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^^ Bill has indicated that their tenancy agreement structure is similar to that of Brighton and Hove City Council. On B&H CC's website it indicates that you agree to the allotment rules when you sign the tenancy agreement.
I’ve read this one with a lot of interest as I’m one of the big wigs where Brownowl23 lives and also have 2 plots my self. So what qualifies me to give my answer/opinion? Chairman of BFALG for several years, been growing on allotments for aprox 45 years the last 34 years as a plot keeper in my own right, member of the RHS, NVS, NSALG, Horticultural Judge and member of many plant societies. The driving force behind the regeneration of 2 allotment sites and the person who some credit for saving 23 allotment sites from closure including the site Browowl23 is on.And the other big wig has also been an allotment holder, NSALG member, advisor to ARI as well as working for the local authority. So between us we have a rough idea of allotment keeping.The tenancy agreement that we use has been through the courts a little while ago when we had a person who refused to cultivate their plot to the required level and was approved & complemented by the judge.The questions and answer paper that went out this year is only a guide to why and how we (BFALG & the Council) deal with cultivation surveys here in Bexley. These were carried out 3 times in 2008, 2009 and again last year and we expect them to follow suit this year. Notices are placed on site gates & notice boards advising allotment holders of cultivation surveys & when they can expect them to be done. So no one can say “I didn’t know about cultivation surveys”.These are carried out under guidance of the Allotment Act 1922, the Thorpe report 1969 & ARI etc.The question and answer paper sent out this year is based on how other Council’s have advised their allotment holders (i.e. Brighton & Hove have a similar one on their web site.) This we helped to produce following the feed back from our allotment holders (over 2000 borough wide) via our committee, some who have taken on an allotment with out any idea of what is required to keep an allotment going but like to jump on the band wagon. By Law you have to cultivate 75% of your plot. This means actively preparing the ground and growing a crop i.e. vegetables, fruit (soft) or flowers for harvesting. The other 25% can not be left to detereaite and allowed to go to weed. (This can then be classed as a nuisance, weeds act 1959 etc) We have had this argument thrown back to us when the 25% area is full of uncultivated brambles, weeds or called a wild life area. Within that 25% you should keep your shed (no larger than 6X8) composting area and if you wish to have a seating area. (Dare I say car park)The question from Brownowl23 re her apple tree.I quote the full statement below from the Q & A paper.How can I grow fruit trees without breeching cultivation rules?Planting large areas of fruit trees that exceed the 25% of your allotment plot allowed within your leisure area will be in breech of rules. In order to grow fruit trees and include these within your cultivated area you need to grow crops underneath trees. All fruit trees must be grown on a dwarfing root stock and kept to an acceptable height so they do not cause excessive shade.The area under the trees should be cultivated by keeping it clean, clear and tidy i.e. a lawn with mown grass and not left to grow wild.So DenbyVisitor has hit the nail right on the head.We have had people take on plots and just planted trees on them, then leave. This has caused problems when new tenants then take on a plot and are unable to cope with what is then a forest. We even had someone take on a plot and fill it with native trees (oaks, beech etc) and another person filled a plot with Christmas trees to grow on and sell. Neither of these is classed as allotment keeping. As the trees on her plot are historical then there is no problem with them as they were there when the plot was taken on, they were never mentioned in her previous non cultivation letters, nor was her compost bin or shed. We would however expect the fruit trees to be maintained, this includes pruning the tree to help improve cropping, disease and pest control. However native trees which form part of the hedge line on sites are exempt from this and should not be touched or pruned, as per the tenancy agreement, this is down to the council’s maintenance team and as far as I’m aware there are no hedges around her site. Plot size: our plot size now averages 125sqm as we have found this to be the optimum size that new plot holders can cope with. When we did let 250sqm plots most tenants would repeatedly get a non cultivation letter for only cultivating 50% etc. Delegated management: Here we have 7 sites out of 36 which are self managed under licences from the council. These are quite large sites with over 100 plus plot holders. They keep all the rent they take in, which is used to help improve the site for their allotment holders. These improvements include building toilets, new water tank’s, maintaining & replacing broken equipment etc. the down side is that out of the rents they must pay all the bills for the site i.e. public liability insurance, water bills & equipment maintenance. The site brownowl23 is on is very small and I don’t believe the rental income would cover the insurance payment alone. (Minimum £5 million pounds worth) nor would it cover the water rates.I still have an original tenancy agreement where you could only grow soft fruit on an allotment no fruit trees were allowed, you could only plant crops that could be harvested with 12 months so that stopped you planting asparagus or other long term vegetables nor were flowers allowed.We’ve come a long way since then with greenhouses and poly tunnels on our sites.Can any other council/allotment society boast that they have invested almost £500,000 on site improvements in the past 6 years without hiking up the rents as we have all read about on this site? So my question to Brownowl23, why has she not spoken to her site committee representative or contacted me directly?BillChairman BFALG