THE chair of Wirral's Environment Committee has announced an urgent review to tackle the backlog of around 1,600 requests for allotment plots in the borough.

An all-party working group will now liaise organisations such as the Wirral Allotments Society to identify ways to quickly meet the growing demand.

Councillor Tom Anderson (Conservative, Greasby, Frankby, Irby Ward) said: "Allotments have come a long way since the days of The Good Life.

"Alotments are increasingly seen as an important way of encouraging more people to grow their own, for sustainable food supplies and for wider education for children to know that food doesn’t grow in plastic wrapping.

"Sadly, over recent years, while the demand for allotments in Wirral has grown, the Council has been unable to meet that demand, with the result that for every plot we have, there is at least one person waiting for it to become available.

"The last major step forward was the Leasowe Community Allotments in 2012. Since then, progress has pretty much stalled."

Residents and organisations with comments or suggestions are asked to contact Cllr. Anderson on tomanderson@wirral.gov.uk