Growing need for allotments should be nurtured

Allotments: Ireland has had a historic and intimate connection with the land but more and more people are losing touch with it through increased urbanisation. Allotment access is the perfect answer writes Fergal McCabe

Up to about 20 years ago, nearly every house built in Ireland had a private back garden which could be used for growing food or flowers. In most urban areas, these were rarely less than 11 metres long although in more rural parts of the country and in local authority housing schemes, these could be very extensive and even wasteful.

Many followed the landscape design approach of Polly Garter in Under Milk Wood, "Nothing grows in our garden except washing and babies."

In response to the Emergency, many local authorities rented out vegetable plots to householders, usually in undevelopable backlands or along railway lines.

But, with increasing affluence, suburbanisation and cheaper food, most of these fell into disuse and were either sold off as development sites or incorporated into public parklands.

By 2004, the many allotment sites around Dublin had declined to four.

Other countries did not abandon allotments as comprehensively as we did. The UK still has a thriving allotment culture. 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.

In Northern Ireland, there are very active Garden Associations which promote allotments, one of the best being St Columb's in Derry which has its own website.

In general, allotment gardens are concentrated in one place and parcels assigned to individual families. Plot sizes range from 200sq m to 400sq m and often include a shed for tools and shelter. In other arrangements, gardeners organise an allotment association which leases the land from the owner. Owners are often local authorities or a charitable bodies which rent the sites provided they are used for gardening.

In light of rising greenhouse gas levels, falling household sizes and to provide more affordable housing, the government issued guidelines in 1999 advocating increased residential densities on serviced land.

The guidelines suggested that sites, particularly those near existing or future public transport corridors, in city centres or on brownfield lands, were most appropriate for more urban forms of home such as terraced housing, apartments or duplexes.

Soon medium or high density residential developments became the norm rather than the exception and not just in the major cities.

The guidelines certainly succeeded in reducing urban sprawl and they have had a dramatic impact on dwelling mix too - although many would say that there are now too many small apartments.

Certainly, if the previous suburban pattern of a uniform eight homes to an acre had persisted, then fewer homes could have been built in the same period.

As a direct result of the guidelines, several large developments were proposed at Baldoyle/Belcamp, Pelletstown and Adamstown in north and west Dublin providing almost 25,000 dwellings and these schemes are now well underway.

Their mix is roughly one third terraced or semi-detached (houses with rear gardens); one-third duplex with just ground-floor gardens and one third apartments which have little or no ground level private space.

While those buying the ordinary houses will have the opportunity to grow their own food, it is probable that the duplex and apartment units are bought by those who regard a garden as a burden and a generous balcony as an acceptable alternative.

Yet, a certain proportion of apartments or duplex owners would relish a bit of land in the form of an allotment, either near their apartment or somewhere easily accessible by public transport.

Allotments are popular because they enable you to:

Grow your own organic food or flowers

Exercise

Teach children about growing plants

Have a chat with your neighbours

Get out of the apartment and having your own small bit of outdoor space on the ground.

Probably as a reaction to higher density living, the interest in allotments is now beginning to stir afresh.

Fingal County Council has recently reopened its waiting list for garden plots in Donabate and Finglas at an average rent of €30 a year, while Galway City Council has started offering allotments in response to a strong local demand.

Seven years and 452,000 dwellings later, a review of the Residential Density Guidelines is appropriate. The impact has been dramatic and we need to re-examine how the guidelines have worked, the quality of the development they have produced and whether new safeguards or incentives are necessary.

One of the issues which should be examined in such a review is to give new inhabitants of higher density schemes the opportunity to do grow their own food if they want to.

This could be achieved either by reserving a small amount of land for allotments within larger developments or else acquiring larger communal sites close to public transport routes.

All around Dublin, and I am sure in most Irish towns and cities, there are SLOAP lands (Space Left Over After Planners) for which no useful purpose can be found - why not give them over to productive planting by those enthusiastic enough to look after them? All urban land is scarce and valuable and should be put to use.

Now that we have embarked on a more urbanised future, we shouldn't lose our historic and intimate connection with the land.

Most of us have a psychological need to get a bit of dirt under our fingernails from time to time and those who want to plant and reap, should be accommodated.

Fergal MacCabe is a partner in MacCabe Durney, Planning Consultants and a co-author of the Residential Density Guidelines.