Allotments 4 All
General => News => Topic started by: kt. on August 22, 2007, 16:57:35
-
I got my first lottie the minute I asked. 4 years ago nobody wanted the plots. I was in the lottie shop just at the time a plot was handed back. It was handed straight on to me. Right time right place I guess.
As Elle Ess has just posted - she had to wait 10 years for a plot! How long did you have to wait. It must be a record....
-
A couple of weeks and that was only because of admin. However, in the opposite direction we tried and they reakoned 3 years on average.
-
about 18 months
-
I put my name down 5 1/2 years ago, got to the top of the list in two years - wasn't ready to take it on so asked to be put back to the bottom, got back to the top 2 years later in Spring 2006 at which time the waiting list was nine people.
By last Autumn the waiting list was over 30, heaven knows how many it is now, especially since we have no geographical restrictions on applicants.
-
Same as EJ just waited for admin, but I was let on the plot straight away because my Dads neighbour had a spare key. ;D ;D ;D
-
:) didn't have to wait at all 7/8 years ago, chose which ever plot I wanted, picked the one with an orchard on it,
was called a freak then, now I'm trendy ::) for the first time in my life ;D/ shades x
btw , there is now a waiting list.
-
6 years ago, a phone call and we were weeding the next day, choice of several plots and several locations.
3 years later, when we wanted a second one there was a waiting list, we joined at 7, it took just that season to get the plot next to the first one. We bought the old gent out when he fell very ill and tended his plantings for him,we waited on the list till we were first then he handed in his notice and it was turned over to us.
Now we have big waiting list.
XX Jeannine
-
3 months ,but that was 7 years ago.Different story now.I think it will get worse as most new houses
do not seem to have gardens and that's just wrong.
-
About 18 months. :)
-
I put us on the list before we moved last year, about June ish, and was offered a plot in about the September (just after we'd moved). We decided not to take it so they kept us at the top of the list until another became free - which it did a few weeks later - yippee! Unfortunatly we then had to wait until Jan 1st to do any work on the plot, so all in all about 6 months wait I guess.
Worth it though! ;)
-
In September 2000, when we got one, we couldn't even find who to apply to! We phoned the number at the gate and it was years out of date; eventually we waved to someone down the path who let us in and obviously thought we were mad! Next day, the Plot Secretary came and gave us a choice of 4 or 5 plots. We started that afternoon.
Now, I'm Plot Secretary and I've got a waiting list. Not a long one (now) as I'm trying to get plot-holders who think they've fulfilled their annual duty by writing a cheque to actually get off their back-sides and do something, or let someone else have a go!
-
I waited about 10 months for my plot, I noticed that there are several plots that are in disuse and when I checked about 3 months ago I was 17 on the list so not sure how it works but I do have half an eye on the half plot next to mine....
-
Didn't have to wait for mine at all - visited on the Saturday, picked the keys up Tuesday. That was two years ago when my site had quite a few vacancies - now we have a small waiting list, so I'm glad I got the bug then and not now!
Cheers,
Rob ;)
-
For the firstt plot I put my name down before we moved and waited patiently for a couple of years, only to find system had changed and my name had got left off. Ran into secretary in the street and begged to be replaced not too low down the waiting list as I had already waited, and he gave me one almost immediately. Long waiting list now, but there are still neglected plots around me.
The second one I only had to email a different secretary and he immediately made an appointment to measure one out in a corner I chose. It's an unpopular site, unprotected by fences, gates, open rough meadowland with mature trees and hedges all around and a roving population of boys and dogs, but I love it. There are only 3 or 4 of us working regularly there plus a few overwhelmed plots, and the rest is open grassland.
-
I'm treasurer TrevorD.. they all pay but some won't garden and now we have 20+ on the waiting list...
Things will have to change!
