Call for allotments for Westport

mayo | environment | press release Tuesday June 24, 2008 18:32 by Cllr Keith Martin - Labour Party

Cllr Keith Martin has called for the provision of allotments under the new Town Plan

Cllr Keith Martin has called for the provision of allotments under the new Town Plan. The Labour councillor has made a submission that Westport Town Council acquire agricultural land for the purpose of providing allotments to citizens of the town to allow them to grow vegetables, fruits and flowers

According to Cllr Martin "This would allow citizens to develop sustainable and local foods for their own consumption and allow for food security and the combating of climate change through greater self-sufficiency. Allotments are also a logical response to recent food price inflation."

The Office International du Coin de Terre et des Jardins Familiaux (OICTJF), a Luxembourg-based organization representing three million European allotment gardeners since 1926, says allotments allow a better quality of urban life through the reduction of noise, the binding of dust, the establishment of open green spaces in densely populated areas and provide meaningful leisure activity and the personal experience of sowing, growing, cultivating and harvesting healthy vegetables amidst high-rise buildings and the urban jungle.

Other benefits according to the OICTJF are
for children and adolescents a place to play, communicate and to discover nature and its wonders;
for working people relaxation from the stress of work;
for the unemployed the feeling of being useful and not excluded as well as a supply of fresh vegetables at minimum cost;
for immigrant families a possibility of communication and better integration in their host country;
for disabled persons a place enabling them to participate in social life, to establish contacts and overcome loneliness;
for senior citizens a place of communication with persons having the same interests as well as an opportunity of self-fulfillment during the period of retirement.

Cllr Martin says the necessary lands can be acquired from landowners but if necessary the council has the power to compulsorily purchase land for allotments under the Acquisition of Land (Allotments) Act, 1926.

Fingal County Council currently offer allotments measuring one tenth of an acre, for domestic use only for €19.00 p.a. Other councils offering allotments include South Dublin County Council, Galway City Council and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

According to Cllr Martin "allotments would be ideal in Westport because of the large number of flats and apartments without any gardens and the number of houses with tiny gardens would mean that there is a large number of people who would welcome the opportunity to grow their own vegetables.

"But allotments are about so much more than growing your own food or flowers, allotments are also about exercise, teaching children about growth and nature, social interaction with neighbours and getting out of the apartment and having your own small bit of outdoor space on the ground.

"We should also provide, as part to the allotments project, an area for a community garden along the lines of the very successful one on the Golf Course Road. Community gardens allow groups and communities to work as a team on a large garden and share the proceeds of that work as well as to enjoy the camaraderie and social aspect of building a community garden. Community gardening is a well established movement worldwide and it is gaining popularity in Ireland with other community gardens in Dublin, Cork and Galway.

"I will be working on Westport Town Council to promote this proposal and I will fight to ensure that provision is made in our new Town Plan for allotments and a community garden."