Cardiff’s allotment shortage

Old vacant allotments being left to decline

Allotments are a great way to enjoy the outdoors and grow your own crops as part of a community but a source reveals they may not be in such short supply for Cardiff’s budding gardeners.

There are currently 28 active allotment sites in Cardiff with over 2000 tenanted plots. Allotments are in high demand, with waiting lists at some sites up to five years long.

Malcom at Pontcanna allotments serves soup made from produce grown in the allotment and cooked on a Creative Ethical Wood Fuel System (CEWFS)

Lewis Mottram, a volunteer at Riverside Community Allotment Project said, “One of the problems we have is that the council have got no budget for renovating old allotments which have gone to seed.” He believes there are lots of empty allotments in Cardiff.

However, Cardiff Council’s Allotment Strategy aims “To increase investment in allotments providing effective and appropriate allocation of resources.”

Cardiff Council Allotment Strategy 2005

Cardiff Council’s Allotment Strategy recognises that in Cardiff “The majority of the unused plots are overgrown and require clearing.”

Cardiff’s Allotment Charter aims to “Ensure that there is an efficient number of allotment gardens in the city to meet local demand and provide sustainable communities.”

In its detailed aims and objectives it plans to “Prepare and submit a five-year programme of capital improvements for allotment sites in order to bring them up to the minimum standards.”

Implementation of the 2005 allotment strategy was to be undertaken over a five year period and results would be reviewed and reported annually. Alt Cardiff currently awaits a response from Cardiff Council press office regarding vacancy of Cardiff’s allotments.

Riverside Community Allotment Project

The Riverside Community Allotment Project takes pride in growing seasonal food all year round. Just some of the crops they are growing at the moment include cabbages, broccoli and sprouts in addition to more exotic provisions like lemongrass that manage to survive the Cardiff rain in poly-tunnels.

Creative Ethical Wood Fuel System

Courtesy of Malcom at Riverside Community Allotment Project there is a Creative Ethical Wood Fuel System at the Pontcanna site that allows volunteers to cook their own meals from their produce grown at the allotment.

Empty Plots at Pontcanna

According to Lewis Mottram there are half a dozen to maybe twenty plots at the Pontcanna site alone that are empty at the moment.

He said, “They really need some money ploughed in by the council to clear them so they can be let by gardeners who need them.”

Feature photograph courtesy of Fieldtales/Flickr