City allotment sites dropped from plans despite rising demand

Nicholas Thomas, Local Democracy Reporter

More than 100 new allotments could be created across a city as councillors look to tackle growing demand for gardening space, despite opposition from residents concerned about losing valued green spaces.

The new plots across Newport are earmarked for five sites where a recent public consultation found support outweighed any concerns.

The five shortlisted sites for “further assessment and development” are at Christchurch Road, Alway; Bettws Hill, Bettws; Centurion Gate, Caerleon; and at Oliphant Circle and Russell Drive, Malpas.

Three other sites included in the initial proposals have been dropped following local opposition, including one in Rogerstone which drew more than 200 objections.

Newport City Council said it launched the consultation earlier this year in response to “rising demand for allotments and a current waiting list of over 90 residents”.

It manages 20 of the city’s 22 allotment sites, and in recent years has restored 111 plots in the Gaer ward and a further 19 elsewhere.

Despite those increases, the council said “demand still exceeds supply” and there are only “limited” opportunities to further expand existing sites across Newport.

More than 500 people responded to the council’s consultation, with around 70% saying they would prefer an allotment to be within ten minutes of where they lived.

A council report shows there was “strong” or “high” support for most of the eight candidate sites, although proposals for allotments off Hillview Crescent in Lliswerry, and near Ruskin Avenue in Rogerstone, drew “significant” opposition.

More than 200 people signed a petition against the Ruskin Avenue proposals, and in July a council scrutiny committee heard locals wanted to protect the site as a “a vital shared community asset that supports neighbourly connections and outdoor activity”

Several Lliswerry ward councillors also raised concerns about the Hillview Crescent site.

Cllr Mark Howells said residents were worried about the potential loss of an area where children play, while Cllrs James Peterson and Andrew Sterry both described the site as a “valuable green space”.

The council has decided not to proceed with further assessments of those two sites, and has also dropped a potential site at Larch Grove, in Malpas.

There, ward councillors James Clarke and Jane Mudd said “this small, enclosed site… is a safe, well-used public space and should remain so”.

Cllrs Clarke and Mudd also said they disagreed with proposals for new allotments at Russell Drive, based on residents’ feedback.

They said the council had identified three candidate sites in their ward, which “places an unfair burden on the people of Malpas” and could lead to increased traffic and parking pressures.

In response, the council said Russell Drive was “capable of contributing additional plots to meet city-wide demand”, but its inclusion in the next stage of assessments “does not require the site to proceed”.

It added factors such as “strong local opposition” and potential road safety issues “provide reasonable grounds to remove Russell Drive from the programme” in future.