Topic: Allotment Rents

[lavenderlux]

We pay £3.40 per rod for any size plot (over 60's get a discount). 

Its a Council owned site with very active committee who manage and maintain the site. We have water taps and troughs (located about every 6th plot), two skips a year for non-compostable items.  Bonfires are banned, so we have a bay where we can put woody prunings etc and have a chipper-shredder (operated by committee volunteers) to deal with this type of material, which can then be composted.   We also have regular deliveries of tree chippings.  We have a field trading shed, use of field owned mowers and strimmers (for a donation towards fuel and maintenance), large field shed for committee meetings etc, and a compost toilet.     Council pay for the skips, for road planings for trackway maintenance and things like repair of leaky taps and repair of any damage caused by vandalism.

[Unwashed]

*boing*

If you haven't already, can you say how much a plot costs at your allotment site, and then we can get an idea of what an average rent looks like.  Thanks.

Average rent so far is: £4.08/pole.

Here's the 5-pole rankings:

£1.20   reddyreddy
£1.54   heloise
£2.20   ktlawson
£2.30   kea
£2.34   Lucho
£2.40   saddad
£2.50   digindep
£2.60   tonybloke (without water)
£2.90   springs
£2.93   TeeGee   
£3.40   lavenderlux
£3.40   Trevor_D
£3.70   Sparkly   
£3.80   tonybloke (with water)
£4.00   BarriedaleNick
£4.12   Bill Door
£4.40   Squash64
£4.71   Unwashed 
£5.50   manicscousers
£5.50   SMP1704
£6.00   PurpleHeather
£6.75   Digeroo   
£6.94   theothermarg
£6.96   cornykey
£8.63   brian4951
£8.77   Twoflower

[zigzig]

Our council charges us £250 a year for 38 plots but if we spend the £250 or more on improving the site we don't need to pay anything to them.

[Unwashed]

zigzig, what rent does the allotmenteer pay, and how big is her plot?

[Digindep]

Unwashed....£250 pa...seriously would it realy be worthwhile ?
Maybe its a way of driving people off site for some other reason,
' maybe housing' ?????

[1066]

unwashed

I pay £3.15 per rod which includes water + £2.00 annual membership fee +10p share certificate. I have 8 rods BTW

[BAK]

A standard plot on our site is 5 poles although in reality they vary in size. The 2010 rent for a standard plot will be £11, i.e. £2.20 per pole. This includes water.

[Tee Gee]

Nice to see I am paying second lowest when you fetch the OAP discount into effect.

That is I actually pay £1-44 / pole, and  that includes water, access to the community hut, and a third share of the communal tunnel.

Because I order the farm yard manure for the site, the farmer gives me my load for free!so that saves me £20

The council also drops off two or three loads of wood chippings each year as part of there 'recycling regime'

Then I make a few bob from selling a few plants each year, last season I sold about £50  worth.

So all in all I guess I am pretty well off!  8) ;D

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh! don't tell the council they are looking for ways to increase taxes and if they see this it might give them ideas  ;)

[Unwashed]

The average rate is £3.99 per pole and that includes water and any mandatory fees.

Here's the 5-pole league table - the pole rate for a five-pole plot

£1.20   reddyreddy
£1.54   heloise
£2.20   BAK
£2.20   ktlawson
£2.30   kea
£2.34   Lucho
£2.40   saddad
£2.50   digindep
£2.60   tonybloke (without water)
£2.90   springs
£2.93   TeeGee   
£3.40   lavenderlux
£3.40   Trevor_D
£3.57   1066
£3.70   Sparkly   
£3.80   tonybloke (with water)
£4.00   BarriedaleNick
£4.12   Bill Door
£4.40   Squash64
£4.71   Unwashed 
£5.50   manicscousers
£5.50   SMP1704
£6.00   PurpleHeather
£6.75   Digeroo   
£6.94   theothermarg
£6.96   cornykey
£8.63   brian4951
£8.77   Twoflower

[poohs tao]

i am paying £53 per annum for a 300 sq yard plot. there are no toilets or water pipes on the plot

[saddad]

Welcome to A4A Pooh's Tao
Whereabouts is that exactly?
 :-\

[chriscross1966]

I think I've got about 10 poles, the plot's a shade over 5m wide and about 50m long, so about 300 sq yards and a pole is 30 square yards yes?

I pay 15 a year total, so 1.50 a pole......there are water troughs but hozes are out and there's no toilet

chrisc

[poohs tao]

Welcome to A4A Pooh's Tao
Whereabouts is that exactly?
 :-\

thanks. it's st. johns lane bristol. lovely view over the city. there are small water butts around the site but no running water

[Unwashed]

Average rate currently stands at £3.95/pole.  That's a sweet deal you've got there Chris, though reddyreddy just pips you at £1.20/pole.

[Squash64]

Does every site have a half-price policy for over-sixties?  Ours does, so my rent is only £14 a year.

[Unwashed]

We did but not any more.

[saddad]

I always threaten to charge them more.... after all they have the time to enjoy it...  :-X

[PurpleHeather]

I have just copied this from Wandworth Council's site one line If you want to add it to the list.....................

Cost and size of allotments

Rents are due on 1 October.  Prices are revised each year. 
Yearly costs

Full rate
£15.50 per rod or 62p per square metre each year
(1 rod = 25 square metres)

Concessionary rate (for people over 60 years old or with a disability)
£10 per rod or 40p per square metre
Example

Cost for a plot of 2 to 3 rods (50 to 75 square metres)

Full rate: £31 to £46.50
Concessionary rate: £20 to £30

[reddyreddy]

BTW, our plot is part of an ancient charity allotment site not council run. There are no toilets or parking and for water a trough, maybe you pay more the better the facilities are - I'm NOT complaining mind, love our oasis!  :)

[Unwashed]

Thanks PurpleHeather, that certainly drags the average up - it's now £4.33/pole for a sample of 31 sites.

reddyreddy, you'd think facilities might correlate with cost, but not so - Newbury Town Council wanted to charge £25/pole for pretty much what you describe, but our sites do have car parks, especially the site by the council offices where the officers park their cars; that has a lovely car park, but then they did spend several thousand pounds of the allotment budget on it.