Allotments

lfabargain

Looking to get an allotment but there is not a great deal of choice in Northern Ireland. Would be good to grow my own fruit & vegetables and save a bit of cash everyweek. Anyone heard of any allotments outside Belfast ? Was looking somewhere close to home (tandragee) if possible. I have tried my local council but they dont have any allotments or plan to introduce any as they say they have no land to spare !!!

Willyk

Not close to Tandragee, but you have this option:

http://www.vistaallotments.com

I think there is a similar scheme starting between Comber and Newtownards as well.

Good Luck.

Colin_Kee

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.. No spare land, hard to believe!! Try Craigavon Council.. They have loads of spare land!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Would be nice to see something useful done with it !!

lfabargain

Colin_Kee wrote:

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.. No spare land, hard to believe!! Try Craigavon Council.. They have loads of spare land!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Would be nice to see something useful done with it !!

I tried craigavon as well with the same results. Got a local councillor involved in contacting armagh council. After the councillor got involved the chief executive for borough council contacted me personally by phone to inform me about the shortage of land. It was good of him to contact me but not the news I wanted to hear.

Might think about starting an online petition so that at least I could provide them with some evidence of the demand for allotments ?

Colin_Kee

Craigavon Council. NO SPARE LAND!!, Give me a break, Let me see, Making the assumption it's their's, there's a load of scrubland behind the Courts, (About 1 Acre) There's god knows how many acres beside LIDL stretching up behind Highfield. Would be interesting to know if the council own this land!!!

lfabargain

Colin_Kee wrote:

Craigavon Council. NO SPARE LAND!!, Give me a break, Let me see, Making the assumption it's their's, there's a load of scrubland behind the Courts, (About 1 Acre) There's god knows how many acres beside LIDL stretching up behind Highfield. Would be interesting to know if the council own this land!!!

Probably should have said that Craigavon borough council didnt say anything about shortage of land, simply that they didnt have any allotments and no intention of introducing any. As I dont live in the craigavon council area I didnt chase it up further. As I said I did chase it up further with Armagh borough council via my local councillor.

Youre right though, there are loads of areas around that are lying idle and could make some money for the councils. It would also promote a healthy living that the borough council is always trying to promote via exercise and eating healthy produce.

Colin_Kee

lfabargain wrote:

Youre right though, there are loads of areas around that are lying idle and could make some money for the councils. It would also promote a healthy living that the borough council is always trying to promote via exercise and eating healthy produce.

Funny you say that, Brownlow Secondary School in Craigavon introduced a Healthy Eating Policy in the School, now all the Kids go across to the Council run Leisure Centre across the road from the school to get their daily fill of chips & fryed cr*p. councils promoting Healty Eating,,, Hmmmmmmmmmmm!! I agree though, maybe we should start something here trying to get the councils to set some land aside for Use as allotments, I'd love it too..

reallynicegal

Watched a gardening programme few nights ago with Monty Don talking about allotments. Seems that if a group of i think 6 or more show interest local councils will be obliged to look into it. This may only apply in England but worth looking on BBC website for furthur details.

lfabargain

reallynicegal wrote: »

Watched a gardening programme few nights ago with Monty Don talking about allotments. Seems that if a group of i think 6 or more show interest local councils will be obliged to look into it. This may only apply in England but worth looking on BBC website for furthur details.

This only applies in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland are different. However if everyone thought it useful I might start an online petition. At least then I could take this as evidence to local politicians that there is a demand for allotments ??

Rob_Orton

I have three acres of land between portadown and Bleary that i am thinking of portioning out and renting as allotments if i think enough interest would be gained

dobefan

I'm sure this has been up before... but here it is...

http://www.rivercottage.net/landshare/

Cheers

;-)