Unlawful eviction from my plot

[mahonia]

Yes I agree the council should be exercising their powers but I think they may be influenced by one of their councillors who so happens to have a plot near the rubbish.

So form your own opinion.

A note for Unwashed: we are unable to provide copies of the Association Rules or Tenancy Agreement or Constitution as our requests for the documents were refused. I have asked a friend on the allotments to request them for himself but he has been refused also. I have made an FOI request to the council but they say they don't have them. I made an FOI request to the council for details of the new trustees but the council say they don't have the information, but surely they must have it. It was the council who told me there are new trustees!

So there you are.

[mahonia]

[Robert_Brenchley]

Legally, I think dumping rubbish on an allotment is the same as any other sort of fly tipping.

[mahonia]

The dumped rubbish is a matter between the council and the association. The council have seen and photographed the mess and I am keeping out of it.

Meanwhile the association are having a dispute with us which must be fun for them. Obviously they enjoy the aggravation.

We are going to our allotments tomorrow as a fine day is forecast. Lots to do in the greenhouse and the rhubarb crowns need more forcing covers.

[jules2]

Its all a bit Catch 22, all constitutions I have seen give the members the power to ask for an extraordinary AGM so if you have support you could ask for one.

The problem being because you can't see the constitution you don't know how much support you need.

If I were you I'd go straight to my local councillor and ask why they allow such a dysfunctional organisation to operate on council property.

[mahonia]

My local councillor has a plot near the derelict plots and the association are in dispute themselves with the council over the mismanagement of the site. The association has been given notice to clear the mess or the lease would be terminated.

So its a big mess all round really. Perhaps the councillor feels he has a conflict of interest as the council employs him. He is not interested in supporting my dispute.

It is very clear if you read through my story that the committee have totally mismanaged the allotments.

However I am sure you would agree that it is one thing to mismanage the site and the site could be cleaned up in time, but it is very disturbing and unacceptable for the committee to harass and bully individuals.

We are being bullied off our plots after a series of deliberate and unlawful actions against us.

We are staying put and the committee want us out. So there is a stand off.

Mediation has been suggested and we are going to approach the committee to propose this but I am not optimistic.

Has anyone had experience of mediation or being a mediator?  We would appreciate some help with this.

[marcitos]

hi mahonia

Sorry to hear about your problems. I've also been harassed on our site. I was threatened by one plotholder, complained to the Committee & while they were 'investigating' the person who threatened was invited to join the Committee. I've also had guests intimidated by Committee members this included my (then) 78 year old mother. I also had what I call 'the pub staring incident' where one member continually stared at me as I was walking to my plot, when challenged he said 'I can stare at who I want'.

Went to mediation. I asked for this, but it turned out to be a bit of a toothless wonder. Doesn't mean though that it would be in all cases.

Marcitos

[Old Central]

Perhaps the councillor feels he has a conflict of interest as the council employs him.

I think you'll find that is not quite correct since he is an elected representative, i.e we elect him and he most definitely is not an employee. However, I can understand how he would feel compromised.

Have you discussed the matter with him? If not, do so asap, as he will be able to advise the best line of complaint.

Good luck

OC

[tonybloke]

councillors love filling in complaint forms for you!
but not so when the complaint is about themselves! LOL

[pigeonseed]

one problem with mediation is like  negotiation, people seem to feel it has to involve both sides giving something away, which in some cases isn't fair. But then when people have to live together afterwards maybe it's the only way to re-establish the relationship. You might want to start thinking of something you can 'offer' on your side, which is acceptable to you, but hold it back, till the time comes. If people in authority won't force a solution for you, then I hope mediation helps get things back to a peaceful situation.

[mahonia]

Thank you for your helpful advice.

I will speak with the councillor regarding the problems we are having. It must be worth trying.

Regarding mediation, I know it will not be easy for the association as they are very determined to get us off the allotments and they are not bothered about being lawful.

The association seem to be obsessed with eviction and have not been willing so far to hear my side.

But someone has to make the first move and it is easier for us than the committee who seem unable to take a decision apart from unlawful ones.

It would be nice if the committee sent us a letter stating what it is that has upset them so much and what they actually want out of this dispute. All we have had from them so far is allegations, threats and eviction notices plus a load of biased hearings.

I am hoping the committee will respond to my proposal for mediation but I cannot force them and both sides must be willing to resolve the dispute.

