Nursery children are 'evicted' from their allotment by council

Published on Friday 9 January 2009 08:49

THEY have spent months transforming a neglected eyesore into a much-loved outdoor haven, producing their very own crop of fruit and vegetables.

But the owner of a city nursery has accused the city council of "evicting" the green-fingered youngsters from their allotment – after claiming it had not been kept up to scratch.

Children up to the age of five visited the Warriston plot twice a week, using their own tools, planting seeds to grow the vegetables, and trimming back overgrown plants. They have grown potatoes, rhubarb, leek, blackberries and rocket as well as taking part in several projects, including making bird feeders for the site.

Nursery owner and allotment leaseholder Carol-Anne McLeod said she had envisaged it as a fun and educational project for the children at her Summerside Kindergarten in Leith and was delighted to have been allocated a plot last March after being on the waiting list for eight years.

But she was stunned to receive a letter on Hogmanay telling her the plot would now be re-let because she had failed to bring it up to an acceptable standard.

Mrs McLeod, 43, said it took them months to get the allotment into shape after being handed it in "a very poor state of repair" with a group of parents spending two weekends to clear all the rubbish.

The "eviction" notice arrived following two warning letters from allotment officer Ian Woolard that the plot was still not good enough.

She said: "When we got it, the other allotment holders said we shouldn't have accepted it in the condition it was in because it was in such a poor state. One said it hadn't been cultivated for about three years.

"When I got the second letter, I disagreed with what he was saying and phoned him to say we were maintaining the plot.

"In fact, it actually looked quite good compared to some of the others up there.

"Given the state it was in when we got it, I feel this is double standards and I just feel that it's such a Draconian way that they dealt with it."

Mrs McLeod, who lives on Summerside Street, added: "I just want them to give us some more time considering it took so much time and effort to bring it into a serviceable condition.

"This has been a real community project and both the children and the parents have really enjoyed it."

A spokesman for the city council said it was evicting Mrs McLeod, as an individual leaseholder, and not the nursery children.

He said: "An occasional visit isn't enough to maintain an allotment – they need to be cultivated and this one hadn't been worked on substantially by the leaseholder since the summer.

"There is a seven-year waiting list for plots in Edinburgh and the city has a responsibility to make best use of space."

Jenny Mollison, secretary of the Scottish Allotment Garden Society, said she sympathised with Mrs McLeod but had "every faith" in the city council's procedures.

She said: "Plots are marked against criteria which include things like tidiness and how much is being cultivated. It has to be done like that because there are a lot of people waiting to get a plot. We have to be fair to all plot-holders in Edinburgh."