Councillors welcome ‘long overdue’ work to increase provision of allotments in Scarborough

Members of Scarborough Council’s Lives and Homes Committee were told that following approval from the cabinet, the authority had “resolved to re-establish the previous allotment site at Prospect Mount”.

A council officer said that work on the site has started with fencing now in place and a water supply waiting to be installed soon.

A report that was prepared for a meeting of the committee in February estimated that the cost of works at Prospect Mount would be £50,000.

Cllr Tony Randerson, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: “I just want to commend this report, it is excellent.”

Though not a member of the committee, the cabinet member expressed his “grateful thanks to the officers and to the working party, chaired by Cllr Rich Maw, for bringing this report together”.

“It has been long overdue, in my humble opinion.

"Getting back on board to cater for those who want to do their own bit of gardening and grow their own vegetables.”

He added: “When I was a young lad, every council house had a big garden in the back and they grew their own vegetables.

“They enjoyed doing it and they needed to do it, by the way.

“I think we’ve come a bit of a full circle here [and] we need to get back to that with these austerity measures that have been put in place because people are feeling the pinch and it is long overdue.”

Chair of the committee, Cllr David Jeffels, said: “I think in the present climate, coming out of the pandemic and people in many cases who are suffering from mental health, I think they can find a lot of benefit in taking up gardening.

“It’s good for [your] health and wellbeing, physically and mentally.”

Cllr Jeffels added that the allotments had already seen demand with waiting lists and said that if the trend continued, the council should seek to create further allotment sites.

Cllr Jane Mortimer also called for the provision of more community gardens, stating: “The impact of having a community garden and making sure we have that on the planning policy somewhere would be brilliant.”