Allotment holders whose plots are at risk from car park plans have said they don’t intend to uproot yet.
Gardeners at the Heyes Lane allotments in Alderley Edge have spoken out on parish council plans to build a car park on the site.
The transfer of the village allotments from Cheshire East to the parish council has now been completed.
The parish council says the car park will help alleviate village parking problems and provide spaces for neighbouring Festival Hall.
Councillors say they will provide another allotment site on land owned by Alderley Edge School for Girls at Lydiat Lane.
But allotment holders say they are ready to fight to stay because they have dedicated years of hard work to the plots.
Dominic McDaid, 53, of Moss Road, a semi-retired plumber who was on a waiting list for four years before finally getting his plot, said: “I’ve put a lot of effort into it and am planting a bit of everything.
“They say they want to build a car park, but I don’t think it will work. I hoped to be here for the next 20 years.
“I’ve waited so long for an allotment and don’t want to move now.”
Another allotment holder, who does not want to be named, has had a plot for 41 years.
He said: “The allotment’s been a part of my life for 41 years but I won’t be able to walk all the way down Lydiat Lane carrying tools.
“It will upset me more than anything walking past every day and looking at it concreted over.”
Allotment holder Paul Moore, a dad-of-two, of Strawberry Lane, Wilmslow, said: “I’m learning from the people who have been here a long time. It’s taken them years to cultivate the land.
“We’re going to fight this all the way.”
Alderley Edge Allotments and Gardens Society (AEAGS) has written to the parish council arguing that a tenancy agreement with the local authority, drawn up in 1976, still applies.
John Sanderson, AEAGS chairman, said: “Plot holders continue as tenants of AEAGS and the parish council has no contractual relationship with them.”
Speaking at the latest meeting of Alderley Edge Parish Council, Coun Frank Keegan said: “There’s been a waiting list for some time. Cheshire East blames the society and the society blames Cheshire East, but there is a statutory duty to provide allotments and they have failed.”
A CEC spokesman said that all tenancy agreements were now between AEAGS and the parish council.
Latest figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that there are currently 74 people on a waiting list for allotments in Wilmslow and Alderley, and 161 plots in total.
The plots are:
Dingle Avenue in Alderley Edge – four half plots, 15 full and 11on the waiting list.
Cliff Road in Wilmslow – 14 half, 16 full and 13 waiting.
Land Lane in Wilmslow – four half, 53 full and 23 waiting.
Lincoln Road in Handforth – 23 half, 32 full and 27 waiting.
