ALLOTMENT holders have been told they CAN have sheds on their plots...

after a five-month fight with council chiefs.

Despite being told the sheds would make the area look like a "shanty town", campaigners are celebrating after their success.

And the gardeners, from Oatlands Gate Allotments on the South Side, have thanked the Evening Times for backing their campaign.

Allotment bosses said gardeners were leaving the site in droves after losing a planning battle with Glasgow City Council.

But now they will be allowed to put up sheds –under strict conditions.

Claire Shearer, a plotholder at Oatlands Gate, said: "This is amazing news – all the effort that has gone in to this campaign has finally paid off.

"I cannot emphasise how much this means for the site.

"No longer do we have this dark cloud over our heads and we can now get on with making Oatlands Allotments the best looking in Glasgow.

"We have plans to have a community area which will have a barbecue section, children's play area and wildlife pond."

Council chiefs said plotholders would not be allowed sheds on the site after local homeowners complained it would make the area look like a "shanty town".

Gardeners appealed but council bosses turned down their bid, saying the huts would spoil the look of the area, which sits next to the Clyde Walkway.

Their plea was backed by MSPs Nicola Sturgeon and Patrick Harvie, while local councillors Anne Marie Millar and Danny Alderslowe also gave their support.

But after a meeting between plotholders, local councillors and Land and Environmental Services, it was decided they can have sheds.

Council bosses have put strict guidelines on size and colour in place for the sheds – but the gardeners are just delighted to have won their battle.

CLAIRE added: "We would not have got this far without our sheer determination to be treated fairly and the support of Evening Times.

"And councillors Danny Alderslowe, Anne Marie Millar and MSP Nicola Sturgeon – who has been backing our plight 100% – we really cannot thank them enough."

The allotments were created at Oatlands to deal with a lengthy waiting list for garden plots.

Oatlands Gate is one of two allotment gardens at Oatlands, the other being Oatlands Leisure Gardens.

The two sites share one clubhouse and one storage locker – but with 38 gardeners, space is cramped.

They are still barred from putting up greenhouses on their plots but negotiations are continuing.

Claire said allotment holders are in talks with eco architects who will run a workshop on site about how to build sheds from recycled materials.

As well as being banned from erecting huts, gardeners also say the site lacks a water supply.

But contractors have now promised to put in a temporary water tank until a permanent water source is connected.

The £220 million Oatlands redevelopment has been underway for nearly six years but could take another two decades to complete.

It involves the diversion of Rutherglen Road, the creation of new shops, a pondside family pub, new allotments and community facilities and, by converting the B-listed St Margaret's Church, the creation of a business centre.

The development was to have been paid for by the sale of new homes but a slump in the housing market has delayed the project.

The Evening Times reported in January how gardeners at Oatlands Leisure Gardens claimed their new allotments have been built on a former road, without proper drainage, meaning the site floods and is unusable.

A council spokesman said: "We had a good, positive meeting with plot holders on Wednesday, during which a number of proposals were discussed.

"We will be meeting again this week; but we believe we now have a way forward that balances the needs of plot holders and those of the wider local community."

catriona.stewart@ eveningtimes.co.uk