Topic: Allotment elves or ... ?

[timnsal]

:o Oh no! I think I'd rather have to do the digging than have someone else spraying weedkiller everywhere. Having seen your other thread, I'd certainly ask the council to find out what she's used.

I haven't a clue what my plot number is.  :-[

[amphibian]

My saga is getting even more silly.

The council have written to me to ask me if I will give up the top of my allotment and let the intruder have it. I have said no.

The intruder told the council that it was unused and overgrown and that she had to spend ages clearing the grass and brambles. In reality the couch had been mown and  was short and  the 'brambles' were a small and well controlled cultivar blackberry that was shared between me and the old lady that used to possess the neighbouring allotment, the one that the intruder should be on.

The plot that the intruder should be on is very small, and I understand her heart ache, so I rather generously offerred to have the boundary between our two plot altered to even them up a bit.

I was told that the issue was the hard work she had put in not the space. This is total nonsense as the sum total of her work is spraying with chemicals and then lightly digging over the dead earth, unless she considers the removal of my compost bin from my lower plot to be hard work. The daft thing is that her real plot is bare soil, as the old lady dug it over in November before her health changed, apart from a small patch of grass which has been largely killed by the weedkiller that has clearly blown through the fence (imagine how happy her neighbour would have been if her neighbour was not actually herself).

I am beng kind, considerate and understanding because I do not want to get involved in feud with a future neighbour, I just can't believe that anyone thinks it reasonable that I should have to negotiate for my own plot. I get the distinct feeling that the council are very much on her 'side'.

[timnsal]

You are being incredibly restrained about all this.

Is the intruder trying to get part of your plot in addition to her own? From what you've said, it sounds like she has ignored her own plot so far.

How do the areas compare? I was wondering if you could suggest a swap - your top section for her whole plot. If she's really bothered about the work she's done, not the space, maybe you could let her have the nicely poisoned bit in exchange for the bare soil on the other side? Just a thought.

Good luck.

Sally

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'd be raising cain about it. Don't give in! You've paid for the whole of your plot, not part. If they don't like what they've got, they should be asking for a move, not harassing you. Removing your compost bin was theft, too.

[tabbycat]

that's terrible - don't give in!

Do you have any photos of the plot that shown that your top bit wasn't overgrown? Or could you see if any of the other plot holders who have been there longer would be willing to back you up? you should definately take the matter to the chairman of your particular site before it all gets really ridiculous - heaven knows what the intruder is telling the council. As Robert says, you have paid for your plot and put the work in - stand firm.

Tabbycat

[tabbycat]

I was told that the issue was the hard work she had put in not the space.......
I just can't believe that anyone thinks it reasonable that I should have to negotiate for my own plot. I get the distinct feeling that the council are very much on her 'side'.

have been fumimg about this all the way to school and back! >:(

imagine this scenario - it's not that different and i bet the council would be behaving differently too..... neighbour moves into their rented house and thinks, "my garden's bit small. i know, I'll pinch a bit of the one next door, it's bigger than mine". So they move the fences, spray weedkiller on what's growing there and then go and tell the council that they want that bit of garden.

You then complain - it's your garden, your boundaries have been moved,  your plants have been killed.

The council come and look and say "well a great deal of effort has gone into moving those fences and clearing all your plants. you're going to have to negotiate to get the garden back"
there is no way on earth they'd be able to say that and the intruder wouldn't get away with it.

Why do people think that an allotment is any less precious. If she isn't happy with her site, she should have thought of that before she took it on.

I'm so angry about this! (can u tell?!)

[supersprout]

IMHO this is completely out of order amphibian!
It sounds like the Council offical(s) involved are trying to cover their backs for making mistakes and/or inappropriate promises to the other lady.
Would it help do you think to write a measured letter to the named Director of the division responsible (it's Environment & Community here) and send a copy (and separate covering letter) to the Chief Executive asking for the matter to be resolved without further prevarication? This approach has worked wonders for me in the past :-\
All you want is to have your contract with the Council honoured!
It's the sort of situation that would have me wailing and running for cover under a large rock, I must say. Hope you do better :-*

[SMP1704]

This goes from bad to worse.  When you first posted about the weedkiller, I thought "well aggravating, but just a setback and you can sort things out with the confused woman" but now this woman is after your plot >:(  I think she is using classic passive aggressive behaviour to get her own way, so DO NOT give in.  So what if that bit of your plot was in less than show conditions? you have paid your rent, the condition thereafter is between you and the council and nothing to do with a newbie tenant...........grrrr

I support all the advice given and would also suggest that you cc the letters to your local councillor.  I find that always concentrates minds at the Town Hall.

Also I find that a face to face conversation works really well, perhaps with the Allotment Officer in attendance to mediate, rather than this you said, she said, I said 3 way conversation where misunderstanding is bound to occur.

I know these situations are never easy to deal with, but you are in the right, so stand up for them :)

Good luck :)

[lancelotment]

What a nerve!!  Your neighbour has made a mistake and wants you to pay the price.  I'm afraid if I were you I'd be a bit less restrained (but then I am 6' 3" and 14 stone) and tell her where she can shove her weedkiller.  The council, as ever, will always take the path of least resistance for them.  They won't tell her she's in the wrong and they should.  Stand your ground!!  I'm normally not easily rattled but your neighbour has really got up my nose and I don't even know her.   Lance

[Robert_Brenchley]

Talk about boundary disputes, when I was little we lived in a house in Oxford which my parents bought for £500. One side and the end of the garden were brick walls, the other was delapidated cleft chestnut. After we left, the new owner started a court case with the neighbour, who they reckoned had taken a foot of their garden. I don't know what the result was, but it dragged on for years. And here they are expecting you to roll over!

[kitty]

I think she is using classic passive aggressive behaviour to get her own way, so DO NOT give in. 

-exactly what i was thinkingsmp!!and if you let her win  this one ...what if she decides that you're spuds are better than her spuds? >:(
a bit of whining to the council and shazzam!!!!they give her your spuds! :o

dont give in amphib-as lancelot said-we are all behind you giving you a shove-i'm a foot shorter and 4 stone lighter than him  but  i dont mind coming round and giving her what for! >:(
blinkin cheek!!!
the nerve of some people!
kitty

[amphibian]

Thank you for your support everyone.

I have dug over the partially usurped area of my plot and planted my main crop potatoes on a third of it, so there is no way the council can make me budge now, and there is no way I will either.

I'll pop my three sisters beds on the rest later in the season.

I have seen nothing of the lady in question, she has not shown her eagerness to takle her true plot nor responded to my offer to adjust the boundaries. I think she must have taken up a plot somewhere else, and I doubt I'll miss her.

I've come out of this minus my favourite jam and pie blackberries, and she has come out of it minus the cost of her nasty chemicals and a little 'hard work'. No-one is happy.

[timnsal]

Mystery solved. I met the neighbouring plot holder today for the first time, and he apologised for his grandson's trespassing. Said he'd made some remark (before I took the plot) about not letting any weeds grow there, and next thing he knew, the lad had started digging.

Assured him I didn't mind at all ;D Just glad to know what had been happening.

Hope you're getting on ok now Amphibian.

Sally

[saddad]

We are a private site but boundary disputes can get really petty, I had to alter the rent book by 15p (on £10pa) because two tenants could not agree, one of them was related to the chairman!
 :-X
 ???