Price, scarcity of land blamed for garden allotment scheme failure

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Written by Brenda Carney

Wednesday, 21 February 2007

Galway City Council has come in for criticism over its apparent failure to follow through on a campaign to provide garden allotments for people living in the city.

Under the 1926 Allotments Act, the council is obliged to provide allotments when there is an established demand.

Under the 1926 Allotments Act, the council is obliged to provide allotments when there is an established demand. It initiated the campaign to provide the garden allotments last year. However, one year later, nothing has happened.

Galway City resident Somhairle MacAodha, who has been on the waiting list for a year, told the Galway Independent that while the demand was enormous, nothing has materialised. He said the fact that the demand was so high was “hardly surprising, given the increasing numbers of people that live in apartments with no access to gardens”.

A spokesperson for Galway City Council said the problem is the lack of available land within the city. However, they said that the issue is on the agenda and the possibility of providing allotments is being examined. She said the requests have to be examined in more detail.

Green Party Mayor Niall O Brolcháin said land is scarce and valuable.

“Most of the land that is owned by the City Council is used for housing or essential services, such as water, and recreational projects tend to get left on the back foot. When land becomes available, there is huge pressure for things like football pitches; there is huge demand on the land.

“I’ve discussed the situation with the city manager and we have two community gardens set up. Our proposal is to purchase land along by Lough Atalia and in Ballybane a community garden has been set up. There’s another one in the Westside and there are proposals to have allotments along side those set up beside them. There is the possibility of having the allotments in Terryland Forest Park but it is poor land.

“A Recreational Community Needs Study is being compiled at the moment and it will be coming before the council when it is completed,” he said.

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