There are currently 462 people waiting for one of the borough's 471 plots to come free.

Councillor Carole Kavanagh, executive member for Environmental Protection, said: "Allotments not only help to provide a sustainable source of healthy food, but working on them is a good source of exercise too.

"People can learn much from gardening and allotments provide an important habitat for flora and fauna. Families working together also helps to make communities stronger."

Some allotments have been improved over the last couple of years through various grants, several schools regularly visit sites to grow their own fruit and vegetables which are then dished up at lunchtime and Sure Start Children's Centres and the Council's Adult Social Care Day Centres also cultivate plots.

A council spokeswoman said: "The council has introduced a five-year Allotments Action Plan which aims to make sites more welcoming and accessible to everyone, to have cleaner, greener, safer and healthier allotments, working in partnership with groups and agencies to support and develop allotments and encouraging biodiversity and conservation.

"The council is now looking for funding to improve existing allotments and to create new ones."