It was Boxing Day morning when the walkers found the deer hanging from a wire fence. It looked as if it had been strung up by a butcher, leg unsheathed, one tendon wrapped around the metal. “It had literally ripped its hoof off,” remembers Stefan*, who lives nearby.
Abbots Leigh, a small village three miles from Bristol, prides itself on being close-knit. It’s the sort of place where people talk, especially about the surrounding landscape. And for a year before the deer incident, they had been talking. Stefan and others had raised concerns that the new fencing threatened the animals that used the meadow, particularly its badgers and deer.
The fence belonged to the newest tenants: Ed Morrison, Christian Samuel and Will Gay, the millennial co-founders of Roots Allotments. Founded in 2021 and backed by venture capital, Roots describes itself as a “movement” fed up with Nimbyism and determined to “empower communities to grow their own food”. Roots operates 20 sites across the country, including in Durham, Wigan, Sheffield and Croydon.
In a country with a chronic allotment shortage, it’s a worthy pitch. Since the ‘50s, Britain has lost roughly 65% of its allotment land — some swallowed up by urban development, some sold off by cash-strapped councils. Earlier this year, Jeremy Corbyn clashed with then–housing secretary Angela Rayner over her approval of eight allotment sell-offs. Even The Telegraph took his side.
But Roots has left a trail of bad blood in the places it has tried to settle: from Brighton and Hove Council refusing to lease Roots land, to residents in Sheffield complaining about a lack of scrutiny. Nowhere, however, has the backlash been fiercer than in Abbots Leigh, especially after that deer became trapped.
“We couldn’t get hold of anyone from Roots,” Stefan, 37, says. Even if they had, he adds, “it wouldn’t have made a difference — they’re sociopathic.”
Co-founder Ed Morrison rejects the accusation outright. He insists the villagers knew Roots had already alerted the RSPCA. He then delivers his side of the story:
“Did they tell you that they shot the deer themselves?”
Ed Morrison, 32, has never had an easy time in Abbots Leigh. In April 2023, shortly after Roots installed its first fence on the meadow, he posted an Instagram story criticising the local response. Looking into the camera, he told his 6,000 followers that his business partner, Will, had been pushed by an “85-year-old lady”.
“It’s fucking mad that people think we’re the bad people here,” he said. Eventually, he added, he had to call the police.
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