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Allotment societies and long leases from the council - anybody got experience?

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Frankie:
Does anybody here have experience of their allotment society taking over a long lease for allotment sites from the council? This is proposed for my site. I'm concerned on two fronts: 1) the transfer of publicly owned assets to what is essentially a limited company, and 2) what is to prevent the committee then upping rents, paying themselves inflated 'honorariums' etc? There is already talk of employing a fundraiser for three years, to get money in for 'improvements'. Any thoughts on this gratefully received.

Bill Door:
I have no experience but just a few thoughts.

The asset isn't taken out of the councils hands.  The lease means that the allotment society can use the land, with specified conditions, only for a period of time. What do you mean when you say "essentially a limited company"?

If the society has a "strong " constitution then the payment of Honoraria to individuals should not arise.  There could also be some tax implications if payments to members are made.

As far as rents are concerned this should also be covered in the constitution.  Probably an item to consolidate the current rents and specify the maximum that rents can be increased year on year.

You mention talk of "employing" a fundraiser, you may need to add another item to the constitution to cover this.

So it looks as if you will need to get the other members together and get a robust constitution prepared to cover the points that give you concern.  Once you have done that you will probably have to attend the special general meeting to discuss the leasing of the land and get these amendments agreed by the meeting and the constitution amended.

Good luck.

Bill

Frankie:
Thank you Bill. I'm suspicious of the council's motivation for this. Why would they want the allotment society to take on a long lease, when they already manage the sites? Their argument seems to be premised on the fact that the society would then be able to apply for different funding streams, such as EU money. That's obviously not going to be happening now. I'm also not sure what this money is needed for. The society has an income of around £21,000 per annum (410 plots), including a grant for over £6,000 from the council. Expenses are around £17,000 (including about £3,500 in honoraria to committee members!). The council also takes responsibility for cutting back trees and hedges, pest control etc. Struggling to see how taking on the lease is to anyone's advantage. The society has no constitution that I'm aware of, although there is a handbook. They are a registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Society Act 2014, and as such a limited company.

Plot 18:
Presumably the allotment society would be required to take over the tree/hedge cutting from the Council plus you'd lose, all or some, of the grant.

IMO the only reason the Council is wanting to change to leasing the land out to a society is because it (the Council) wants to save money! The Council here wants to do the same thing, but no-one wants to take on the job for them! Would you want to do the job?

There must be rules and a constitution if it is a registered society and yearly accounts produced.
The Treasurer can apply for grants for improvements such as toilets and storage if they are self-governed, whereas the Council can't.
https://www.nsalg.org.uk/allotment-info/funding-advice/

If you don't want the change then you have to get all allotment holders to take action, by going to meetings and voting against it whenever you need to.

Frankie:
Thank you Plot 18. I agree it must be a cost cutting measure. I am also suspicious of my committee however. We had a facebook group (closed and only visible to members) - I posted a query about the long lease and expressed concern, in a very general way, about the proposal. The facebook group was immediately shut down - not just my post, the whole group was deleted. I then got a solicitor's letter accusing me of defamation. With over 400 plots on about 5 sites, it is difficult to communicate with other plot holders unless through social media like facebook, so it looks to me like the committee doesn't want us to be in touch about this. It's all very odd. Plus currently, there is no chair or secretary of the committee - can it even still function legally? I offered to take on the role of interim chair, but have been ignored....

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