PENARTH councillors have appealed for local residents to suggest public or private land that could be used as allotments.

During a town council leisure and amenities committee meeting councillors said there was a lot of demand for allotments not being met, with a “huge waiting list” for people hoping to become allotment owners, and that potential sites that were suitable should be identified and targeted.

A report before the committee outlined that the council currently has three allotment/leisure garden sites divided into 48 plots at Harbour View, Windsor Road and Paget Terrace. The report added that there were 105 people on the waiting list since 2006, and that “when plots have been vacated a Facilities Manager looks to see if the plot can be divided into smaller more manageable sections to give a greater number of applicants on the waiting list the opportunity of a plot”.

The councillors were discussing a Welsh Government Consultation on ‘improving the availability of allotments and community gardens’, which included looking at better ways of making land available for allotments, last Wednesday.

Welsh Labour Councillor Gwyn Roberts, who represents the St Augustine’s ward, said that the town council was “already doing almost all of them” and was “almost exemplar” to how it manages allotments.

He added: “I’m going to suggest all ward members of Penarth start identifying all pieces of land that might be used as allotments then look at ownership, be it ours, the Vale’s or any other private or public body’s, and work with the Vale to substantially increase the amount of land available.”

He added: “All the proposals we seem to be doing are still not meeting the demand.”

Welsh Conservatives Councillor Clive Williams, who represents Plymouth ward, said that he had seen different community groups developing allotments and “using them for the community and it binds them together”. He added that they could look at “pockets of land that are agricultural” that could be developed as allotments.

Labour councillor Philip Rapier, who represents the St Augustine’s ward, said that the Welsh Government consultation was “looking to develop community food production” as there has been a growth in popularity of people having allotments.

“We must move away from medieval attitudes about what allotments are about, as there has been a massive turnaround in the perception of allotments,” he said.

Labour councillor Neil Thomas, who represents the Cornerswell ward, said that local residents should suggest areas that would be suitable for allotments.

He added that the likes of Friends of Belle Vue Park developing land to grow herbs and vegetables showed that “we shouldn’t look at spaces for allotments in the traditional term.”

Councillor Tracey Alexander, who represents the Cornerswell ward, said that that the Vale Council had carried out a land evaluation of areas that could be suitable for allotment space and one of the sites was at the end of her own garden on Cedar Way.

Penarth Town Council has until October 6 to respond to the Welsh Government consultation.