My town's allotment sites are all directly managed by the council, and there are some advantages to that, but there's something to be said for self-management too. I'd be interested in your experiences of the benefits and pit-falls, of both self-management and direct management.
why not get in touch with NSALG http://www.nsalg.org.uk/
they should be able to put you in touch with your regional rep, who could possibly advise you on the best option. I think they advise self-managed as the best option.
(our association own ours)
unwashed,i get confused as to what self managed means in real terms,is it when the site is council owned but managed by a committee of plot holders?
Elvis, yes, that's it - by self-managed I mean council owned and managed by a site association.
Tony, I'm really after people's own experience. Growing in the Community, the Local Government Association allotment management best-practice guide says that Councils should have a strategy for moving sites towards self-management because of the benefits for both allotmenteers and councils, and there's a lot of advice out there that people should be taking more responsibility for the communities they live in, but I wanted to hear some first-hand experiences.
The site committee has to have adequate funding to manage the site, however that's going to be arranged, and in the case of an eviction, the decision should be taken by someone other than the site committee for obvious reasons. You also need good relations with the Council for it to work.
i only have experience of self management,so cant really compare the two. ( i am the sec of our site) im happy to answer any specific questions you may have however unwashed.
robert,yes,we have adequate funding,i make sure of that,and when it comes to evictions,i ask the other committee members to do a plot inspection,not including myself,then send a friendly warning letter,if things dont improve,a first then second notice to quit,then eventually reccomend to the council that the plotholder needs a third and final notice from them