Topic: Help: We need more allotments in the UK.

[cmwebb]

Hello,
I am an architecture student studying in London and am doing research about allotments, the kind of culture surrounding them, and looking into how more allotments could be integrated in new development plans in the city.
If anyone has a few minutes to spare I would be extremely grateful if you could answer these questions, as brief or as lengthy as you’d like. I’m hoping our research and proposal can help spark change in how vacant land in the city is used and how new areas are planned, to meet the huge demand for allotments as proven by decade long waiting lists.
Thank you all!

What is your primary motivating factor for having an allotment?
In which city/borough is your allotment?
How big is your plot?
How many plots are there in your area?
How far is your plot from where you live?
Does your home have any green space?
In which seasons do you grow?
What do you grow in your allotment? And how much?
Does the food that you grow replace items you would otherwise purchase at a store or market?
Does the amount of money you spend tending to your plot compensate for the money you save on groceries?
Are your meals healthier because of the food you grow in your allotment?
How much time do you spend tending to your allotment?
Did you have to wait on a waiting list for your plot? How long?
How long have you had your plot?
Are you concerned with “sustainability” and the current “green movement”?
How has having an allotment changed your lifestyle?
Anything else you’d like to share?

[Unwashed]

Hi cmwebb

Welcome to A4A.

As you've already posted this here perhaps you'd like to lock this thread so you kppe all the discussion in one place.

[tonybloke]

where do you want the answers posted?

[Digeroo]

I am very interested in how it would be possible to bring back some of the 1940s allotments.  As a child (1950s) there were allotments for example all along the railway tracks on both sides of the fences.  Every vacant space was used.  Every Park had two or three rows along the edges.  By the time I left school most of them had long gone.  The space was available then I suggest it needs finding again.

I have only had an allotment for 10 months and have been absolutely amazed at just how much veg can be produced in a small space.  Mine is about 6.5 rods.

I do not think I have saved any money, but the quality, quantity, variety and above all the taste is supreme.  I have hardly bought a vegetable since beginning of July.  But it is also a great social hub and great exercise.

Suggest you produce a website or blog with a form people can fill in.

If you are going to analyse the results you presumably need more standardised questions and answers formats.

A neighbour persuaded me into one though I have wanted one for about thrity years and I have not regretted it even for one minute.