Author Topic: Allotment societies and long leases from the council - anybody got experience?  (Read 3128 times)

Frankie

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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....

johhnyco15

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re honorariums  we own our own land so we are self run the only money we make are from plot rents we have 2 sites 8 man committee on each site with 2 site managers on each site all are voluntary no one gets any money at all site managers get £100 pound at the start of the year and this is used for petrol for tractors  all spends must be accompanied by a receipt and it runs really well we have two competitions a year  all self funded and a xmas party the food is laid on by our local pub for free and  we have around  80% attendance if you committee is passionate about the site and its people they will do the job out of love for the job and its people  so the first thing i would do is scrape the honorarium ive been site manager  for a few years now and its like one big happy family  however to reach this it takes work and trust  hope this helps
johhnyc015  may the plot be with you

Frankie

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Thank you johhnyco, it is useful to find out how other sites are managed, and with limited funds. I can't understand why we would need a fundraiser to be employed for three years - we already have loos and storage facilities so I'm not sure what other improvements are necessary. I think some on the committee do work hard but £3500 is quite a lot going out of our kitty, and it's not for petrol or anything.

nodig

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One of the posters puts great faith in constitutions, me less so.  The first thing that a bad management will do is throw the constitution out of the window along any plot holder brave enough to make objections.  Multiple sites with little communication is an idel breeding ground for misinformation to be presented at management meetings. 

Frankie

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Really, that's interesting nodig. Can I ask how the association can bin the constitution? Doesn't the National Allotment Association have something to say about that? And the Financial Conduct Authority? Would that be a breach of mutuals legislation? I do wonder why they won't send me a copy of the constitution (asked twice with no joy). Any thoughts very welcome!

sparrow

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If you're part of a registered society, and you can't get hold of the documents, you could try here https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/request-information-mutual-society. The ruling documents should be lodged with them.

I'm on the Committee of a largeish self-managed site, 100+ plots, and no one receives a penny for being on. I would be a bit suspicious about stipends/honoraria to be honest. In terms of fundraisers, we've never considered it. In my other capacity as a charity trustee I would steer clear unless you have a great interview panel who can be sure of screening out the (many) duds that are out there.

nodig

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Hi Frankie.  An association doesn't have to follow its own rules or constitution, as they are not regulated by an outside authority.  The National Allotment Society does not 'police' or even warn associations acting outside of their constitutions no matter how blatant the behaviour, and the FCA has virtually zero interest in enforcing constitutions on allotment associations.  An association that turns 'bad' is a tricky beast to put back on track because of the large amount of misinformation that can be produced at management meetings and AGMs.

Frankie

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Thanks nodig and sparrow. I got the accounts from the FCA, but it cost me £12 - these are never published anywhere and I did not attend the AGM (long story) where no doubt they were nodded through. I guess publicity is my best bet, although they have already shown how litigious they are by sending me a (vexatious) solicitor's letter to warn me off.

 

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