More than 600 gardeners are queuing up for  plots on allotments across Dudley borough, new figures reveal.

The credit crunch and soaring popularity of growing vegetables have been cited as reasons for the surge in people clamouring for a garden spot. There are 624 people currently on the council’s waiting list.

That figure is up from 579 in March last year. Of the 34 sites in Dudley,  four are run by the council and the rest are managed by allotment associations. There are a total of 1,262 plots throughout the borough.

Cradley Gardening Club chairman Mick Poultney said he believed the surge in people wanting to grow their own produce was down to the tough economic climate.

The 57-year-old, of Colley Gate, who has a plot on the Abbey Road allotments, said: “People like the satisfaction they get from growing their own vegetables and it works out cheaper than buying them from the supermarkets.

“It is also a good way to keep fit and it’s a healthy hobby as you spend so long in the fresh air. This is why there is such a long waiting list. The cost of renting an allotment is not very expensive either.”

In September the council opened a new allotment with 16 spots at Beacon Rise in Sedgley. The overgrown site, which had unused for 60 years,  was cleared by convicted offenders as part of the probation service’s Community Payback scheme.

Dudley Council spokesman Chris Howes said the authority would not know if it could offer to create more plots until next year’s budget was finalised.