Allotment plans for Walsall school land

A new community allotment could be created on an overgrown school site in Walsall under plans revealed today.

The scheme is earmarked for a site at the Mirus Academy in Bloxwich and follows a community orchard planted in the town earlier this year as a fundraising aide for community groups and local charities.

It is hoped the project will help drive down waiting lists for allotments in the borough after it emerged that 152 people were still queuing up for a plot on one of the 10 council-managed sites in June. It is not yet known how the Leamore Lane site would be divided up and how many plots will be created.

The Bloxwich district centre management team are behind the scheme and meetings are scheduled to take place with school staff after the summer holidays.

Nikki Rolls, from the Bloxwich district centre management team, said: "The plans are in the initial stages. We will have a meeting in September to put the plans in progress."

The town's first community orchard, which includes 500 saplings and 40 fruit trees, was planted in Ashbourne Road in March.