Allotment shake-up in the pipeline as demand skyrockets

Radical proposals include booting multiple plot holders off their additional plots, cracking down on plot subletting, increasing rents almost threefold and sub-dividing plots to maximise numbers.

Demand is soaring during the tough financial times as people seek cheap sources of fresh food.

In April last year the Daily Echo reported that would-be allotment holders in Poole were facing a wait of more than five years when the waiting list reached 584.

But that wait is now more like eight years as more than half as many again – an additional 334 people – have signed up.

An allotment review working party is now considering options to help meet demand.

A report by head of leisure services Clive Smith, laying out the ideas, went before the group.

It reveals that allotments cost the council some £30,000 a year more than they bring in.

Rents would need to increase from 24p per metre to 70p per metre to bridge the gap – but the council has not yet settled on any figure.

Frank Court, of Alder Farm Allotments, which have just been readopted into council management, said the council would need to seek the opinion of holders or “they’ll have a riot on their hands”.

He added: “I can’t see how they can go round telling people who’ve had their allotments for 20 or 30 years, who’ve worked hard on them, that they’ve got to get off them because someone else wants them.”

Once the new policy is drawn up and agreed, the council is set to close the waiting list for “cleaning” – dealing with plot-holders who are no longer permanent residents of the borough, hold more than one plot or have sublet their plot.

The council is also considering ways to increase the amount of allotment land available.

Clare Freeman, greenspace manager for the Borough of Poole, said: “This work is at very early stages and no decisions have been made.

“A report will go to members of the environment overview and scrutiny committee in November.”