Topic: allotment laws

[steve9871]

in feb this year i caught the chairman of our local allotments association steeling property belonging to me from my mates allotment we called the police and he was made to return it to me he was then cautioned by the police for theft i reported the inccident to the parish council who still have a part in the running of the alotments they did nothing and this man was allowed to continue as chair the parrish council issued us with a tennancy agreement when the association was started   and it sayes they are responsable for all allotment related disputes and when i pionted this out to them they threatened to have me evicted under rule 9 wich sayes any one not entering in to the spirit of the association will be evicted were do i stand?

[Paul Dee]

Complaining about theft is worse than doing the actual thieving???   :o

If your parish council are as nervous as mine about getting into the local paper for the wrong reasons as mine are, that would be your best bet..

What a strange situation!

[ACE]

get the threat in writing, then go public, the parish council is answerable to the parish and also the main council. most of these small town/parish councillors are co-opted instead of beeing properly elected because we are apathetic about their elections and they usually end up as an old boys club.

[steve9871]

ive got every thing in writing i was told to report the matter to the standards bourd for england but they can only deal with individual councilors and say they see the problem biut dont no wat to do there was another twist to all this me and my wife have had the same allotment plot since 1971 the association started in 2001 this year the chairman refused to accept our rent from us in a hope to get us evicted rule 10 states we must pay our rent to the association bye april 30th and finaly after being fully aware of the situation and refusing to accept it there selfes the parrish councill in june and after threats of eviction accepted it on behalfe of the association but they still refuse to alter the rule and he has already told us that no one on the committee wil accepte it in 2005 so we are going to be in the same situation

[djbrenton]

How was the Association formed and what are the rules pertaining to Extraordinary Meetings? Any chance of posting a copy of the tenancy agreement and lease? Most tenancy agreements only allow for eviction under specific circumstances.

One idea is for you to join Nalgs, they provide allotment related legal advice. http://www.nsalg.org.uk/

[steve9871]

i have been a member of the national allotment association for 3yrs mr stokes was informed of the situation and the advice he gave was helpfull we was made to sighn for tenancy agreement in 2001 we are made to stick to it but they can choose wich part suites them most of the allotment holders out of 63 dont bother so long has they are left alone the association can not even get a quorum for meetings the constititution sayes 12 at general meetings and 5 at commitee  so most of the desicions are made by the chair and his family his brother is a commitee member his other one is treasurer and his cousin his on the commitee

[gavin]

Right enough - the Standards Board can only deal with individual councillors abusing their position in some way.

For a complaint about a council's maladministration (and from what you've said here, the fun and games around your tenancy agreement look very much like that), the route is the Local Government Ombudsman - who will do nothing until you've followed up the council's own complaints procedure.

Given that the parish council is funded largely by a "real" council (same jobsworths, bigger egos), you probably have to consider complaining also to the "real" council.

[However, forgive my cynicism, my impression is that the Ombudsman system appears to be a bunch of SUPER-Jobsworths, with ENORMOUS egos, and a superbly singular inability to read simple English.  :-(]

Good luck to you - all the best, Gavin

[steve9871]

your right gavin tryed the ombsman on the advice of another they dont deal with parrish councills theres got to be a somethink out there to help us surley

[ACE]

Local papers and radio love these stories and if your big council has a website post your complaints on there. Other than that I could always send the boys around ;D

I know this is not really a joking matter but a small smile won't hurt.
  Post your associations address on here and we could all send them a letter of protest, then they might realise that they are dealing with bigger fish and back off.

[gavin]

Hi Steve - what's the relationship between your local council and the parish council?

Just a couple of thoughts

1.  Here in the Leeds area, I think I'm right in saying that some parish councils have their own allotment sites (nothing to do with the city council -??? not sure).  But other parish councils have sites - these are owned by the city council and managed through the Allotments Officer, with the Parish Council as a layer somewhere in between;  I'd certainly be able to raise complaints via the city council allotments office (which then brings your situation within the ombudsman's remit)?  But it may be different where you are?

2.  Again in Leeds, there are at least 2 groups which "look after the interests of allotment holders and sites" - one is the http://homepage.ntlworld.com/philip.gomersall/leeds-gardeners/Leeds and District Gardeners' Federation[/url]; it'd take some digging to find them out.

All best - Gavin

[steve9871]

unfortunately our allotments are run bye the Parrish they pay the lease and the water  with public money  but the association keeps the rent  there are three allotment sites in our village all run by differant authorities but  all are members of the association thats how he is able to keep power all though we on our allotments have no say wats so ever in the running of the other sites they can pass wat they want take our rent for instance we had a pound increese this year and 5 members from the other sites voted for it but we cant say any thing about there rent the pound is nothing ites the princaple if theres any other allotments in the country run like this i would love to here from them

[fat larry]

where are you steve? The local newspaper thing is not a bad idea - if you have evidence to back what you are saying, they like to be very careful not to libel anyone!

[busy_lizzie]

Steve, I had another idea about this.  I wondered whether you had a community policeman for your area.  We have a lovely one, who patrols our allotment site every now and then.  He is really friendly and helpful.  Ring your local policeman station and ask them who covers your area.  Ours is always encouraging people to get in touch with him even if it is just to discuss things going on in the area.  Perhaps he can give you some advice.  busy_lizzie

[Robert_Brenchley]

I had a similar problem with the secretary of our Association and his wife. I warned them off, and the result was that I was reported to the police and the council for stealing from them (they were supposedly 'recovering' their stolen property when they raided my plot), the raids multiplied, and I was drummed out of the Association for 'bringing it into disrepute'. They had multiple derelict plots, piled with junk which they'd obviously pilfered, plus a lot of useful things like thousands of old Victorian edging tiles, which had to have come from round the site. They'd also been maing allegations against people regularly for years, I suspect to cover up for their own thefts. This went on for a couple of years until he died; she has now been voted off the committee, I've been reinstated, and everyone admits that they were responsible for the thefts. It does come to and end, but it was hell while it lasted.

[steve9871]

if it don't come to an end soon that will be the end for me all my sheds were burnt down on sat night with most of my tools rotavatior it it i no who by put cant prove it