Topic: The Big A4A Rent Review

[katynewbie]

£29 for half plot, water on site and toilets, onsite shop for growbags, etc and community hut.
Some of that is NSALG and association membership.

I think there are discounts for OAP's etc.

[NightWish]

£65 for a 10 rod plot.
Includes water (and hosepipe use when allowed).
Council cut the grass down the central path a couple of times a year.
Also a few competitions and a barbeque held at another site.
No loos, lockers or anything like that.  Site completely insecure.

[Rallychef]

On a private site in our village,10 plotseach of about 660 yards sq, no water supply, but a bargain at £5.00/year

regatds ian d

[Unwashed]

This is the frequency distribution of rents.  The height of the bar represents the percentage of us paying rent in the range of the bar.  So for example nearly 35% of us pay rent in the range £2/pole to £4/pole while only 5% of us pay rent in the range £8/pole to £10/pole.

[Unwashed]

Here's the latest league table.


Average rent is £4.64 and the national average is, with 95% condifence, somewhere between £3.96 and £5.33, and this compares with last year's national average rent estimated to be somewhere between £2.89 and £4.22, and most likely to be £3.55.

[cornykev]

6 pole plot
Water troughs
Toilets
Compost
Roadway to drive in and park next to plot
Gates and fenced off
Two rubbish trailers a year
£51.00 + £7.20 water charge = £58.20
10 pole plot = £85.00 + £12.00 water = £97.00
Concession has been reduced to 25% from 50% only up to 10 poles
 :-\

[Old Central]

I should add that seeing as I (for I please read LB Merton) am out on top, then I should point out that from this Autumn those who have not elected to go self managed will be paying the "Gold Service" charge of £19 per rod.

OC

[winecap]

If its not too late to join in, this year I am paying £23.70 (plus £28.90 water !! - why so much?) for 340 square metres.
Next year will be £65.00 (plus £35.00 for water, making £100 total). Can't say I'm too happy about that.

[Unwashed]

Not too late at all winecap, keep them coming, the more the merrier.

[Alex133]

This year £5.75 per rod, 2011 was £5.20. Includes water, wood chippings, chopped leaves.

Be interesting if results could be broken down by town or county.

[Unwashed]

This year £5.75 per rod, 2011 was £5.20. Includes water, wood chippings, chopped leaves.

Be interesting if results could be broken down by town or county.

We're just not a big enough sample for that Alex.  At 41 data points we can't estimate the national average to better than plus or minus 60p, breaking it down even by county would be meaningless.

The University of Leiscester analysis is the best national survey there's been for a while (and amoungst its problems it rounded all the rents to the nearest 25p per pole so it needlessly threw away some useful information there) but they only sampled primary councils and to get anything like the full picture you need to know what parish councils and independent sites are charging too.

My gut feeling is that council rents are essentially random and have very little correlation to geography or even to level of service but are almost entirely set by the political whim of the council.  However, with self-managed sites that set their own rents and run their affairs without any state subsidy I would expect to see a much tighter grouping around an ecconomic rent of around £2.50 to £3.50 per pole, though that could easily double if the site association was renting its site.  But that's just a hunch.

It might be interesting one day to get a list together of all the UK sites and do a major analysis.

[Unwashed]

The University of Leiscester analysis give us a bit of a peek at the per-county picture, but with just a few samples per county only from the primary councils it's really not much of a picture.  I would imagine if all the parish and private sites were included this would look very different, though whether it would reveal any underlying trend I wouldn't like to say.  Certainly there's no trend that jumps out at me from this limited analysis.


I would note however that the £7.30/pole rate in Newbury is higher than the County average in all but one of the 36 counties sampled, and more than 75% higher than the Berkshire average of £4.25/pole. ;)

[Sinbad7]

97 sq mtrs £25.63.

[grawrc]

I should have added that Edinburgh council currently charge £80 per 200 sq yards plot and £40 for a half plot. The sites are generally well-equipped. Toilets, water, composting etc

[Unwashed]

On a private site in our village,10 plotseach of about 660 yards sq, no water supply, but a bargain at £5.00/year

regatds ian d

Hi Ian, thanks for th PM.  I'd assumed 660 sq yards, but that's still a very big allotment at over 21 poles, and all for £5.00?  That's outstanding value.

[Unwashed]

Latest estimate of the national average rate is somewhere between £4.29 and £5.69 per pole, and most likely £4.99 per pole, so compared with our last year's survey of £3.55 per pole indications are that nationally rents have risen sharply this year, maybe in the order of 40%.

[Borlotti]

Just got the bill from the Council today, and it is £63.80 plus £12 water charge = £75.80, and the concession for OAP has gone down from 50% to 25%.  I cannot pay this until the end of the month when I get my pension.  :( :(  We do have toilets, and compost so will pay up soon.  I think I have a full plot, although I orginally asked for half but the Council gave me one plot, then I couldn't have it, then they said I could and then I got whole not half, so after I had planted my apple, pear, plum tree I decided to keep it, then they came and said I should only have half a plot, but in the end I have got it all.  Not too sure that they know what they are doing. That was 8 years ago before everyone wanted an allotment and a lot of the site was uncultivated.  It was my lovely private garden, but now it is very busy, but I am not complaining as everyone deserves their private space.

[birdbeth]

Ours in  Colchester Essex   88sq mts inc water is £28.

[Unwashed]

This is the frequency distribution from the University of Leiscester national survey of primary councils.  It's a very good illustration of why a simple average really don't tell you the whole picture.  It shows how almost half of the councils are charging a rent in the range £2.00 to £4.00 per pole, and that probably illustrates the national picture better than talking about the average rent.  Nite though, this was last year's survey and rates seem have gone up quite a bit since then, and it's only a survey of the big councils, the picture amoungst parish councils and private sites is likely to be different.

[Robert_Brenchley]

My plot's 600 square yards - you're right, Unwashed, it is massive, too big for a lot of people, and there are hedges to cut as well - and it's going up to £90/year.