Topic: research -allotments -new

[jrb111]

I am a student at Glasgow University studying Community Learning and Development .I also work with a group of men who have an allotment at Springburn ,Glasgow.

What I am looking for is information regarding barriers to people using/accesssing allotments .These can be many and varied ,for example the ability for wheel chair use ,issues around where the allotment is (territorialism),perceptions as to who uses allotments ,lack of local knowledge ,cost of starting out -fencing ,plants and so forth .

What I would like is your own ideas ,knowledge and experiences.We all know people that talk about having an allotment but for some reason don't actually realise their intention, their views would also be welcome .

If you could possibly give this some consideration and relay the information of the next couple of weeks I would be most grateful

As this is an open forum I feel that this information may be of use to other allotment associations and the individuals in them.If nothing more it gives time for reflection on other peoples thoughts and may lead to action that can enhance allotment accessibility. 

Many thanks

[caroline7758]

Sounds like an interesting project. I think a lot depends on how much support there is from local councils. Not all allotment sites belong to councils, of course, but mine does so that's what I know about. My local council has very little input, none financially- anyone taking over an allotment is expected to do whatever needs doing to get it workable, which can be a daunting task when a plot may be covered in weeds or brambles. There is no water on site, no security except hedges, and at 18 pounds a year per plot there is not much incentive for them to provide anything. They do very little in terms of promoting the site, either.

I also think that more, smaller plots would be better, as a lot of people don't have time for a big one.
Although there is a perception of allotments being worked by old men in cloth caps, one look at this website will show that that is out of date now.

[SMP1704]

In my experience the only barrier to leasing and working an allotment is the local council.

Will only lease on an annual basis, which means that plots are unworked for 9 or 10 months of the year.

Although the lease expires the end of Sept, the plots are not re-let until end of January.

A lack of vision about how allotments tie in with the reuse, recycle policy

That and petty vandalism and no-one taking the least bit responsibility for it.

Deep breath - well you did ask ;D

[DeeBee]

We have watched a plot on our site change hands a number of times, mainly because people don't fully realise the time and effort it can take to turn a plot around. Some plots on our site are relatively untended , they have been taken on by the people who's gardens back on to them. Fair enough in principal, I would love a lottie at the end of the garden! But it seems to be more of a territorial act than a vegetable growing one! But people are busy and itos lovely to be able to pop in for a cup of tea when its howling down :)

[kt.]

Many councils are strapped for cash due to government funding cuts and would love to be able to sell the land to developers given half a chance. It is always a worry that we will one day lose what is a way of life for all countries in one form or another. Some as a hobby, others it is survival. Will we lose it to genetically modified foods for the council to make a quick buck? Is the government sometimes turning a blind eye to sites being closed in order to fulfil their election manifesto on building houses.

Government and the health services harp on about keeping fit and eating a healthy diet. This does both. Who knows where the allotmenteers on my site will be when the contract expires in 7-8 years time. My kids and others enjoy the allotment. What would they do if they were closed, maybe more kids on street corners - bored.

If plots are not used - what about prisoners in open prisons or those due to be released - serving the community by cultivating these plots to provide food for local services such as schools, care homes or shelters for the homeless. The land would not go to waste and the benefactor would save money to spend on other needed products to assist their service. Funding for running costs would need to come from the relevant service and not the council. I am sure they would not be short of volunteers to have a change of scenery.

[miniroots]

I think that a lot of sites across the country are going through a difficult period of transition - between the Old School and Newbies -
Some sites have seen the changes coming and have grasped opportunities and reaped the benefits of new blood with new ideas - and other sites are having a much more difficult time coming to terms with a changing world.

A lot of people get an allotment for a relaxing, but challenging hobby - they don't necessarily want a fight on their hands every time they ask a question about how the site is run.  This is definately one reason why people disappear after a few months.

And all the other things that people have already said - The work commitment is also magnified if you have taken a plot that is a distance from where you live - which is more common now, with waiting lists being much higher in some areas.

