Allotment demand exceeds supply

12.09.22pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 12th May 2008

Residents who want allotments are being told that they will have to wait years.

Even those allotments which until recently had unused plots, like Markhole in Hampton, are now heavily over subscribed.

Vincent Cable was highly critical of Hounslow council which has displaced Richmond as well as Hounslow residents from a popular site in Whitton Dene on somewhat dubious grounds of 'contamination'. The site sits empty. Vincent Cable said: "residents and I protested over the closure years ago. The grounds were never properly explained. No risk assessment was ever done. The site is now empty".

"Yet we now have people queuing for years for an allotment. The current enthusiasm for home grown, organically produced, food has enhanced the demand".