Castel’s got a lot of allotments
A STRONG demand for parish allotments has seen Castel looking to create more growing spaces.
The douzaine currently leases an area of land that houses 18 allotments, but more space could be in the offing.
‘We’ve been offered a site near Grandes Rocques,’ said douzenier Nigel Acton, responsible for overseeing the site’s management
Turnover of tenants has been infrequent on the current site and there were eight people waiting to take on a plot.
‘We can’t expand where we are so we have a waiting list that is commensurate with the number of places we have there.’
The land is already zoned as agricultural so a change of use application will not be needed.
A vote from the parish saw the go-ahead given for the costs of making the land into allotment plots to be investigated and Mr Acton said the next move will be to obtain quotations from companies for the work.
He said the plans were ‘very much in their infancy’ and he expected quotations to go before the parish meeting in April for a final vote before the work could begin.
Another popular allotment site saw spaces being snapped up when they were made available this week.
La Haute Lande Vinery allotments is owned by Jane and Andy King, who recently finished clearing additional plots, including some under cover.
The availability of additional plots was mentioned on the Vale parish website, and Mrs King said the emails began to arrive in numbers soon after.
‘It’s gone absolutely bonkers,’ she said.
Enquiries had come from all over the island after the word got out via Facebook, too.
There were 25 allotment holders, some of whom have recently taken on indoor sites.
‘There’s a lot more outside than there are in,’ said Mrs King.
‘A lot of our tenants live in flats so over these last few years I think they’re really cherished having the space outdoors. Some people have a really tiny garden but they love growing.’
The allotments cause was championed last summer by Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller, who wanted to see more agricultural land being used for agricultural purposes, fewer restrictions from the planning department about erecting small tool or plant sheds, and more support from the planning services in promoting growing communities.
Mrs King said the changes coming in for exemptions to planning permission by the Development & Planning Authority would help, and an issue with small sheds being erected on the site had been resolved.
