MP John Cryer is defending people’s rights to rent allotments against Government proposals to abolish councils’ duties to provide people with their own plot of land.

The Leyton and Wanstead MP is opposing the Coalition’s plans to reverse a century-old piece of legislation that requires councils to provide people with an allotment if they request one.

Mr Cryer believes the informal consultation on the issue, open since March this year, is a “sham” as it ends on bank holiday Monday (April 25) when many people are away on holiday.

He said: “This must not be allowed to happen. This Government continues to show appalling levels of judgement on vital policy matters.

“Coming on the back of the forest sell off u-turn they are at again.”

Worried constituents contacted the MP over the last couple of days as they realised the consultation was about to end despite many people not having heard of it in the first place.

The government website alerting people of the issue groups it with other statutory duties performed by councils which it invites comment on, meaning there is no specific report for people to read.

“The whole process is a total sham,” added Mr Cryer, who has written to the Secretary of State of Communities to extend the consultation period.

“My constituents feel angry that they have not been given sufficient time to submit objections.”

Local and national allotment groups criticised the plans, saying they would impact on public health and environmental work.

Ann Williams, of the Browning Road Allotment Group, Leyton, said: “This policy would be a most retrograde procedure.

“The demand for allotments is growing among people who wish to grow their own food, interest their children in the environment and generally engage in healthy exercise.”

Donna McDaid, secretary of the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Ltd, added that allotments allow people to grow their own produce cheaply and avoid the environmentally-unfriendly air miles of imported food.

However, the Government responded that it was merely freeing councils from unnecessary bureaucracy.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: "The Government is reviewing old and unnecessary duties imposed on councils in order to free them up from Whitehall red tape.

"As part of this we have published the list of duties, including on allotments. However we will not remove statutory protections for allotments or any frontline services."

If you wish to object to the proposals or receive more information on them, please email: burdens@communities.gsi.gov.uk