New Lyme Regis allotment bid is 'doomed'

By Adrianne Maslen

Lyme Regis News 2 July 2009

LYME Regis Allotments Association says it wants nothing to do with the new plots planned for Strawberry Field.

The town council is proposing to create more plots on one section of the empty field in Lyme Regis to help clear the waiting list of 37 people.

But the town’s allotment association said the plan is doomed. Secretary Tony Rice said: “The association does not want anything to do with it. The council must make themselves a new committee and run it themselves.

“We don’t think it will be a success because of the soil, the deer can get in and there are rabbits up there and it’s too far away for people to get to.

“Two people have tried to use Strawberry Field for commercial purposes and after the one season they have given up because the ground is very stony. When the council approached me I told them we would need 10 tonnes of top soil and a 7ft high fence to stop the deer.”

The association was happy to hand over its waiting list and the council is currently contacting everyone on the register before it decides how many new plots it will create.

The association has been looking into other sites around the town, including Woodland Trust land at Slopes Farm, and Mr Rice said they would be happy to consider other locations.

He said: “If the council have somewhere else in mind I will have a look, but I’m not sure where in Lyme Regis you are going to get the land.”

The wait for a plot is currently two to three years, which Mr Rice puts down to the credit crunch. “Everyone is going mad now because the papers say to grow your own veg during the credit crunch. It’s ridiculous for people to think they can just have a nice plot of land and all they have got to do is plant it – it’s not as easy as that.

“In two or three years time when the credit crunch is over, nobody will want to know then.”

Strawberry Field, which is currently used for grazing, has been unused since Lyme Regis Town Council bought the site in 2001 for £56,000 and set it aside for leisure and recreation purposes.

A new pitch and putt course is due to open there soon.