Queuing for allotments (From Witney Gazette)

Queuing for allotments

4:00pm Tuesday 25th September 2007

• Print
• Email
• Share

WITNEY has landed a windfall £400,000 from housebuilders to provide a new site to meet the 'insatiable' demand for new allotments in the town.

But the town council admitted it 'doesn't have a clue' where the land will come from.

The money is coming from developers Persimmon Homes under a planning gain agreement to build 16 houses at the Madley Park estate, on a small plot of land behind Court Gardens and Judd's Close. The 0.45 hectare site was originally earmarked to provide a replacement for the development of nearby allotments at Newland.

However, following a change of plans, the Newland site will stay - meaning a net gain with money to find a new allotment site elsewhere in the town.

Town mayor, Chrissie Currie, said it should make a 'significant difference' to the long waiting list for allotments in the town.

The news was welcomed by the town's allotments association.

Secretary, Caroline Brett, said: "The town council has been looking for somewhere for 18 months, and not found anywhere. Now we have the money, and the search is on.

"There is an insatiable demand for plots. The waiting list is 100 people. When I first came to Witney four years ago, it was quite easy to get one, but the town is growing all the time, and gardens in the new houses are very small."

Mrs Brett has an allotment at Newland, a site set up in 1947 for returning war veterans. One of them is decorated wartime commando Patrick Churchill, now 82, who says he still enjoys growing his own vegetables.

Even older is 87-year-old Ron Hathaway, chairman of the allotments association, who still keeps his plot at Hailey Road after 60 years.

He said: "It is good news that we are getting more allotments. We have been fighting for them for a long time. The town definitely needs them."

The Madley Park site was allocated for allotments under the Local Plan, but a recent survey found it is contaminated with naturally occurring arsenic, though not at dangerous levels. Remedial work will be undertaken, as elsewhere on the estate, before houses are built.

The levels, however, made the site unsuitable for replacement allotments, said Mrs Brett.

Witney Town Council manages all four of the town's allotment sites - Newland, Lakeside, Park Road, and Hailey Road - and has engaged commercial agent Mark Baker to find a new site.

Town mayor, Chrissie Curry, said: "There is a huge demand, and it is absolutely crucial to us to provide more.

"The developer agreement now in place allows us to go out and positively look for a new site, as well as plough some of the money into upgrading and enhancing some of the existing sites."

She added: "We are actively looking for a site at the moment.

"We don't have a clue where it will be yet, but we are committed to providing at least as many allotments, and hopefully more, than currently." How many allotments the money could provide will not be known until a potential site has been found.

The development of Phase 5a of Madley Park was agreed by West Oxfordshire District Council's lowlands planning sub-committee.

Under the Section 106 legal agreement, Persimmon will also have to pay £200,000 towards the cost of a new community hall on the estate, and a £15,000 contribution towards local libraries and education.

• Print
• Email
• Share