together to form a committee to fight for the land.

Coombe Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Society formed as part of a more focussed action plan to retain the group’s use of the allotment site.

The society have also had yet more interaction with figures from the world of politics and celebrity – including Cotswolds Labour candidate Manjinder Kang and broadcaster and garden designer Toby Buckland.

The chairman of CALGS, of which the core membership comprises the seven individuals paying rent for plots, is Norman Dadd.

He said: “Support for out campaign is growing steadily and at the moment the only person we have spoken to who seems to be against the allotment holders is the landowner.

"We have spoken to families in the area and are absolutely certain that it was the fervent wish of Mary Bignall, who died in 2007 and bequeathed the land to the Ballingers, that the allotments remain as allotments.

"It is a great sadness that no covenant was put in place to protect it, but it is the objective of our society to try and do whatever we possibly can to ensure the present owner changes her mind."

Following visits from Cotwolds candidates Penny Burgess, of the Green Party, and Paul Hodgkinson, of the Liberal Democracts, the prospective Labour MP Manjinder Kang dropped in to show his support.

He said: “If I am elected as MP for the Cotswolds I will work extremely hard with the Coombe Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Society, using my legal skills, to investigate all aspects to make sure the vital area for village life is maintained as it is.”

Broadcaster and gardener Toby Buckland is a great supporter of the allotment movement and has invited CALGS to a one hour Save our Allotments session at the 2015 Toby Buckland Garden Festival in Bowood, Wiltshire, to be held on Friday, June 5.

It was on Saturday, March 21, when the tenants of the allotments, some of whom have been using the site for more than 40 years, first received the unexpected notice to quit from their landlady Sue Ballinger via Loxley Solicitors.

Mr Dadd said: "It was awful - like getting a knock on the door from bailiffs."

When approached by the Gazette Ms Ballinger declined to comment - however a letter sent by her to tenants stated that she required the land back to use as grazing land for her horses.

Since then the group's campaign has gone from strength to strength with a wide-range of support from around the country and a successful Twitter account.

Keep up to date with CALG's progress by following @FightforCoombe.