Published: Thursday, 4th September, 2008 08:50
Allotment scheme has bizarre link to Earley
By Adam Hewitt
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Ray Harrington-Vail of the Footprint Trust
A PROPOSED Earley gardening project hailed a great success on the Isle of Wight turns out to have its roots in the town.
The town council was due to discuss the 'Adopt a Garden’ scheme at a meeting last night (Wednesday) after hearing about its success cutting allotment waiting lists by letting people tend gardens owned by disabled and elderly people unable to do it themselves.
But bizarrely the man who set it up on the Isle of Wight is a former Earley man himself.
Ray Harrington-Vail has lived on the island for 10 years following a six-year stint as senior park ranger in Earley in the 1990s.
He said: “I think it was a coincidence, quite a few borough and town and parish councils have heard about the scheme and become interested. It solves a lot of problems as far as they’re concerned.”
He now works with eco-charity the Footprint Trust, and its 14-month pilot of the scheme began in November.
He said: “I came up with the idea decades ago, but it’s only in the last five years that the number of people wanting to garden has gone up, as people want local food, to keep fit, and fewer have a garden of their own – plus allotments have been sold off.”
The charity keeps a database listing those with a garden they are unable to tend and those wanting to grow vegetables themselves. After a criminal records bureau (CRB) check, the charity introduces gardeners to gardens within a mile of them.
To keep everyone safe, access to the gardens must be from the road rather than through a house, but otherwise people are left to their own devices although no money is allowed to change hands.
Mr Harrington-Vail said the Adopt a Garden scheme alone was not the solution to allotment waiting lists, and called instead for developers to be forced to provide allotments as part of the planning process on major projects.
The waiting list for the Culver Lane Allotments, run by Earley Town Council, has 20 Earley residents on it as well as ten others and was closed to new applicants in the spring until the list shortens.
The council report distributed for last night’s meeting said: “Within the borough there is a shortage of allotment spaces, whilst at the same time there are many disabled and elderly people who are unable to tend their gardens. The Adopt a Garden scheme is seen as a potential way of eradicating both problems.”
Deputy town clerk Maddy Bristow said: “It seems to be working well on the Isle of Wight, and it could help in any garden which has an owner struggling to maintain it for any reason.”
But Mr Harrington-Vail encouraged councils interested in the scheme to wait until his pilot finishes next spring and they have had chance to write a full report and iron out problems.
For a report of last night’s meeting, see: www.readingchronicle.co.uk
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