Topic: one pole plots?

[campanula]

In the latest council scam to shorten the waiting lists, our allotments have been divided into smaller and smaller 'starter' plots....the latest being less than one pole. The new plots are on the worst soil and consist of 11x 4m x 3m plots (8 of them are smaller than this while there is a large 'community' plot which is 4m x 4m. This is a bit of a joke.
Plot holders are assured that they will get more space as plots become vacant but of course they don't - the council moves some other would be allotmenteer on it.

I simply cannot imagine the disappointment of waiting 3-4 years for a plot then finally being notified of a tenancy....only to race down to the plot and see what is being offered.

No space for compost - no space for tools, nowehere to even sit down and the middle 8 don't even have paths between them. What a fiasco.

Course, I am being hassled to death and called a greedy swine for having one and a half....but as I have had them for 15 years, its just too bad and I won't be guillted into giving any of them up (but they are trying hard, threatening me with eviction because I have too many flowers..

[gavinjconway]

Our council split 4 plots into 16 a few years ago and offered me one.. When i got to the site I freaked.. I knew it a having 4 so was really thinking big at the time... only to find 12 and each soo small... Luckily I was offered a plot where I am now the same day which is association run so I told the council no thanks... Pity as the site is only 300 yards from my house!!

[Jayb]

I think for me a starter plot would be better than nothing, but if you couldn't progress the next season very frustrating. Stick with your plots Campanula, you've worked hard for them. Flowers have their place too, attracting beas and hoverflies etc, camouflaging crops from pests, quite a few have edible seeds, leaves and flowers plus the feel good factor.

[Ellen K]

If I had been offered a starter plot I probably would have said no.  Unless it is in your back garden, a plot that size isn't worth the travelling time.

[campanula]

£ of the plots are already divided into 4 or 6 smaller plots and all of them have been problematical - either the plot holder loses interest or they have problems with rubbish or rotations etc.....so the council are fully aware that this is not really working....and none of these plot holders have even been offered space on another plot. I can't help feeling a bit cynical about it all especially since we are a tiny plot surrounded on all sides by newbuild student housing (no need to bother about parking, infrastructure....a massive con - they are called 'boutique apartments...aka bedsits.)
I made a Freedom of Information enquiry and got nowhere apart from a vague promise to offer us somewhere else and the land would not be used for anything unless it had an amenity purpose....in other words, don't hold your breath.

Feeling a bit hateful towards the council these days - they are even threatening to have starter plots on the communal path across the top of the site!! (A long thin one).