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A lot is in store for gardeners
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Around 25 new allotment plots will soon be available for gardeners in one Chronicle Country town to use.
Shefford Town Council will on Tuesday sign a lease to hire land in front of Shefford Health Centre in Robert Lucas Drive.
The council is leasing the land from the Robert Lucas Trust charity so the allotments can be used by the Shefford Allotment and Garden Society.
The project is coming to fruition after 15 months of talks and research.
Shefford mayor Councillor Paul Mackin said: “The field is ideal for use as a place where we can have allotments and they will be available to hire on an annual basis.
“We will most likely be charging an annual fee of around £30 and there will be 25 plots, with a similar number of half-size ones as well.
“There won’t be a greenhouse as such but we will be putting a disused shipping container on the site that the gardeners can use as an indoor base.”
Keen gardener and Shefford Town Council member Councillor Ken Pollard originally started the initiative after identifying the land.
He said: “Historically speaking Shefford is a town that has rarely been short of allotments and areas where people could have them.
“Over time though new housing and other buildings have been built on the patches of land where the allotments stood and at the moment there isn’t anywhere that anyone can use.”
A representative from the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners previously spoke to town councillors and potential allotment holders about what would be involved.
Meanwhile crunch time has come for allotment holders in Sandy.
On Monday (March 4) Sandy Town Council decided to call time on its allotment site in Potton Road. Tenants were already under a notice to quit in November and councillors confirmed that this will not be postponed.
Existing tenants will be given a rent free period from April to November and the council will offer them practical help with moving and clearing their plots.
The allotments were always officially temporary, although some people have been working on their plots since the 1970s. The search for a new allotment site, which has been going on for a decade, will continue.
Existing tenants will be put at the top of the waiting list.
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Weather for Biggleswade
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North
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Temperature: 11 C to 17 C
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