New allotments set to take root alongside city tram line

Published on Friday 12 June 2009 10:10

LAND along the city's new tram route is being lined up to tackle an Edinburgh-wide shortage of allotments.

Council chiefs have identified plots along the tram route which can be turned into the green spaces once the tram project is completed in 2011.

Existing allotments at Carricknowe Golf Course and Stenhouse Drive will be extended under the plans, while a new site next to the Stenhouse allotments has also been identified.

The size of the plots that will be turned over for allotments will not be known until the tram line is finished and all of its boundaries are in place.

However, land near Balgreen Primary School at Pansy Walk, which had originally been earmarked for allotments, will be sold off as it is one of five sites the council intends to sell to raise 10 million towards the tram scheme.

More than 1,400 people are on the council's allotment waiting list, with fewer than 90 getting land each year.

The waiting lists vary from plot to plot over the city, with the most popular sites attracting waits of up to seven years.

Money has been set aside to create the allotments and the new sites have today been welcomed by green groups.

Gavin Corbett of the Shandon Local Food group, which encourages people in the west of the city to grow their own food, said: "We know there is a lot of pressure on our existing allotment space so anything that can go someway to addressing the waiting list has got to be welcomed.

"At the height of the property boom there was an immense pressure on allotment sites but we hope with the changing market then the council will see the benefit of freeing up sites like this for allotment use."

The existing allotments at Stenhouse were created in the late 1990s to replace plots at Pansy Walk and Carricknowe which had been earmarked for the failed CERT rapid bus scheme planned for the west of the city.

The Capital has the longest waiting lists in Scotland according to the Scottish Allotment Gardens Society.

The city's most popular site is Inverleith, on East Fettes Avenue, where 304 people are waiting for plots.

Midmar Allotments, near Blackford Hill, is the second most popular with 100-plus on its list.

A council spokesman said: "We are currently drawing up a detailed allotment strategy for Edinburgh.

"On gaining planning permission and transferring these sites over, we would ensure that we maximised the number and quality of the plots available for people to cultivate and enjoy."