>:(
-
i put our name down about 15 months ago,was told there was a huge waiting list so not to get my hopes up,i begged for our name to get put on the waiting list anyway,and hey presto 14 months later we got our beloved plot.i believe the waiting list is now 4/5 years at the min,could that just be the time of year?seems a shame as there are at least 4 plots at our site that havnt been touched for years .......
-
we moved into the village 6 years ago (35th house occupied there now on over 1,000) the allotments were planned for a future date and i pushed and pushed. It took 4 years all in 2 years of that was waiting for the spoil heap the allotments are on to settle before they could do anything.
cambourne7
-
No waiting list when we got our half plot last October or when we got a further plot in April. Ours is the only site in Chester without a waiting list, apparently. There's still lots of vacant plots (still, great for blackberry picking as most of them are bramble covered).
-
I'm treasurer TrevorD.. they all pay but some won't garden and now we have 20+ on the waiting list...
Things will have to change!
>:(
Some of us are pushing for a ruling that members who have totally uncultivated plots are not invited to renew when annual rental is due!
-
I waited about 4 months from my original request, and somehow ended up as secretary at my first meeting!! :o
I'm off to start a new thread now about rules as so many people want them to change!
-
The first couple of sites that I looked at were full. The one I'm on (which turned out to be coloser to home - i just didn't know it existed), I got the plot the day I phoned up to enquire if any were free. Of the 89 plots I think 43 are taken.
A change in post code doesn't just change house prices it seems!
-
I put my name down for the council allotments in Feb this year, I was told that I was top of the list, and in April I would get a phonecall to choose a plot! I had previously had a look round, spoke to the 'locals' and told that there were at least 7 vacant. I was so excited, we it came to April, everyday I waited for the phone call, checked the post etc. Nothing. I phoned the council, they had now passed the environment part, which included Allotments, over to a private company, I asked them to phone me back. I had a phone call while in the garden, missed the call, kicked myself!! Phoned back, the lady who had phoned me no longer had the job! That was a quick turnaround in 40mins!!
Anyway, a man phoned me the following day to say that I was 17th on the list!! I said that I was told that I was 1st! Some confusion apparently! I was 1st on the list for the allotments that I had requested, but there was a general list where people had not specified!! He would be offering lots of allotments in the week, and I should move up the list quickly, to phone him in 2 weeks if I hadn't heard anything!
In the mean time I got another allotment at another site....
At the same time as I put my name down for the council allotment, I also put my name down for the parish allotments in the next parish, bingo, we got an allotment, as promised in April.
Just to see what was happening I phoned the council at the end of April, I spoke to a woman, the man who deal swith allotments wasn't available, they had offered around 15 allotments, and if I was 17th then that would mean that I would hear very soon because she knew that some people had changed their minds when they saw the state of the plots. "Give it until Whit and then give us a call if you havent heard anything"!!
I was busy at my lottie (only v. small), enjoying everything. We planted it up and decided that we would really like another plot, so in June I called the council again, spoke to same woman, she couldn't help very much, but letters had gone out to some people who had failed to pay in April, they have 2 weeks to respond, so you should hear within a month!
In July I phoned, spoke to the man, finally, the one who could tell me where I was on the list!! I was 18th!!!! I give up!
Sometime in the future I might be offered a plot at the council site, but I won't hold my breathe! I spoke to a lady who has a plot there, they recently had a meeting with teh council about various issues, she said apparently there are 7 empty plots and 95 on the list! she can't understand why the plots aren't being rented out!
(The council sites allow you to grow fruit, have sheds, and they have bigger plots, it's also closer to home) I do have my name down for another plot where we are, so hopefully we will be able to expand a little next year anyway.
