Back to Formby after a short break with family in London. The issue of allotment space in Formby is currently at the forefront of my mind. I visited an allotment about 500 yards away from my daughter's home in Frien Barnet, North London on Sunday, designated Slow Sunday by the Resurgence Trust, it seemed the appropriate activity.
What a community resource, a huge site, one of a number in Barnet, the waiting list of 10-12 is frequently refreshed and new applicants look forward to a very short waiting time. Compare this to the situation in Formby, I quote from an email just in today:
'Things are getting no better with the state of the Formby
Association's waiting list. The net figure (discounting people who are
on both lists) now stands at 73. With a turnover of one or two plots
a year, that could mean a wait of 30+years for people now joining the
list!!'
This is not acceptable and I am now planning to take action with others to see if this can be improved sooner rather than later. I hope we will soon have a petition in place, and surely Lottery Grants are a suitable source of funding; Sefton MBC has ignored this issue for too long. Incidentally I'd rather see that the Parish Council takes charge of the allotments, this was always one of the primary functions of a Parish Council when they were formed in 1894, I'm going to try to address this point as well, I'm sure we could manage them better with the return of the Council Tax taken from us in the first place, for this purpose.
A final quote from the email I mentioned earlier reinforces the need for action:
'People are becoming very despondent about ever having the chance to
work an allotment and I can't see the situation getting any better in
the future unless more land is provided by Sefton Council.'
What do you think? Write a response, are you one of those who would like to manage an allotment? Please let me know and support this campaign.