The legal Agreement that people sign when they take on a plot often has quite an unrealistic illustration of how they should manage the space.  Ours says that you should cultivate a quarter in the first three months and the rest in the first year.  This might be achievable if you take on a space that has just been given up and was well kept - but the reality is never like this, and allotment societies should make it clear that if you have to clear brambles from your entire plot then it will take you at least 2 years or more to bring the whole area into cultivation.

Otherwise new people can feel like they are set up to fail.

Hope this helps - if you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask!!

Mini

[sunloving]

I would add something of the northern irelandsituation here .
The allotment act 1922 doesnt make legal provision for allotments in NI.
After the war there were 7000 plus plots in NI now only two councils have sites. The belfast waiting list has 250 names on it.

I have a private plot 7 miles from my rented house which costs a fortune, £200 a year.
Each year this involves some serious saving to afford. The councils say that theres no demand , becuase when you call them to be put on the list they say there is no list.
No list = no demand problem solved.
Sunloving

[Blue Bird]

Hi
I have had my half plot for 12 months now the other half belongs to an adult house for the disabled.  They get their half at a reduced cost and do not do any thing with it !!

I have an agreement with them to use an extra quarter as they do not look after their half.

They only go to the plot in sunny weather and then very little is done.

the council will not do anything about it even when the Secretary has complained.

It is a shame that it is not released so others can use it (I would happly loose the extra quarter to someone who would use it)

We have a good selection of male / female and couples although children are still frowned upon.

Hope this helps. 

By the way I took one on as a release from a stressful job and a demanding family.

BB

[bupster]

Major barrier is waiting lists (if you can't get a plot, how can you use it?) and transport (much stuff needs to be lugged - even if you have the best allotment shop in the world, they probably won't sell things like scrap wood and sheds). Wheelchair access to some extent is a misdirection - you can't work a plot in a wheelchair unless someone else has already cleared it and put in paths and raised beds.

All of which is irrelevant if you live in London and have an eight year waiting list. The lack of provision is the single biggest barrier.

[Lady of the Land]

The initial barrier is the council ( Our allotment office is not working enough hours in the week to allow her to do the job properly- the hours have been reduced recently) People are being told there is a waiting list - it is because the allotment officer is collecting names and is planning to meet a group of people down at the allotments - this can put people off if they want to get going on an allotment and end up waiting several weeks.

As previously said offering whole plots, not encouraging to start with either 1/4 or 1/2

Problems with water supply - Council wanting to reove tanks and have put in stand pipes that are too low.(I know some people do not have any water) but in the south the soil dries to a crust.

[Robert_Brenchley]

The big barriers I see are the waiting lists (not too bad if you really want a plot), and, far worse, the dedication it takes to hack an overgrown plot into shape.

[greenstar]

I agree with Bupster and others who say the main reason lots of people don't have allotments is that there just don't seem to be enough of them.  I'm in the south side of Glasgow and the waiting list for our plots is at least five years. 

This causes another problem.  Because of the high pressure on plot holders to "perform", ie, get their plots up to a high standard and keep them like that, many newbies either feel intimidated and give up or have their leases terminated.  I think it was in Kitchen Garden magazine that I read an article about an allotment site that had given over one plot to being a teaching garden, and all prospective plot holders who had no previous experience could go along for lessons, which could well be a way to to stop high plot turnover.  But then you get even longer waiting lists...

[lee]

The main issue with the Allotments round my way is security. 

The site is Council owned but the Council has very little input AFAIK, maybe annual meetings where there is a little cash given out.  Last year, after much of the members complaining they finally put up new fencing and 'secure' parking (except they didn't put the gates on properly and someone came a long with a van and nicked them - so they had to fork out again  :-[).

There has also been problems with Vandals in some instances but it is few and far between.

I can't really complain about much else, having looked around this site for the past few days I would say I have it very good at our allotment, there doesn't seem to very many restrictions.  The closer to a city you are the more problems and restrictions you have it seems.