-
When you say council owned plots Sue do you mean they are run by Accord?? We are on a plot in the Gloucester city itself and it is run by Accord on behalf of the council ... they are USELESS!!!! And I don't say that lightly! We were given a plot in November and told that we wouldn't be charged rent from then until April because it was so overgrown, in April we received a bill for the forthcoming year which I paid, then a week later another bill because they realised they hadn't charged me for the period from Nov to April. I obviously argued the point and they said the company structure had changed and that although they had said it would be free they had changed their mind!!!!! :o So I told them that was fine, who should I send my bill to for clearing their totally overgrown plot including the costs of me hiring a strimmer and the man hours etc.... they backed down!!!
We are told that our site has 90 or so on waiting list but the site is 60-70% overgrown with only a handful of the 70 or so plots being used.
I phoned to see if we could take on the plot next to us which is totally overgrown but have been told they have been assigned to people! ???
Something in these organisations is drastically wrong!
-
What on earth are a council doing putting out allotments to a private company !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are a private company who own our allotments but ......
You have my sympathy.
>:(
-
Thanks Saddad, it is crazy, they are responsible for the 10 allotment sites accross Gloucester but as far as I am aware they don't do anything! Sad state of affairs. :(
-
Time to get some like minded gardeners together to buy a field and turn it into plots yourself then I rekon!
I know that the councils have an obligation to make plots available if there is enough demand (and 95 on a list says there is!) but do they council have an obligation to provide more sites if the original number isn't enough?
-
That's exactly how we were set up in 1920.. Suzi...
Technically yes they do... but try getting them to do it!!!
>:(
-
When you say council owned plots Sue do you mean they are run by Accord??
Yes, Accord, pain in the ****.
I mentioned it to a friend recently who lives in Qued, she h had problems with them as well.
Buying a field sounds like a good idea, but where can we find a cheap enough field close enough?
-
Oh bugger... :(
I was going to phone up and try and get a Gloucester plot tomorrow (I'm getting itchy feed waiting for one at Upton) I didn't think the waiting list would be 95 people long... :(
Can either of the Gloucester'ites here tell me what the name is of the plots off Painswick Road are called? I kind of assume it's the Saintbridge ones but I'm not sure... They seem to be the closest to home...
It beggers belief how anyone can screw up somthing as simple as a waiting list... People get aded to the end of it when they apply and as plots become available you take the people off the top... How hard can it be!
-
...Can either of the Gloucester'ites here tell me what the name is of the plots off Painswick Road are called? I kind of assume it's the Saintbridge ones but I'm not sure... They seem to be the closest to home...
It beggers belief how anyone can screw up somthing as simple as a waiting list... People get aded to the end of it when they apply and as plots become available you take the people off the top... How hard can it be!
Hi Cuke, you're right, the Painswick rd. plots are called Saintbridge, we went to look at them when we were choosing where to have a plot and they seemed ok. only prob is that they are very open and there have been a couple of vandalism episodes lately but then that can be a problem anywhere.
And as for the waiting list farce...it really does defy belief that a contractor working for the council can be so bad at there job!
-
Hey Mr Womble :)
We went and looked at the Saintbridge ones and the Hawthorns ones yesterday just out of interest and didn't like the look of the Saintbridge ones at all, all of the ones we saw looked very badly cared for and the site just had a bit of a scrappy vibe to it. We liked the look of the Hawthorns one though, seems much more what we were expecting. Think we even spied your plot sat there looking very tidy and well cared for.
I'm going to phone the number I found online for the allotment people and see what the waiting list looks like at the mo, there did seem to be a number of unused plots at Hawthorns despite the huge waiting list.
-
Hi Cuke, glad you liked my plot!! ;D The site is a nice one, it is quite peaceful up there generally. It's worth giving them a call and asking how long the wait would be. Which end did you come in from?? If you came through the big 5 bar vehicle gate then the field you walked through before coming into the site where we are is also allotments although nobody is cultivating it yet. If they say there are no spaces ask them about this area, be firm with them!! ::) The more I hear about Accord the more I wish they didn't run our allotment site!! When you call don't take no for an answer, they try to fob you off but insist on an answer for how long the wait is etc. they are after an easy life and we've been there since November last year and hardly anyone new has come onto the site so there MUST be available plots!
