Private Allotments - How much do you or would you pay??

Started by kath-epona, February 07, 2011, 08:06:45

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kath-epona

Hi everyone, newbie online. I know that a lot of councils have waiting lists for their allotments and that private allotments are springing up?

What is the going rate for a private plot?

I was looking into opening one, providing 1/4 acre plot per person and a share in a very large greenhouse. What what be a fair monthly price?

thanks everyone and happy growing ....

kath-epona


Unwashed

Hello Kath, welcome to A4A.

1/4 acre (40 pole) is a very big domestic plot but not big enough to do anything commercial.  You might get takers but it'd put a lot off I suspect, you should maybe think about 5 and ten pole plots.

Whether you get punters depends on how close you are to people.  If you're slap-bang in the middle of Ashford then you could be swamped, but if you're a couple of miles out of town I'd be surprised if many people would make the effort.

£120 for a 40 pole plot is quite a cheap rate per pole but £120 is a lot of money for an allotment, especially when 10 poles provides for most people and 40 poles will be too much to manage.  £30 for a ten pole plot is good value, and £60 might not put many people off.

There is a commercial allotment site in Kent - The New Allotment Company site at Honnington and they comparable to what you're thinking off.  Their most expensive offering is a 3.5 pole plot for about £40 per pole, but their rates come down for bigger plots to something like £13.50 - £1250 for what they call their Business Allotment at just a bit over half an acre, and that's still very expensive for an allotment, and utterly preposterous for agricultural land unless you're growing opium or something.

What facilities do you have.  Toilet, site shop, communal area, car park, water taps, security?

If you're running this as a commercial venture think about installing a site association to manage it under licence because it might not pay for you to do the administration/lettings/customer care yourself.  There might be an allotment society in your area who would operate it as a satelite site to their own.
An Agreement of the People for a firm and present peace upon grounds of common right

shirlton

I think that your location would would have to be taken into consideration.Folks will pay more in some areas than in others
When I get old I don't want people thinking
                      "What a sweet little old lady"........
                             I want em saying
                    "Oh Crap! Whats she up to now ?"

saddad

Hello Kath and welcome to A4A. At the NSALG training on Saturday the price of a 10 pole (300sq yard) Allotment in 1971 at the prices then would now be between £100-£180 depending on which prices index you used..
The city average here was about £60 pa a couple of years ago. I would pitch around £50 per 10 pole to see what interest you raise... there may be local groups already trying to start some off which could give you ready made self-management...
the allotments regeneration initiative www.farmgarden.org.uk/ari ari@farmgarden.org.uk 0117 923 1551 may be able to put you in touch...  :-\

Kea


Digeroo

I am on a private allotment and 10 pole size is £75m and half that £45.  But I would expect to have to pay more nearer a town and particularly in Kent.  We have water but no loos and use of a communal shed.   We are not allowed sheds and greenhouses on the plots or livestock. 

Technically we are growing spaces rather than allotments since allotment acts do not apply.  We have an annual contract.

We are just starting the third year and have about seven more spaces this year.  They are proving very popular. 1/4 acre is rather large, most people on our site have about 5 poles. 

Works very well we are very pleased with the scheme.  It is so nice to hear that people are opening up private growing spaces.  Goodluck with your venture.

bigcatmaniac

Hi there

I am on a private allotment in the Vale of Glamorgan -a lovely rural spot only 10 miles outside Cardiff. It's pricy - basically £1 a day (£30.33) per month. But it's still cheaper than going to am gym! I have a half plot (about 125sqm). Not sure how many poles that is. It's slightly better to take a whole plot but I'm new to this and wanted to avoid an expected 8 year wait for a Council one. We have running water, heaps of manure, a composting toilet, picnic tables, mowed shared paths and the turf is lifted and left for you when you take the plot. See www.growplots.co.uk for more info

Good luck with your venture.

Bigcat

kt.

Quote from: bigcatmaniac on February 19, 2011, 19:20:39
It's pricy - basically £1 a day (£30.33) per month.

£360 per year :o :o :o Somebody is having your eyes out.  Extortion. 



Quote from: kath-epona on February 07, 2011, 08:06:45
I was looking into opening one, providing 1/4 acre plot per person and a share in a very large greenhouse. What what be a fair monthly price?
I certainly  wouldn't be paying the above price.  Average price around here is £25 per plot; mine is a council plot but a nearby site is private land owned by a Lord.  Tenants pay around £30 per year for one of his plots. 
All you do and all you see is all your life will ever be

Ellen K

I'm on a council site and pay £40 for 300 sq yards = 10 poles (?).

They could probably push the rent up to £80 but after that people would start to drop out.  But some of those people would be the ones who aren't doing much cultivating.  And some people may downsize to half a plot.  So it would free up plots for the waiting list.

You couldn't rent many plots at Growplot's rates but maybe they haven't got many plots.  On our site, only one plot has a polytunnel and its getting on a bit now.  But you go to some sites and see loads of them and fancy greenhouses and secure metal sheds.  These things don't come cheap so clearly there are people out there prepared to spend significant sums on their plots.

I've been watching You Can't Take It With You, when Sir Gerry looked at the Dutch couple with a Garden Center and 6 kids, he said that one son was working on products that don't make any money and they showed a quick shot of loose seed potatoes.  It was quite telling, you have to work quite hard to make money selling to allotment holders I suspect.  I wouldn't invest in the set up of a new site then charge £30 per plot, that's for sure

Unwashed

I'm sorry, but I'm getting a bit cross about this.

Parish councils outside london have a legal duty to provide sufficient allotments, and they have the power to compulsorily rent the site at an agricultural rate (like 50p per pole) so there is very little justification for any but the most urban parishes to have anyone on their waiting lists whatsoever, and because council sites can be self-managed for £3-4 per pole there is no sense in private allotments charging more unless the parish council is either delinquent in its duty, or complicit in the scam.

If someone wants to pay £350 for their allotment then they have more money than sense and that doesn't bother me one iota, but I am seriously bothered about the many working people who are denied an allotment because of waiting lists and extortianate pricing - and I think we should be doing something about it.
An Agreement of the People for a firm and present peace upon grounds of common right

bigcatmaniac

Hello again

I am aware that I am paying through the nose for my plot but I was on a 5 year waiting list where I lived before and when I moved here last summer, I was told that it would be approximately 8 years. I can't wait that long to grow and currently am renting a house and my landlord won't let me grow anything in the garden. For the price of what some people pay for a daily paper, I get to grow in a location I can cycle to! I'd love to be able to do this for £40 per year (believe me). In the meantime I plan to recycle/freecycle everything I need and save seed for next year. I totally agree that pressure needs to be put on Council's to provide more, not less plots for a reasonable price. Because we are a private site there isn't the same sense of being part of a movement - hopefully this forum can help point me in the right direction in this respect too as well as helping me grow better stuff.

Thanks

Bigcat 

ipt8

I rent on a private allotment and pay £15 per year, but we have no water supply.

Plot22

I rent from the council in Nottinghamshire . My plot is 400 sq metres I think that is 15/16poles? and the cost is £41 although I am told it will be going up by 10% this year. At £45 I do not think that too bad but within the town on other sites there are many vacant plots and also plots that are taken but not cultivated . It is a constant struggle to attract new plot holders and many of them do not last after the first season.

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