The issue of whether to lease land to the Forres Allotments Group was due to be decided by councillors yesterday (Tuesday), but has been postponed until February 25.

The allotments group wish to rent a stretch of land near Bogton Road, which belongs to the Forres Common Good Fund and was previously leased to Christies Elite gardening business and sublet by Elms Nursery.

The four Forres councillors have previously committed their support to the project and said they would do their utmost to help facilitate discussion between the council and the allotment group.

Allotment Group spokesperson Carin Schwartz told the "Forres Gazette" that they were disappointed by the delay, but still keen to press ahead with their plans as soon as possible, and before the deadline for their funding from the Climate Challenge Fund expires on March 31.

She has written to the councillors again to ask for their support to help push the project forward, and said that although she understood the need for patience, fresh hurdles kept being put in their way, and they were worried about the funding.

The group want to rent three and a half acres of land, located adjacent to the A96 opposite Bogton Road, where poly tunnels and a large wooden building and concrete hard standing are already located, erected by Elms Nursery. They have plans to try and rent more land, making a total of 10 acres, including the "seagull field", in the future.

Mrs Schwartz is also chairperson of Forres Neighbourhood Forum and of the Transition Town Forres Group, which is the umbrella organisation incorporating the Forres Allotment Group. She said that she was disappointed by the setback, but hopeful that they would still get permission. She said the decision followed a meeting between representatives of her group and Moray Council officials.

"We met with Roddy Burns, chief legal council for Moray Council last week, and other officials," she said.

"The meeting lasted for 90 minutes and was interesting. The conclusion was to bring our case to full committee and not to the Policy and Resources committee."

Mrs Schwartz said that she had now fully briefed Mr Burns on the Transition Town Forres Group, and said the decision to take the issue to full committee would now allow fuller consideration of the Transition Town involvement in the allotments.

She said the group were disappointed from the point of view that they could not start any real gardening work until a contract was agreed, but hopeful that things might be able to move forward.

The council have suggested a lease of £3,000 per annum for the land, which Forres Community Council said was much more than previously paid by Christies Elite for renting a much larger area.

The allotment project forms part of Transition Town Forres's long-term ambitions towards creating a carbon neutral future for the town, by decreasing food miles used by the public.

They received a grant before Christmas of £184,119 over three years, for various projects, from the Climate Challenge Fund. Part of the cash is earmarked for the allotments, and another chunk to start a farmers' market in the town. The funding criteria means the first year's chunk must be allocated by the end of March.

Mrs Schwartz said that they were now getting nervous about the amount of time the whole issue had taken. She said they first approached Moray Council last summer about getting a portion of land, and agreement was supposed to have been reached last September about the Bogton land. It broke down and was followed by a chain of events which had threatened to put paid to the whole project.

"Moray Council said we didn't have the experience to manage the total 10 acres of land we want back in October," she said.

"We then received a written, signed offer from them for 3.5 acres for 20 years at a rent of £1,900 per annum.

"We agreed with Elm Nursery to pay them £30,000 in consideration of the building, fencing and hard core they had put down, and then in November we were told there was another buyer."

She claimed that the following month they offered to lease 1.46 acres that would be used for allotments, with access rights only through the commercial ground, to accommodate the buyer of the commercial area, which was rejected by the council officer dealing with their case.

"Later in December we were told we have to buy the whole commercial area or we will not get the allotment area at all," she said.

"The area on offer then became 2.29 acres with a rent of £3,000 per annum, with full Common Good Fund rental assistance.

"In January we were told our request for lease would go to the Policy and Resources committee, but the papers were misplaced. We are now told that we will only be able to lease the area if our funders guarantee our rent.

"We are also told that it is unlikely that we will be able to rent the area as Moray Council is concerned about allotments creating a landlocked situation. We are given indications that allotments are seen as a benefit to a select group of 'members' and hence no Common Good Fund assistance will be available.

"Finally, we are told this will take a long time as there is not yet an Allotment Policy in Moray, and no lease will be given until such a policy has been worked out."

Transition Town Forres has a list of more than 70 people interested in allotments and more than 120 people actively interested in their awareness-raising activities.

Mrs Schwartz said that she had written to councillors to urge them to support the allotment group, and particularly in light of efforts made in Moray regarding community engagement, efforts to work towards a greener and healthier Moray, efforts to tackle climate change, efforts to minimize the ef=fects of the current recession and efforts to better utilize open spaces and efforts to build stronger communities.

A council spokesman said that officers had constructive discussions with members of the Transition Town Forres initiative about their proposals to develop an allotments project in the town.

"The council is also aware of similar interest among groups in other parts of Moray," he said.

"The Forres proposals are considerably more extensive than was first envisaged, and officers are now preparing a report which will reflect the more comprehensive nature of what is intended."

He said that report will now go before elected members at the meeting of the council's policy and resources committee on March 10.

"Decisions on the Forres project will be used to inform future policy on allotment developments," he added.

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