NOT LOSING THE PLOT

Demand for allotments continues to grow across Wales, by a strange coincidence, a significant number of my friends and acquittance's (in Newport, Torfaen and Monmouthshire) have allotments (A quick plea: please no more courgettes!). Apart from providing a ready source of veg and saving money, raising and looking after your own crops actually provides a degree of necessary exercise and is a good excuse to get stuck in.

At the beginning of 2009, Plaid AM Leanne Wood did some research which showed that there were some 2,500 people on waiting lists for an allotment in Wales and that some people may well have to wait for nearly nine years before they get a sniff of a plot or pitch.

What's really amazing is that the whole business of allotments is still largely regulated by legislation from the early years of the 20th Century. The 1908 Small Holdings and Allotment Act says the council has a duty to provide land if they are satisfied there is demand and if six electors petition that council, their representations have to be taken into consideration.

There are enough examples across Wales, where groups of interested people have petitioned their local council only to be told that the council has considered their request, but there is no land available. A summit (organised by Plaid AM Leanne Wood) to discuss the situation regarding allotment availability took place in Cardiff on Friday 30th July 2009.