Ian Woolard- Allotment Officer

Managing 1,568 plots spread over 30 sites across the city, Ian Woolard has worked as the City of Edinburgh’s Allotment Officer for over three decades. During this time Ian has seen a growing demand for plots across the city. This has been particularly apparent during the COVID pandemic, an event which has catalysed a surge of interest in urban green space, local food production and community action.

With the convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global climate crisis there has been a growing recognition of the importance of place-based climate action and community resilience. As cities across the UK and across the world search for ways to be more sustainable, urban food production could provide an important tool for local governments.

However, while there is much talk about the importance of ‘place-based action’, in many ways this phrase remains abstract, romanticised and (in a practical sense) under-resourced. In contrast to the high-level, detached, fanciful imaginings of ‘place’ described in national government policy documents, people like Ian spend their lives embedded in the practical and often messy realities of local places.

Alice: It would be great if you could start by just describing your job and explaining how you became the Allotment Officer at the City of Edinburgh Council.

Ian: I’m probably one of the country’s longest serving allotment officers, I’ve been doing it since 1992. So I’ve been doing it for twenty-nine years. I kind of got into it by chance, I mean I’ve always liked gardening but the chap at the time- Malcolm McHardy, he was a real character- he was almost at retiring age and he didn’t really care for his job that much then when I first took over in 1992 the estate was in a bit of a mess. I’d estimate that maybe around 20% of the plots were overgrown and I think at that time the waiting list was quite low I mean, people weren’t looking for plots then so some people back then would have the chance to have two plots. So it was a fairly slow start, it’s one of these things and as the years go by I’ve enjoyed it more and more. The allotments are full of interesting characters and I’ve never been able to break free of it since and I’m still here all these years later. Even after three decades I never ever get bored by allotments because there’s just so much goes on. There’s always something happening, either people falling out with each other or issues that need resolving. I can honestly say I’ve never been bored in almost three decades.  

Alice: I mean, it sounds like a great job. I don’t think there are many people who have been working in the same place for almost 30 years who can say they’ve never been bored!

Ian: Absolutely. You do need a degree of diplomacy when there are issues or people have disagreements but I think the good thing is that because I’ve been doing it for so long I kinda know a lot of people and you get to know if people are genuine or if they’re just wasting your time. I think when I retire I think I’ll write a book on my experiences. I mean some of the things I’ve seen have just been incredible.

Alice: That would be great, I bet you could get some great photographs as well! What is it you do on a daily basis? Is it quite hands on or do you get tied up with the admin?

Ian: It varies through the year. For some strange reason I work longer hours in the winter time and that’s all about getting on top of the admin, getting the bills sorted for January, getting the waiting lists in order. Then in the spring time I’m allocating plots, I’m getting the water on, people are coming back in droves by that point and that’s when the problems start with folk falling out with each other. Summer time is all about maintaining the plots so I spend a lot of my summer cycling around the sites – keeps you fit this job, it really does, there are. A lot of sites to cycle round I tell you! So the summer is about making sure the estate is fine, making sure people are doing their plots. Inevitably there are people who aren’t doing their plots well so they’ll go on my ‘keep under observation’ list and I’ll let that float for a little while and from September onwards I’ll go on what I call my ‘autumn purge’ so the folk who haven’t been doing that well I try and either get a half plot back from them or I try and persuade them to go on back on the waiting list. So that frees a lot of plots up and I can put a lot of new people on. December time is the only time I can breathe easy but I never get bored. It’s just myself doing the job and its quite a big estate to look after but it’s like anything, when you’ve done it for years you get into the rhythm of it.

We’ve got a very good working relationship with the Allotment Association, they keep me and the Council on our toes. Because we have a good working relationship we’re not getting the councillors involved. We’re all happy, all working together trying to manage the estate we have and trying to expand it.

Alice: And could you describe the impact that the pandemic has had on demand for plots?

Ian: Its been huge, I mean over the pandemic the waiting list has increased about eight-fold. Because people aren’t going to work every day they have more time to appreciate the value of green space. The vacancy rate has also fallen quite a bit because people have more time to spend at their allotments. So over the last year I think the waiting list has gone up by something like 1400. I mean, I’ll be honest, anyone applying for a plot now is going to have to wait a long long time. Some of the waiting lists have always been quite long but its just gone absolutely mental in the last year, in fact, some of the plots I gave away in April people had been on the waiting list since 2008! So somebody applying for a popular plot just now would have to wait for up to 17 years.

