People will be encouraged to dig their way out of the recession under proposals from Labour's Cllr Keith Martin for a county-wide allotments programme.
Cllr Keith Martin says that when he is elected to Mayo County Council in June he will introduce an allotments programme in Mayo County Council whereby unused council landbanks will be made available to those who wish to grown their own vegetables. Community gardens and children's gardens would also be facilitated under the scheme which would facilitate traditional gardeners as well as organic gardeners.
Cllr Martin has already made a similar proposal to Westport Town Council in his submissions on the new Town Plan for the next five years. In his submission last year Cllr Martin called for the council to acquire agricultural land for the purpose of providing allotments to people without access to agricultural land to allow them to grow their own vegetables, fruits and even flowers.
According to Cllr Martin "This would allow people 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 and will help us dig our way out of the recession."
Cllr Martin says the necessary lands can be acquired through the council's existing landbanks, from landowners but if necessary the council has the power to compulsorily purchase land for allotments under the Acquisition of Land (Allotments) Act, 1926.
Cllr Martin has already identified a source of funding for the scheme available in the Local Agenda 21 Partnership Fund, which, together with matching funding from local authorities throughout the country, provides €700,000 each year for local projects. The Partnership Fund is co-funded on a 50/50 basis by the Department of the Environment and the Local Authorities to assist small-scale, community based non-profit environmental awareness projects at local level. A wide variety of innovative and exciting projects and schemes have been supported under the Fund. These range from promoting youth involvement in Tidy Towns efforts, and composting schemes to community gardens, and allotments. Many of the applications received by this Department in 2008 were in respect of local allotment associations seeking support to convert sites provided by Local Authorities into allotments.
Fingal County Council currently offers 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 because of the large number of houses, flats and apartments without any gardens and the number of townhouses with tiny gardens would mean that there are a large number of people who would welcome the opportunity to grow their own vegetables.
"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.
Cllr Martin concludes "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."
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