A lot more allotments on way at 29 new sites across the city

MORE than 2,100 new allotments would be created at sites across the Capital under ambitious plans unveiled today – but fees for plots would rocket at the same time.

The city council has identified 29 sites that could potentially be turned into allotment plots as part of a five-year strategy to address the chronic shortage, with the move funded in part by a massive 66 per cent hike in rental costs.

Edinburgh's allotment waiting list is at an all-time high of 2,152 for just 1,233 council plots, meaning it takes at least four years to get a plot. The city currently has only 2.7 allotments per 1,000 residents – low compared to similar authorities.

Among the biggest potential sites identified in the new strategy is a site at Silverknowes farmland, just north of Lauriston Castle, which is thought to be able to accommodate 559 new plots.

Another site, to the south of Inch Park Nursery, is likely to be able to hold 118 plots. The southern side of Blinkbonny Park in the south west of the city is thought to be suitable for another 110 plots.

Councillor Robert Aldridge, the city's environment leader, said: "Allotments have a significant role to play in the protection and promotion of biodiversity and provide the opportunity to spend time out of doors enjoying nature.

"I welcome this strategy, which is intended to see the number and quality of allotments increase in the coming years."

The sites are all proposed in the draft Cultivating Communities report by the council, although it is unlikely that funding will allow all of them to be turned into allotments. The full costs have not yet been detailed, but the council admits it will need extra capital resources and external funding.

As well as the council-owned sites identified, the council will ask developers if they are willing to allow gap sites to be used as temporary allotment sites.

A consultation into the strategy will also ask for suggestions for other potential sites.

The council currently spends around 60,000 a year on managing its allotments, with 45,750 recovered from annual rents.

The new allotments strategy also contains a number of changes to existing conditions on keeping an allotment. Rents – currently 60 a year for a full plot – would rise by 10 a year until they hit 100 in 2014. Regulated beekeeping – now banned – would be allowed under the proposals in an effort to tackle the shortage of bees.

The new five-year strategy is the second to be drawn up by the council, following a similar report in 2002.

Peter Wright, show secretary at the Federation of Edinburgh and District Allotments and Gardens Associations, said: "The first Edinburgh Allotment Strategy was very successful and many issues were solved. This second five-year strategy is a logical progression.

"We expect it to be equally successful at solving current issues and keeping Edinburgh at the forefront of allotment provision in Scotland."

A full consultation into the details within the report is to take place between now and May.

'THE CHILDREN GET GREAT JOY OUT OF IT'

WHEN George Anderson first got an allotment 25 years ago, he found the job of tending to his fruit, vegetables and plants a lonely task.

But the 65-year-old said its now a different story, with the Portobello East Junction allotments site now having the feel of a busy community, such has been the growth in demand.

Mr Anderson, who lives in Portobello and is a retired head of horticulture at the Royal Botanic Garden, said: "There is so much publicity given to local fresh vegetable production now that lots of people want a chance to get involved.

"You end up with a bit of a sore back some days with all the bending down but at the end of it we are fitter for it.

"It's wonderful exercise and you can take the children and they get great joy out of it."