I can see that it would be difficult for the committee as they have always operated in secret and no doubt they are worried that the membership would learn the truth.

This is new territory for them and I am sure they do not know how to deal with it.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Mubarak didn't either, but he didn't last long!

[sazhig]

No experience with official mediation apart from a rather rubbish phone based negotiation for a financial matter that was before county court that was really not worth the time  :-\

But when I had my troubles with my local allotment association it was the meeting between myself, the association and the council that cleared it all up...well not exactly the meeting...more the idea of it  ;D. It was the chair of the council that proposed the meeting at the council meeting I attended to bring the matter to their attention. But it never took place as the association just kept ignoring/postponing the council's requests for suitable dates for it. After about 6 months I wrote to the council stating it was obvious the association had no intention of meeting with us or explaining why they had done what they had (and lodging my official complaint about the discrimination me and my family were experiencing  ;)). Within a month the council had ordered the association to desist and it was all resolved  :)

[tonybloke]

No experience with official mediation apart from a rather rubbish phone based negotiation for a financial matter that was before county court that was really not worth the time  :-\

But when I had my troubles with my local allotment association it was the meeting between myself, the association and the council that cleared it all up...well not exactly the meeting...more the idea of it  ;D. It was the chair of the council that proposed the meeting at the council meeting I attended to bring the matter to their attention. But it never took place as the association just kept ignoring/postponing the council's requests for suitable dates for it. After about 6 months I wrote to the council stating it was obvious the association had no intention of meeting with us or explaining why they had done what they had (and lodging my official complaint about the discrimination me and my family were experiencing  ;)). Within a month the council had ordered the association to desist and it was all resolved  :)

result!!

[mahonia]

We were advised to try mediation but we have decided if that fails we would bring a court action against the association.

We have tried everything else to resolve the matter and we feel court action would bring a result.

The committee dragged my partner into the dispute, so effectively they now have two disputes rather than one.

My partner feels in her case she is being racially discriminated against and she may well be right. She has written to the association to that effect. She would be bringing her own separate action.

Last week on the allotments I was told by a plot holder that he had been asked by a committee member last year if he would say that he had seen me stealing fruits from a plot. This is very disturbing and must be criminal.

I have also obtained evidence of a serious financial irregularity regarding misuse of funds. This is also very disturbing.

Should we go to the police?

Lastly, the CEO at the council has said that the council are not prepared to intervene in our disputes. So we pay these people a 6 figure salary and they don't do their job.

[Robert_Brenchley]

The council here once tried to mediate between me and the person who was harassing me on the site, but they refused to meet me. Unfortunately the situation just continued for some time afterwards.

[mahonia]

We are not going to bother with the council anymore as I think they have their own dispute with the association  so they would be in a difficult position.

We are hopeful that mediation with the association may just work. It is worth trying but of course it depends upon the association being willing to go for it. It is a case of wait and see if they respond, but we would only give them 4 weeks in which to reply one way or the other.

I go to the allotments twice a week but it is not much fun anymore especially as I know about the plot holders who were prepared to lie about me.

It is a very sad place to be in.

[Nigel B]

Our local council has just taken over the running of our new allotments on the strength of a letter of dissolution from our secretary (a local councillor), who had no legal basis to do so.
Legal battles to follow, I suppose.

[daitheplant]

Mahonia, if you have evidence of an illegal use of funds then you should certainly report it to the police, and also tell them of the associations attempts to incite another plot holder to make fraudulent claims of theft against you. Then for good measure, get your partner to ask the police to investigate the possibility of racial discrimination.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Definitely go to the police if you have evidence of something illegal. It may not work; I had a situation where they were satisfied that my accuser was the thief, but lacked the evidence to take action. But it's always worth trying, and should at least get them hassled.

[mahonia]

I will take your good advice and go to the police. I cannot let the theft allegations go unresolved. As you say even if the police cannot prove foul play it will rattle the committee somewhat.

I do have hard evidence of one specific financial irregularity and the local press has helped with the investigation as it involves the public.  The reporter has a copy of the evidence which is damning.

You would like this one:

One of the committee have told me he had nothing to do with the dispute and he says he cannot be held responsible or liable for any decisions that were made as he never signed any document to prove he is a committee member.

Nice try! But as I mentioned to him, he never spoke up for me or rejected any decisions made and the committee have refused to make available the minutes of committee meetings so they are all in the s**t together.

You can see the sort of people we are having to deal with. They are all on another planet.