Topic: Allotment and lack of interest from council

[BoardStupid]

Hi there,

 We took our plot over last year. We've managed to get plot cleared, planted, shed, poly and compost area done. We've also taken on another plot and managed since winter to get that 99% clear and planted up as well. I will add that I'm a shift worker and my OH also works.

My neighbour who took the plot on just before us has done absolutely F all. She said that last year she ran out of time and this year she has come up once, placed a water butt on plot and dug about 1M x 1M and left it at that. The rest of her plot, we have 10 rod plots is covered in weeds, now flowering and seeding all over the rest of our plots. There are a couple of other plots in similar state.

 Do we get strong with the council regards this ? There is a waiting list and I also know a couple of friends who would die to be able to use that size of land.

What do we do ?

[saddad]

Well if that's all she's done the site Committee should be moving to remove her for non-cultivation... who actually runs your site.. contact the site Sec. in the first instance...  :-X

[BoardStupid]

The local parish council run the site. The clerk of the council deals with allocation of plots and collecting rents. Apart from that they don't seem to do a great deal at all.

 Should I go along to next council meeting and express my concerns and get labelled a trouble maker or just wait and see ? I've emailed the clerk once last week about a dangerous polytunnel erection and also a JCB that was left in our parking area all weekend but had no reply yet.

[powerspade]

I`m the Sec of our site and we have a similar problem at the moment. I have a member next door to me who has had his plot for a year. He only been down the plot a couple of times built a small greenhouse in one day and then let everything go to pot. This year we have`nt seen him so now I have proceeded to terminate his tenancy, Under our rules a member who dos not cultivated his plot, is given a verbale warning after 14 days if nothing is done on his plot he gets another verbal warning after a further 14 days he gets a written warning. 21 days after the written warning eviction takes place. He then has 7 days to remove tools and anyother equipment. After that anything left is made over to the new tenant. You have to have a set procedure to give the tenant time to inform the Sec why there is a problem, I always take into account peoples situation for example one tenant was taken very ill  and could`nt turn over her plot so we "boys" got together and turned it for her and also helped her to plant it. She`s now back to full health and  enjoying the plot. Genuine reasons I will accept "Lazy so and so`s "I will not  out they go.

[BoardStupid]

I saw the deputy chair of the council yesterday and put forward my points. He is going to pop up the plots and take a look.

This neighbour who does "not a lot" on her plot only lives 500yds away, she received a letter last year about her plot and under duress came up and strimmed her plot. That was about it !!!!! I believe she has been contacted this year and has done pretty much the same.

Personally I feel that allotments to some people are now a status symbol. "Ooh, we've got an allotment now" to tell their friends to show that they're being "green" Shame they don't put in the legwork

[Unwashed]

In general I feel that allotmenteers shouldn't concern themselves with what their neighbours do.

[pumkinlover]

In general I feel that allotmenteers shouldn't concern themselves with what their neighbours do.

Maybe not but the committee should ::)

[Robert_Brenchley]

Depends what they're doing, or not doing. I don't care about people growing the 'wrong' sort of thing; we've got people on our site who have little more than a lawn on their plots. That's fine by me. But if a plot's completely neglected, there are bound to be complaints, and rightly so. Why should someone be able to sit on a plot they do nothing with? Not only do the neighbours get weeds coming through the hedge, but it makes the plot that much harder to let once it does become free.

[Unwashed]

What pumpkinlover said.  And what I said.

The issue is really that allotment sites need to be appropriately managed.  When it's done right allotmenteers have no business commenting on what anyone else is up to because the field secretary and committee will be aware of what's going on, and when a site is not managed well making piecemeal complaints about your neighbours is not the way to improve the management, and all things being equal someone with a bee in their bonnet about what other people are up to is not the right candidate to fill the vacuum.

[Hi_Hoe]

I kind of agree with unwashed but that being said, i understand Boardstupids POV.
My site is more or less look after your own and that'll do. we dont get any input/ hassle/ help from the council and TBH i like it that way. The neighbouring plot to me is an overgrown wasteland at the mo and has been since i took my plot on 2 yrs ago. any weeds that encroach i simply hotfoot over the fence and rip the ******ds out! Life is simple sometimes!!

Boardstupid, if the neighbour doesnt visit and council not bothered, can you not just nip over and tackle the prob yourself? :D

[shirlton]

We are hoping that the increase in allotmment rent will have some effect on this problem.Perhaps people will think before taking on a plot.Can but hope

[Ben Acre]

Reading this I wonder if u lived in my town, we have exactly the same problem.

There is a meeting of the association / council this week and I have written a long letter of site problems.

[Ben Acre]

In general I feel that allotmenteers shouldn't concern themselves with what their neighbours do.

I think we should because thats when trouble starts as "Nobody seems to say anything about the state of our plot" the sites becomes more and more derelict. We have to interfere, I bet they would do the same to us.

[Unwashed]

Can't agree Ben.  Sites need to be well-managed, and that means there's a field secretary who's job it is to keep an eye on the state of things and have a quiet word in a plotters shell-like if something's going awry.  A good field secretary is a jewel because the place just ticks along happily without anyone being aware of it.

But what no one needs is nosey neighbours sticking their beak in where it's not wanted.  Allotments are relaxed places where mostly people just want to get on with their growing.  If you don't like something about your neighbour's plot then if it's a valid concern the field secretary will pick it up anyways and deal will it, and if that doesn't happen then it isn't a valid concern.

Of course if you don't think the field secretary is doing a good job then rasise it at the AGM, but allotments don't need disgruntled vigilanties.  So like I say, in general I think the polite thing to do is not to concern yourself with what your neighbour is doing.

[Ben Acre]

First the council clerk contacts the plotholder then the site rep or visa versa but the powers that be just dont check on the plots as they should so we have to tell them to tell the errant plot holder

[Robert_Brenchley]

If you are concerned, the best approach is usually to have a quiet word with the committee member responsible. If the committee aren't doing their job, you need to get rid of them, but there's very often a lot of apathy - that's why they get away with it - and you'd probably have to run the site yourself.