PROJECT REVIEW: REVIVING ALLOTMENTS IN LEICESTER AND LEICESTERSHIRE

THE Unpaid Work unit at Leicestershire and Rutland Probation Trust has cultivated a ‘green regeneration partnership’ that has revived many of the city’s neglected allotment plots.

The partnership has developed with Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire, which is an independent charity and a member of the national organisation Groundwork UK.

Groundwork’s ‘The Can We Dig It’ campaign was launched in April 2007 to encourage isolated and disadvantaged people in deprived wards to get involved in practical activities on city allotments. The campaign has worked with the supervised Unpaid Work teams who have also created additional raised cultivation beds and pathways for gardeners with disability issues.

The teams have been working on seven allotment sites in the city of Leicester and an allotment area in the county of Leicestershire. As the partnership has developed, the charity’s Allotments 4 All Officer Paul Howgill is now providing weekly two day supervision for offenders with the appropriate risk assessments. Work undertaken at the Rowley Fields Allotments, on Leicester’s Meredith Road.

•   Overgrown plots cleared.
• Hedgerows on sites maintained.
• Road repaired.
• Assistance to construct a classroom on a plot designated as a wild life area.
• Recycled large shed.
• A plot 300 yards square now features 8 raised beds, a 30 yard slab pathway, a shed and compost bin. The owner is a registered- blind gardener.
• 3 plots converted for use by ‘less able gardeners’ including 60 yards of slab pathway, 22 raised beds, 3 sheds erected and compost bins.