Independent Formby parish councillor Sean Brady wants Sefton to increase the number of allotment sites in the village

Nov 25 2009 by Tom Duffy, Formby Times

INDEPENDENT Formby parish councillor Sean Brady wants Sefton Council to increase the number of allotment sites in the village.

Cllr Brady, who is currently on the waiting list for a plot, has identified land surrounding Holy Trinity primary school , the Ravenmeols Centre, the Gild Hall and Dobbs Gutter as four potential allotments.

Sefton owns the land surrounding Holy Trinity, the Ravemeols Centre and Dobbs Gutter, while the field behind the Gild Hall belongs to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese.

Formby currently has self managed allotment associations at Altcar Road and Hoggs Hill Road.

Sefton Council has initiated a public consultation on the allotments on their website, and Cllr Brady's blog provides a link to the web page.

Cllr Brady said: “At the last count there were between 50-100 residents on the local waiting list in Formby. According to the notes on the survey document: 'Waiting lists for allotments vary across Sefton, between an estimated 4 to 10 years'.

“Sefton MBC came into being in 1974, it's 35 years late in starting to produce a Strategy for allotments.

“Its existing provision is utterly inadequate and the management process very unclear and the service under-resourced.”