Bantry Allotment Scheme

The October Community Solutions event hosts a public meeting to promote the proposed Bantry Allotment Scheme. Held at 8pm October 16th at The Christian Fellowship Hall, Bantry, this is an opportunity for anyone interested in renting a plot to find out more and add their name to the waiting list.

With an increasing desire for high quality and locally produced food along with a need for a healthy lifestyle more people are becoming interested in the “grow your own” concept. The demand for allotment gardens has risen steadily over the last few years. Unlike many European countries, Ireland has very few allotments available. There are currently less than 500 compared to the UK which has a thriving allotment culture with around 265,000 plots in 1997. Today the Netherlands has approximately 650 allotment parks and 100,000 allotment gardeners. Germany has over one million of them, some of which (known as Schreber Gardens) are used by those more interested in ornament than food production, or for tiny weekend houses.

West Cork Community Partnership will present the proposed Bantry Allotment Scheme and will invite interested people to establish a waiting list for the plots. It is hoped that when the appropriate site is secured the allotments will be available for spring 2008 or sooner.

The evening will include a presentation by Fred La Haye, who shares his knowledge and experience in growing fruit and vegetables here in Ireland as well as his native Holland. Over many years he has worked with and inspired home growers and allotment holders and has his own very productive polytunnel and garden near Ballingeary.
In addition, Michael O’Donovan will introduce the Community Garden initiative at the National Learning Network, Donemark, Bantry.
There will also be a short film describing the experiences of new allotment holders as they begin to work on their gardens.

This project is an exciting development and it is hoped that the scheme will become available in other areas throughout West Cork in the near future.

The project to establish community allotment gardens was drawn up by West Cork Community Partnership, a local development organisation with the responsibility for administering the Local Development Social Inclusion Programme in the area. This project has been on the agenda for a number of years. “We see this project particularly as a means towards assisting with social integration of migrant families into the existing community and providing access to gardens for residents currently without this facility.”

Allotment gardens have always been a valuable community space with many associations or clubs providing various services to local communities and freely sharing their local knowledge and growing experiences. The allotment garden has been studied widely and results suggest that it is one of the most bio-diverse environments in Europe.

In most cases the individual gardeners are organised through an allotment association which leases the land from the owner. The gardeners have to pay a small membership fee to the association, and have to abide with the corresponding constitution and by-laws. In return the membership entitles them to certain democratic rights and provides an administrative structure.

Please contact Kate Arbon for more information

West Cork Community Partnership
Unit 13 The Enterprise Centre
Rope Walk, Bantry
Co. Cork
Ph: 027 52266