A COUNCILLOR has revealed she backed plans for allotments in a West Devon village to help residents soften the blow of rising prices.

Cllr Lucy Wood said the idea of handing West Devon Borough Council land over to Milton Abbot’s allotments association would help people cut their cost of living as her colleagues on the hub committee heard how energy bills are set to soar by up to 50 per cent.

The Buckland Monachorum councillor told the hub committee that the scheme would also help cut food prices if people grew their own.

Her support for the scheme came as leading retailers, including Tescos, warned food prices could soar by five per cent by this Spring.

Cllr Wood said that the Milton Abbot plan and similar projects could be ‘total community’ schemes, with older people who remembered growing their own food passing on their knowledge to younger residents.

She said: ‘It’s right that West Devon Borough Council should agree with this (at Milton Abbot) as council have a statutory duty to provide allotments if they are asked for them.

‘Food supply chains have been affected by Brexit and people in rural areas will be affected by fuel prices if they have to travel to get their food.’

Bere Ferrers representative Cllr Peter Crozier told hub committee members that that there was a waiting list for allotments in his area, where attempts were being made to persuade holders who were not making a great deal of use of their land to hand it over to other residents who would.

Cllr Wood said other similar schemes were also already in existence, such as the Buckland Food Growers group she formed in 2010 and more were planned in the Tavistock area.

Hub committee members were told the Milton Abbot land was originally earmarked for use with housing, but changes in the law allowed the council to get rid of the site for what they could get for it.

The Milton Abbot Allotment Association asked the council to consider a 25-year lease on the site, between Fore Street and Edgcumbe Lane, already partly used as an allotment by one resident.

The hub committee decided not only should a be lease be granted, but the association should be granted a year’s free rent. Asset officer Rob Sekula, who specialises in natural resources and green infrastructure, told the committee the association had ‘tested local appetite’ for the land to be used as allotments and thought there was a need and demand for them.

He added: ‘They highlight the benefits of allotments to the community and natural environment, including mental and physical health and well-being, reduced food miles, community cohesion and habitat for wildlife.’

He added the long lease would allow the association to access funding to meet the ‘relatively modest’ start-up costs and ‘give them the freedom and confidence to manage the site effectively and appropriately for their community.’

Do you have an allotment or are part of a community allotments group or are you living ‘The Good Life’ and have a sustainable plot at home? We would like to talk to you about the joy and cost saving and mental health benefits of growing your own fruit and veg for a forthcoming feature. Please email [email protected]