In this section
- Heatwave warning
- £1million for more borough playgrounds
- Record numbers for youth services
- New children's centre for Hampton
- New task group helps parents participate in their children’s education
- Emergency support for carers
- People needed to help disabled children take part in activities
- Greycourt School pupil designs Council’s new youth web pages
- Homecare standards at new high
- Heathrow meeting call to new transport secretary
- Council makes cycling even easier
- Making more allotments available
- Have your say on the re-development of the Avenue Centre
- Pupils aim to go waste free for lunch
- Twickenham Carnival comes to town
- Young people's votes to decide how £1million youth fund is spent
- Richmond upon Thames - the best place to live
- Lord Puttnam visits as Art Fund Prize decision day looms
- Drive easy in Richmond town centre
- Healthy alternative to drugs
- Council concerned over preservation of Normansfield
- Teaching Awards hope for Hampton Hill
- Last chance to help Orleans House Gallery win £100,000
- Be local, buy local, and be proud of Whitton
Release Date: 12/06/2009
Making more allotments available
A probation period for new allotment holders and halving under-cultivated plots are among the recommendations from Richmond Council’s allotments task group, to help cut waiting lists and make more plots available to new users.
The group will report its findings to the Environment and Sustainability Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday June 24, and both existing and potential allotment holders are encouraged to read the report, attend to question members and have their say on the suggestions. Following this, Council officers will prepare a 10-year plan for increasing the use of allotments.
Cllr Jerry Elloy, chairman of the overview and scrutiny committee said:
“There are hundreds of people who want to get closer to nature, and to be able to grow their own produce and we as a Council need to think of new ways to help them. Ideas like these from the task group will certainly help.”
“Allotments save people money through not having to shop for all their food, as well as helping them make friends and keep fit and so we want to make more productive use of the existing plots.”
Cabinet Member for Environment on Richmond Council, Cllr Geoff Acton, added:
“This is a really good report which I am happy to support. I would like to thank Jerry and the other members of the committee for all their hard work.
“Allotments are very important to our residents and in recent years we have a seen a rise in their popularity, particular among families. This is not surprising, when you think of all the different benefits that allotment holders get form their plots.
“Unfortunately in Richmond upon Thames the demand is very high so we have long waiting lists. This new plan will help us make the very most of the land we have available, allowing as many people as possible to have their own plot.”
Other recommendations from the task group include:
- Dividing large but under-cultivated plots to make them more manageable, and create extra plots for people on the waiting lists.
- Stricter controls on people who retain their plots by only clearing them for the annual inspection. The group is recommending evidence of food harvesting to justify keeping a plot, following a final warning.
- A phased retirement system allowing allotment holders a gentler end to their tenure by either dividing their plot or trading it for a role in the communal area of their site.
- Cutting the number of polluting bonfires, released into the atmosphere, by promoting increased composting of suitable waste and making this a condition of holding a plot.
- Moving unavoidable bonfires, and long term compost heap sites, to areas of the site which cannot be used for cultivation.
These ideas would complement existing policies to provide more allotments and cut down waiting list times, by splitting larger plots as they become free and bringing out of use land back into service.
The task group drew up its proposals following visits to nine of the borough’s allotment sites and a public meeting in February, when 150 people came to give their views.
The meeting will take place at 7pm and will be held at the Sheen Lane Centre, 74 Sheen Lane, East Sheen, SW14 8LP on June 24. People wishing to speak should register with Gary Lelliott at the Council on 020 8891 7275 by 2pm the day before.
View the full press release