Good luck! :D
-
Hi Cuke,
So how did you get on with Accord??
Sue
-
lol would you believe it, the lady is on holiday till Thurs...
They took my details though and said she would call back, I'll give her till lunch time Friday then give her another call... :)
Yep, GloucesterWomble, I'll keep on at them, I don't mind creating a fuss when the need arises :)
I'll say I've been down there and there is load of un-used plots and if they have been allocated then whoever they've been alocated to isn't using them etc etc... And yeah, we came through the 'field' so I'll mention them, although I'd feel a bit lonely if we were the only ones on there! lol
-
It took me about 3 months to get a plot but 2 and a half of those were spent trying to find out who to contact to get one. The Council owns the land but most of the sites are managed by allotment committees, and the Council was unable to supply an up to date list of contacts and seemed in total ignorance of anything allotment related....boo to them!
Eventually I got in touch with the right person by posting on this board...so a big thankyou to this board for existing! :)
I was very lucky in that it just happened to be the time of year when contracts were ending and people giving up their plots, and they had a half plot going and everyone else on the list wanted a full plot, otherwise I would probably not have got a plot for a year or so.
-
Well that was a waste of time...
Having waited till Friday lunchtime as I said I would and still had no call back I rang the lady at Accord... To cut a long story short here's the basic points...
They've only been in charge of the Allotments since Feb and are 'still getting to grips with it'...
They would have been all sorted by now but of course the floods put things back... (how did the floods effect the organisation and maintenance of a waiting list???)
Every site has a long waiting list but the Hawthorns ones do have the shortest. (mini yay!)
Yes, even though there are unused plots and a whole second unused field there IS still a wiating list... (apparently 'some of the field has been allocated' not that that explains why people haven't been allowed on the rest of it or why NONE of it looks like its been tended in years...)
No, she couldn't tell me what number on the list I was, only promise that I was now on it. And there was no point calling back as I'd be contacted as and when a plot became available...
Great...
It baffles me why this is complicated... You know how many plots you have, you know how many are currently rented out. You give people plots till you run out on a first come first served basis and then start a waiting list when you run out, telling each person what number they are at. As plots become available you give them to the people at the top of the list. If rented plots are unused then contact the owner and check they're needed...
Surely that would take about an hour to set up and then a couple of minutes a week to maintain... :(
ho hum... I go back the waiting.... ;)
-
Oh my god Cuke I feel angry for you!!! >:( :o They are the most USELESS organisation I have EVER had the misfortune to be involved with!!
I think you should have insisted to be told what number on the list you were and remind her that the council has a legal obligation to provide plots and you would like to know how long you have to wait.
AAAGGGHH!!! (... can you tell I don't like them! ::) )
-
I did almost press her for a number but by that point I realised I'd probably end up doing it in a hugely patronising way ('Let me help, pick up the list, use your index finger to go down the list counting as you get to each new name, take the total and add 1 to it, now tell me that number... There, easy wasnt it') and find myself scrubbed off the end as soon as I put the phone down... ;)
There didn't seem a lot of point getting pissy about it. To be honest she sounded like she'd given this speech a few times before so I doubt I'm the first person to phone up and ask the same questions. As soon as I mentioned allotments she was on the defensive and just seemed to want to blame the floods and the length of time they've been in charge for everything and say they were looking to sort it all out. She clearly didn't want to be drawn on the availabilty of the second field despite me trying to ask about it on at least three occasion, instead she spent her time implying that any unused space had been allocated, neatly covering herself against any 'but what about...' questions I wanted to ask.
The silly thing was, had she just said 'It's all a bit of a mess but we're sorting it out now and chasing up lapsed plot owners and trying to get the place sorted' I'd have been content. It was the 'everything is already rented' and the mess isn't our fault type vibe that annoyed me. I even said I'd been there have a look at the site so how she thought I'd buy her claims that they were all in use is beyond me...
