Kells council to allocate allotments

Kells Town Council is to invite applications for allotments in a series of advertisements in the coming weeks. However, the allotments will not be available until next year, a meeting of the council heard on Monday night. Area manager Brendan McGrath said it would take 12 weeks to carry out the work on the allotments which would be too late for this year"s season. Members heard that preference would be given to members of the original allotments committee and, if there are any additional plots available, they would be allocated by a draw. The council has yet to decide who will be entitled to apply for an allotment but people living within the new town boundary have been the one of the suggestions put forward. Concern was expressed at the cost of the allotments as the council had proposed prices of €190 for 120 square metres or €265 for 200 square metres. Cllr Tommy Grimes said that when the people involved originally applied to the council for allotments, they believed they would be treated the same way as farmers who had land rented there but they were not treated the same. 'Farmers can get the land at €200 an acre but the allotments will cost 10 times more,' he said. He was told that the set-up costs of the allotments were greater than for farmers. Cllr Oliver Sweeney said the allotments would be a great benefit for people who had lost their jobs and would help keep them occupied. Cllr Sean Drew said that in the current economic climate, people had more time on their hands. Meanwhile, a submission to the council from the Kells Allotments Committee expressed disappointment at the start date of January 2010 as they had been led to believe there would be a 2009 start. They also expressed concern at the proposal by the council to have an initial 40 allotments as they pointed out that in excess of 70 people were interested. The allotments would be located on a tract of land at Loyd.