Although there is a perception of allotments being worked by old men in cloth caps, one look at this website will show that that is out of date now.

I chuckled at this quote.  It obviously depends on where you live because thats exactly the kind of people who own allotments around my way, a lot of them are pigeon racers as well (at 30, i'm just the bairn and no flat cap as of yet ;)).

[posie]

Hmmm, waiting lists are the biggest problems in my lottie.  I was told two years was the average wait, hence why I'm babysitting a friends while she recovers from an illness.  However, I do get a little irritated that people have to wait two years and yet there are people on site with up to 7 allotments, which is fine if they tend them all, but there are some that don't.  Most of them are a friendly bunch, only had one gender related comment of "bl**dy women and their bl&*dy herbs, they're not real plants" yadayada lol.  Not had anything to do with the management committee, but council are quite helpful, will rotavate to get you started and security is pretty good, although some minor vandalism and thefts occasionally.  Only thing the council do that I find odd is they wait for the allotment to return to its natural state before they give it to someone else  ???  Access tracks are a bit of a nightmare and I doubt if anyone who has to use a wheelchair would find it very accessible.  Kids are welcome as are dogs (on leads).  So all in all, not too bad for my local council who are usually pretty useless!

[davee52uk]

I have two allotments side by side. I got these about 15 years ago because they were derelict. Today I wouldn't be so lucky - there is now a waiting list for them.

Allotments around here (Leamington Spa, Warwickshire) all have waiting lists, but 10 or 20 years ago you could just come up on a Sunday morning, approach the committe, pay your rent and start on the same morning.

Allotments have become trendy due to lots of articles in Sunday newspapers about them. The clientele these days are usually middle class and there are an increasing number of women taking plots either with families, or on their own. Women were hardly ever seen 20 years ago. Also children were a rarity; the plots being the preserve of old men.

People seem to take plots because of concerns about food additives, as a means of exercise and also some people have part of their plots as a large shed and lawn so they use it for barbeques and for the children to play on.

The problems we have are vandalism and plots being taken but not worked on. We alos have problems from large animals such as badgers and deer. We have amended our rules so that derelict plots can be taken over and re-let; in the past we were so short of rents that many plots were rented but never worked on.

[greenfinger]

I've only had an allotment for 2 months, it is run independently and cost £45/year for a full plot. we only have 1/2 because we felt we couldn't do more working full-time.
People there seem friendly but recently I have noticed some resentment between people. I don;t have the time to care about that and i just want to grow nice veg and talk to friendly people.
there are people who fence their plot, others like use don't. the site itself is secure wit high fence and barb wire and locked gate. i think this is really necessary as we are not in the bast area and things can go "missing"!

there are long list for better looking allotment but it is not my concern, ours is close and good enough.
i think allotments are good for the community and they allow people to talk more freely to each other and to intedrate the old and the young, the richer, the poorer together in a very segregated society.

[electric landlady]

Hi there
I would echo much of the above, especially the lack of plots/long waiting lists, and also the difficulty of finding out whether there are any plots locally/how to get one/who to contact etc.

Other barriers to starting out may perhaps be mainly psychological - the perception that it will cost a lot (doesn't have to) or be very difficult (depending on what you grow, just the opposite), or that other plotholders will be unwelcoming of newcomers (this hasn't been my experience at all.) There may also be a public perception that there's no point in getting an allotment because the land will just be sold off for housing in a year or two - don't know if your research will be looking into this but would be interesting to see.

Once you get going, the two main problems I have encountered are lack of time (there's never enough time to do everything I want to) and the weather. Last year was my first year on the plot, and I'm hoping it wasn't typical. Although I am happy to dig in the rain, the sheer monsoon-like weather conditions every time I had a free evening or weekend were a bit more than I had anticipated. At least my plot wasn't submerged or swept away as some were, and plenty of things still grew in the end, but it was frustrating nevertheless. 

Good luck with your project, and with your plot :)