RESTRICTIONS on who can rent an allotment in Barnard Castle are to be relaxed after town councillors were told the waiting list for a plot is at a six year low.
Since 2008, the council has only offered new allotment tenancies to people living in the town in an effort to cut a historically large waiting list.
At this month’s meeting of the town council’s services committee, members were told that in recent years the waiting list had been reduced from a high of 42 in 2013 to just eight in January this year.
Chairman Cllr Roger Peat said the policy of town-only lets should be reviewed.
“It is getting to the point where we do not want to have any empty sites. That would mean we have to maintain them and that would cost us money,” he said.
The town council manages five allotment sites – Crook Lane, Harmire Road, Town Head, the Demesnes and Raby Avenue – with a total of 81 plots.
Cllr Peat said the council had recently received two enquiries from residents living in villages without any allotments.
Committee members were asked whether the lettings policy should remain the same or changed to include residents of parishes whose boundaries neighbour Barnard Castle.
Cllr Peat said this would include Eggleston, Westwick, Marwood, Startforth and Lartington, all of which do not have allotments of their own.
He added that although residents from these parishes could apply for a town plot, preference could be given to those living in the town.
Members agreed to these measures.
Cllr Peat said maintenance work at the Demesnes allotments had been completed. Ivy has been taken out and trees removed to allow more light onto the site. Next up are improvements to the allotments in Harmire Road.
“The Harmire Road site is the only site not to have its paths upgraded,” said Cllr Peat.
“In the past, tenants from the site had been on a position to maintain the main pathway, however, this is now not the case.
“The three offshoot paths were never laid – just walkways created by tenants over the years. These are now mainly mud and are hazardous.”
Cllr Peat said the council had a stockpile of gravel which could be used to improve the paths.
Plots on all five allotment sites are to be numbered so they can be more easily identified during inspection visits.
“The numbering system does not always follow a logical pattern as over time gardens have been split or amalgamated,” explained Cllr Peat.
