| Dundee City Council’s Leisure and Arts convener Bob Duncan reckons the extra demand for plots is due to folk taking an increased interest in what they eat, and to the financial impact of the recent recession.
Figures released to the Evening Telegraph under the Freedom of Information Act reveal 192 people are on a waiting list for Dundee’s four local authority controlled sites, which have a total capacity of 54 between them.
And although a site at South Road Park officially re-opened today, Councillor Bob Duncan thinks the local authority should look into other areas as soon as possible.
“There has also been a lot of publicity and the Scottish Government has been promoting this quite a lot,” he said.
“From a local councillor point of view, I’m very excited by the opening of the allotments.
“It will also generate a lot more interest and we’ve got to be looking at more sites for development.”
All 22 plots at the South Road Park have already been snapped up, many of them by people who have never owned a plot before.
The council run sites at Magdalen Green (20 plots), Ancrum Road (17), Arklay Terrace (13) and Macaulay Street (14) are all fully subscribed, but the council has not closed any of the waiting lists to further applications.
One potential area for development highlighted by the council itself is Stirling Park, which was home to the Old Piggeries Community Garden Project until last December.
There are a total of 599 plots in the whole of Dundee, including private and association-managed sites, and it is estimated that, on top of the council waiting lists, another 30 people are waiting for a private spot. |
