Newbury parishioners to get allotment priority
Newbury residents will move up the council waiting list
NEWBURY parishioners will take priority over other applicants in the waiting list for allotment spaces, the town council has decided.
With the town council’s six allotments now at capacity following a significant increase in interest, councillors voted in a community services meeting on Monday last week to give priority to Newbury residents who pay a precept – effective immediately.
This means that any members of the public outside of the Newbury parish who are currently on the waiting list for an allotment space will be bumped down the list to make way for Newbury residents.
Previously, people from outside the Newbury parish paid a higher fee to use a plot, but there were no rules on the order.
Community service manager David Ingram said: “The question has been raised by a number of people on the waiting list who say ‘I’m a parishioner, I’m in Newbury, why am I having to join the queue when people not from Newbury are in front of us?’”
Martha Vickers (Lib Dem, West Fields) said: “The responsibility should be on the parishes themselves to provide allotments for their own residents.
“I think Greenham parish council would be willing to provide allotments for their parishioners if they could find land.
“They are looking for suitable land.
“Now that we’re full, I think I’d go with this that if they’re parishioners and are on the waiting list then they have to take priority.”
A vote was hastily taken on the item, before community services officer Caroline Edmunds raised the question of what would happen to people already on the waiting list who are out of parish.
Council leader Martin Colston said: “I’m tempted to say, if we’ve made this resolution, unfortunately those who are already on the waiting list will have to move down in favour of Newbury parishioners if that’s the case.
“And since we are full, they are supposed to be for Newbury parish.”
Mrs Vickers added: “We should tell these people they must lobby their own council to ask for allotments.”
Chris Foster (Lib Dem, Wash Common) said: “If we are full and Newbury residents keep applying, these people could be waiting forever.
“I do agree with everyone – we can’t provide for the whole of England.”
