GREEN-FINGERED campaigners want to breathe life back into overgrown allotments.

Cowdenknowes Residents’ Association is in talks with council bosses over transferring land which sits between Notre Dame High School and Abbey Vets in Murdieston Street.

It is hoped the ground will be cleared and the allotments will soon be yielding a bumper crop of vegetables.

Association secretary Ivy Siegfried, who has returned to the fold after stepping down, said: “We live locally and we want to see the land being used and I know it used to be allotments.

“I know Caddliehill and Wellington Street allotments have waiting lists.

“Everyone seems to want an allotment nowadays.” The group would need to from a separate committee as part of the process and if everything goes well they would administer the site, renting out plots.

Ivy is hopeful that Notre Dame High would be keen to take on some plots for pupils to grow vegetables.

She also believes the project would encourage people to grow their own food and bring the entire neighbourhood closer.

She said: “We could build a hall and meet up there in the summer for a barbecue and try to bring everybody back together.” Committee members also intend to visit the recently opened Belville Community Garden to pick up tips on funding and how to run the facility.

A spokesman for Inverclyde Council said: “The piece of ground is a former allotments and the council has been in discussions with the residents’ association about bringing them back into use.

“The association require to form a suitable body and come back with a business plan outlining how the allotments would be run.”