Earl faces new ‘peasants’ revolt’ after he presses on with plan to reclaim allotments

The Percy dynasty, headed by the 12th Duke of Northumberland, has served notice on tenants of the Park Road allotments
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It appeared the “peasants” had won in a fight between one of Britain’s oldest landed families and the allotment holders who tend plots on a vast estate on the banks of the Thames.

Now the battle lines are being drawn once more.

The Percy dynasty, headed by the 12th Duke of Northumberland, has served notice on tenants of the Park Road allotments in the grounds of the family’s magnificent home, Syon House, in west London.

The Syon estate is managed by his son Earl Percy, 34, heir to the family’s £300 million portfolio, which also includes Alnwick Castle in Northumberland.

The Duke of Northumberland Ralph Percy pictured with the Duchess of Northumberland
Rex Features

The 40 plotholders, who have dubbed themselves “the peasants”, have been given 12 months to quit the allotments that they and their predecessors have nurtured for more than a century.

The move comes only three months after the allotment holders celebrated the defeat of the family’s plan to build 119 flats and eight houses on the site to help fund essential repairs to their Grade I listed stately home.

The proposed scheme to move the allotments to an a new site in the grounds, designed by Capability Brown, was rejected by Hounslow council and thrown out on appeal by a planning inspector in December.

Rory Wilson, chief executive of Northumberland Estates, which manages the family’s property holdings said the scale of the repairs means “difficult decisions have to be taken”.

The Duke of Northumberland wants to build flats and houses next to Syon House ()
Graham Hussey

He added: “Planning might have been refused, but the problem of funding the work at Syon without detriment to the rest of the estate remains.

“Options are very limited at Syon and the former allotments site ... will be required for alternative use.

“With this in mind, we are continuing to look at a range of measures to generate the funds required and alternative development options remain among these.”

Annie Aloysius, secretary of the Park Road Allotments Association, said: “People are disappointed. It looks like the Duke is carrying on with his intention to develop the allotments despite the inspector saying it was inappropriate. We have asked the council how it can be maintained as green open land and an asset of community value and even whether there is scope for compulsory purchase.

“It’s been a long fight already and this is a bit of a setback but we’re still planting seeds and still digging. We are not going to go quietly.”

The group has refused to acknowledge the terms of the notice and will meet in May to decide their next steps.

The earl shared a house with Pippa Middleton at Edinburgh University. His sister, the designer Lady Melissa Percy, was previously married to estate agent Thomas van Straubenzee, one of the closest childhood friends of Princes William and Harry.

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