Top five areas where you can get an allotment without waiting years

The search for a good life may have become more of a battle, with waiting lists for council allotments stretching to an average of three years.

However, in one corner of Wales, gardeners may be able to walk onto a plot with relative ease.

Torfaen, north of Newport, has the shortest waiting list for council allotments in the UK, with applicants waiting on average just one month.

That compares to 12 years in the London borough of Islington, the most in-demand location to seek an allotment in the country.

Demand for allotments has risen significantly in recent years, bolstered by the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. The number available has dwindled, by 65 per cent in urban areas over the last 50 years.

Nicola Barker, a senior horticultural adviser for the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), said there was particular rising demand from younger people who are more likely to have less outdoor space.

She said: “It’s not just over-50s that want them, it’s families and there is a definite increasing demand from a younger demographic.”

The result is that waiting lists for council plots stretch to an average of three years across the country.

London has the highest demand, with the average waiting time of nearly six years across 14 districts in the capital. After Islington, Wandsworth has the longest waiting list of 11 years.

Meanwhile in Torfaen, a relative abundance of plots – more than 1,000, compared to the number of people on the waiting lists, just 127 – have cut waiting lists to just one month.

There are a total of 111,566 people on a waiting list for one of the 120,000 council plots across the country.

Nearly 90 per cent of councils have noticed an increase in demand for allotment plots in recent years, according to a survey last year by the Association for Public Service Excellence.

The RHS has also seen a booming trend in gardeners wanting to grow their own fruit and vegetables in the last year, as supermarkets face shortages, with seed sales rising 20 per cent in February compared to the previous year.

Ms Barker said: “The benefits are being able to know where their food is coming from. There’s a lot of interest in organic gardening and knowing what’s been used on your food. It makes people feel a bit empowered. They can know where what they eat has come from, know what they’ve put on it.

“And also there’s just general enjoyment. People that have allotments tend to live longer.”

Councils have begun splitting up their plots in recent years, while private companies have started leasing space to desperate gardeners.

Council allotments are still a cheap way to access green space, with the average annual cost of a plot of just £45.

However, rents have surged in some areas. Glasgow is reportedly planning to increase its prices by 500 per cent from next year, from £34.50 to £170.

The council said keeping prices low was unsustainable as it faced £50 million in budget cuts.

However, Ms Barker said pressure on land use meant that local authorities struggled to set aside space for allotments.

She said: “Whilst government and local authorities do now see the importance of green space, where do you put the allotments? Especially in the South East, the land is always worth more for building.”