It's tempting to take a picture of that unused field and send it to her and ask exactly which bits are currently rented out and in use....
grrrr!
-
Cuke, I completley agree with you, I have had several chats with this woman and I agree that if they were just honest then you would have more respect. When I rang recently and said 'Hi I'm ringing about the Hawthorn site' you could even hear her sigh!!!
'grrrr' is not a strong enough word!!!
-
isn't there a local councillor you could get in touch with? :)
-
We went on last November and have just taken it over last Tuesday - so, not too bad in the scheme of things.
-
isn't there a local councillor you could get in touch with? :)
I'm assuming since they've contracted it out to this third part company that we don't really have anyone to go to over their heads.
Although I guess if enough fuss was made to the concel they may have to take a look at what was going on an rap a few knuckles... Part of me thinks they're probably just glad to be rid of the problem though and will just let Accord get on with it...
-
To be told every year for the last 10 plus years that THE TOWN DOESN'T HAVE ALLOTMENTS and me still ringing to find out WHY??
I heard 18 months ago that the town was eventually getting them due to pressure.
Off I go on my hols in May 2006. When I returned my neighbour told me it had been announced in the free paper the list was open.
Two weeks by then had past, so I rang up and shock horror the list was closed and all possible places had potentially gone. (Was I surprised? NO)
Well the new site was ploughed and left, and left....and left.
I then saw huge trenches dug and left.....and left....and left.
Blue piping appeared sticking up at intervals...and left....and left.
Weekly I kept visiting the site to see progress. NONE.
Then, one day last July I saw a lady with clip board in hand and she told me the site was now open as the water had just been turned on that minute. Oh good. Progress. I asked could I go on the list please.
No she told me, we don't have a list. If we open a list we would have too many people on it and won't know who wants one or not
I could have screamed in her face.
27 allotments all craply laid out too, such waste of space.
Anywayyyyyyyyyyyyy. I heard through the grapevine that the list had opened on September 1st and I called on September 3rd as soon as I knew. Yes she told me you are number LUCKY SEVEN.
Off I went to see if anyone was actually on the site to have a proper chat.
I met the chairman of the lottie committee and he told me that he's not permitted to have either a list of allotmenteers OR people permitted on the waiting list as this breeches the data protection. He said when the council first set up the rules they were laughable
1. No sheds
2. No greenhouses
3. Nothing grown taller than four feet and that included NO Runner Beans :o
4. All plants must be IN and OUT of the ground in SIX MONTHS :o
I had heard these rumours too and now they were confirmed.
Anyway, while chatting to chairman, he told me there were two plots that kept getting refused...Oh I thought I will ring Miss Allotmentdomineering up the next day.
On the phone I told who I was (again) and that I had been told about the two plots that kept getting refused..."I'll take one"....Well she said I would have to go on the list.GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR by this time my blood was boiling. I said..."I'm on the list, you told me yesterday I was #7", "Oh no she said, I miss counted, you are number eleven, I was counting the spaces not the peoples names and got it wrong".....LIAR I wanted to shout. >:(
Estimated time of waiting is now five more years, at least.
I am SOOOOOOOOOOO frustrated with this town's council. I now know why some people get tractors of manure and hose them down with it.
So that is why my lottie is in Shaldon
Lauren :'(
P.S Miss Allotmentdomineering told me councils are only obliged to provide plots IF they have land. The town cannot justify buying any land to to suit just 27 people. The other 18,000 people would be up in arms.
I wanted to say...I don't have any kids but I still had to contribute to the d**n playing field wether I wanted to or NOT!!!!!!!
-
:(
I'm kind of relived I'm not the only one stuck in waiting list hell!
Your allotment people sound even worse than ours...
-
blimey lauren they sound like a right lot of jobsworths. what about the wait for one at shaldon, whats the story like there? is shaldon a different council? its only over the water isnt it?
