A gardening body has issued a threat of legal action on the basis that some councils are not fulfilling their legal duty to provide space for allotments.

In Wales, the ever increasing demand for allotments is not being met. Some local authorities apparently have waiting lists of over 1,000 wannabe allotment holders. The reason behind the lack of response appears to be a concern that the current popularity of holding an allotment may soon fade, leading to a waste of resources.

The secretary of the Wrexham Allotment Association, Andrea Evans, stated “About seven years ago you couldn’t give allotments away. Now people want to know where their food is coming from and a lot of people garden organically. Also the price of food is going up daily. So to grow your potatoes, your carrots and so on, helps the family. We’re now seeing much more families taking on allotments. Just before Christmas we cleared 70 off the waiting list. At the moment we’ve around 35 on the waiting list - which is fantastic.”

Despite this boom in allotmenting popularity, not all authorities are meeting their legal obligation to provide plots where there is demand. It appears to be due to a fear that taking on and preparing land for this purpose may lead to problems when the current trend for growing your own passes.