I mean, I look at my inbox every day and there are the same questions like where am I on the waiting list? How long will it be until I get a plot? But I try and keep it the same message that I send out to people in response or else I’ll struggle. The waiting list itself if quite complex because there are 31 sites that people can put their preference down for. But the nice weather always makes my inbox really busy with those questions.

Alice: How important have allotments been for people over the last year?

Ian: I think hugely important. I think because more people are at home, they’ve got a bit more time on their hands and there’s been a sudden appreciation of green space. I mean, I’ve never seen the parks so busy in my life. I think people who have allotments since pre-pandemic consider themselves very lucky.

Alice: And what kind of lessons do you think can be learned from the past year in terms of the value of green space, of urban growing, community resilience? 

Ian: I think we need to focus much more on our green environment, not just allotments but parks in general. As a city council we don’t spend nearly enough money on green spaces compared to some cities but I suppose it’s difficult when you’ve got politicians trying to balance budgets. But a city without green spaces would just be horrendous.

If you look around Edinburgh right now its all very nice but there are spaces that could be enhanced and expanded to meet the demand for urban growing. If you take bowling greens as an example they are a potential way to expand the number of allotments because I don’t think bowling will ever be as popular as it once was, so I think that will be the next project and I think it’d be an excellent use of green space.  

Alice: You mentioned that demand for allotments has risen since you started in 1992, why do you think that is? How have the demographics changed?

Ian: I remember when I started on the allotments in 1992 it was definitely a much older generation of men. You know, older men with the cloth cap and things like that, they were very much the allotment mainstay back then. It started to change around 2000 when there were a lot more women taking plots. I think now if we did a survey today we’d probably find that over 50% of the plot holders are women so that’s definitely been a big change. We’ve also seen a lot more families taking plots to teach their children about where their food comes from. But I don’t think the demand for plots is going to go away, I mean I think Edinburgh has more people on the waiting list than any other city in Scotland.  

Alice: Even in the past 15 years that my mum has had her allotment at Warriston the demographics have changed a lot. I think it has become a lot more of a middle-class hobby as well which is really interesting.

Ian: Yes, you’re right, Warriston is a very good example where we’ve lost a lot of the old brigade there over the years and it’s become a very sought-after site.  

Alice: And are you in contact with other allotment officers in other areas? 

Ian: Yeah so I’m part of a tri-party group so I get to know what’s going on in Fife and Glasgow. Its only the three of us at the moment but we’re trying to get more people who look after allotments involved in this.

Alice: What do you think the role of local authorities is in supporting urban growing and what could Edinburgh city council do to support the demand?

Ian: I think the Council is doing some things and there is a commitment to get more growing space which is good. There are also a lot of other organisations involved in growing which is really good. What we as the council are trying to do no is reach out to communities to see whether there are an new sites that they would like to take on as a community group. I think there needs to be a bit more joined up thinking between different groups to see what we can do because community growing is going to be a big thing in the future. Getting the land is always the big barrier and it can be quite controversial. You’ve got to choose the sites quite carefully. It’s an interesting time and I’m getting busier and busier all the time and I’m getting quite stretched with my day-to-day stuff.  It’s a big estate to look after and if it expands much more I am going to struggle to keep up with everything.

Alice: It strikes me that there is so much potential in this area and there’s clearly such a big demand. It would be great if there was more capacity within the council to support you but I know it’s a challenging time for local authorities at the moment.

Ian: Absolutely, and it’s great to see more women and young people getting involved. I mean I got involved in gardening as a kid, helping my dad in the garden. But yeah, I’m the only person in the Council that does this kind of work and its really interesting but with the growing demand it would be good to have more resources and support to really make the most of it. 

Alice: What has been the role of community for people in allotments over the last year?

Ian: I think its been really important for people to have those communities and that sense of connection to other people. I don’t think we realised how valuable that was until now. It can be mixed though and its not all good. For example because a lot of people have bene home working for the past year they are going to the plots more regularly and sometimes just want to have some space which can be difficult if there are more people on the allotments.

So do you help out at your mums allotment at all?

Alice: Yeah we go down their quite a bit and it was a brilliant place to go during the pandemic just because it was that bit quieter. The fox that lives on the plots has just had four cubs as well so I’m looking forward to seeing them soon.
Ian: Oh yeah of course the fox. Do you know there was a plot holder on Ferry road who had hies wallet stollen last year and it turned up at Warriston under a cabbage plant just before Christmas. Everything was still inside so obviously the fox had stolen it and buried it there!