-
Shaldon allotments are self governing...T/G
-
Cuke, it's a shame that you couldn't just start tending one of the overgrown plots and when you're asked about it just tell them that you were given the plot fair and square and that it's their stupid unorganised system that's wrong!
... or could you ;)
-
oooh Suzi, you devious minx....exactly what I was thinking!! ;)
-
lol now there's a plan.... ;)
knowing my luck I'd just get it all nice before they found me and threw me off... It's silly really at the end of the day everyone on the waiting list basicaly wants to give them money for basicaly nothing from there point of view. They already have the land all they have to do is say 'ok' and bingo...
-
I got ,ime almost a year ago (yippee) after applying and forgetting all about it! I had a choice of 5 plots - the site is now full and we have 80 :o peeps on the waiying list!
I blame the "telly gardeners" for it myself!
Louise
-
P.S Miss Allotmentdomineering told me councils are only obliged to provide plots IF they have land. The town cannot justify buying any land to to suit just 27 people. The other 18,000 people would be up in arms.
I wanted to say...I don't have any kids but I still had to contribute to the d**n playing field wether I wanted to or NOT!!!!!!!
By law councils have to provide allotments, if your councils doesn't you need to get together 6 people who want an allotment. You have then proven there is a need and the council should provide some land.
You'll have to check that out but i am sure that is correct. :)
I was lucky enough not to have a wait :D I went down on the sunday saw the secretary, was shown a very overgrown plot no one had cultivated and i snapped her hand off ;D ;D ;D That was year ago and i have loved every minute of it ;D
-
Hi Cuke,
I did contact the councillor in July!!
I got a reply today!!
Apparently there are spaces at Saintbridge!! I have replied saying that I am very interested in that as ..., and basically sent her my posting from above.
She also said that there was a working party considering allotment allocation for Abbeymead.
"they are considering recommending to cabinet that a standard for allotment provision of 0.2 hectares (0.5 acres) of allotment gardens per 1000 residents be adopted. If this is adopted this will strengthen the case for acquiring allotment land though planning agreements. However, at the same time we would have to be able to demonstrate that there was a need for more allotments"
the email then goes on to say that as the current sites are not being used to capacity, so it would be difficult to demonstate a need!!!
I don't know about that with a waiting list of nearly 100 (last time I spoke to Accord)
Sue
-
I got mine in April '06, having seen an article in the free paper about the 14 new plots they'd created from wasteland at the side of an established site.
I rang on Friday afternoon, immediately after I'd read the article, left a message saying could I go on the waiting list, got a call Friday evening inviting me down to the site to view the one remaining plot, and signed for it less than 24 hours later ;D
My DH was gobsmacked. All the way home, he kept saying "but I thought you were just going to look at them!"
I think he had a premonition of how obsessed I was going to become! ;D
-
Most of you won't like this but...
I cheated in a way, I had been on the waiting list for an allotment for five years, I had walked round one allotment site for three years and rang the council each week telling them which allotments were unused (it was always the same three) eventually I told them my doctor thought having an allotment would help my depression and within an hour I was given a plot. the depression was true and my doctor did say an allotment would help but I don't think he would have wanted me using the fact to move to the top of the list.
-
Why is it that??????
If there is such a blimmin long waiting list all over the place for plots that when you do finally get one you are told "oh! - that one's been empty for years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".
I think they do it just so you have enough weeds and junk to shift when you do take one on!
Louise
-
I just asked and got one. This was about ten years ago before it became trendy. There were loads of overgrown plots surrounding mine so I took another next to the first one to stop weeds coming in. I have just carried on with the two plots and now there is a waiting list. I don't think this is unfair as I have taken two completly overgrown plots and tirned them into productive ones. These days we clear plots for new users.
-
About 48 hours from phone call to getting it.....Northampton. there a few empty / non tended ones, All the other sites have very long waiting lists.