Allotments 4 All

For sunny London Borough of Merton we have:

Annual allotment rent   Charge per 25m² (1 rod) from 01/10/09   
Adult rate    £10.00
Concession 1 Reduced rent for unemployed,over 60, and registered disabled    £7.00
Reduced rent for juniors, unemployed or those in receipt of supplementary benefit    £5.00

OC

Hi Unwashed
I'm an allotment holder at West Mills and I agree the rent rise was a surprise but I do think that people of 70 and over should only pay half. As for your statement on the carpark there I wish to disagree. I spoke to one of the workers putting the materials down and they told me it cost a couple of hundred as it was recycled. I am puzzled why you have the opinion that it cost so much. I also know that all tenants, old and new pay the same amount. Our steward there is very helpful and always very friendly and approachable and any opinions we have he passes onto the council, does your steward do the same for you?. I do not always agree with what the council do but I am sure they do listen to us.
I understand that soon our allotment will be starting an association and I cannot wait. It would be good to see how they compare. With regards Treacle

I've just had my invoice in.

£6.30 per pole     my 6 poles = £37.80

+£5.40  for water   but a 50% reduction this year because water leaks in the summer and most of the site struggled to get water  =£2.70

Total  = £40.50             £6.75 per pole inc water.


I've confused myself so I'm sure you are ???

Total to pay  =£40.50  or  £3.37.5  per month

I bet that gets Unwashed thinking, but what about Brian who started the thread ???    PS.  Fossils get a 50% discount, I don't begrudge them that, after all they did fight in the war for us.  :-X  ;D ;D ;D

In Reigate 10 Rod plots have just gone up from £33 to £35 with half price for OAP's.

The allotment association however has had its council rent increased from £900 pa to £10,000 pa (negotiated down from £18,000)

So after this year no more allotment association trading hut  >:(

Hi All

The average price of £4-33 appears to be wrong.

Because a pole TWO years ago had the average overall rate of £4-40
And a SE rate of £5-20 per pole

How can the price drop 0.07p per pole overall and 0-87p per pole in the SE over two years, when everyone moans at the massive price increases.
The above rates were based on a poll of 86 samples.

This poll appears to be loading the rates shown with very few in the higher range shown and a lot more shown for the low rates. Which gives an artificially low rate per pole? 

This pole also has a lot less samples than the older one.

Unless you compare like with like it is meaningless and pointless.

Quote from: vegwise@btinternet.com on January 19, 2010, 21:37:09

Hi All

The average price of £4-33 appears to be wrong.

Because a pole TWO years ago had the average overall rate of £4-40
And a SE rate of £5-20 per pole

How can the price drop 0.07p per pole overall and 0-87p per pole in the SE over two years, when everyone moans at the massive price increases.
The above rates were based on a poll of 86 samples.

This poll appears to be loading the rates shown with very few in the higher range shown and a lot more shown for the low rates. Which gives an artificially low rate per pole? 

This pole also has a lot less samples than the older one.

Unless you compare like with like it is meaningless and pointless.

and your point is...................................?

Hi Kev, yes, that's how I worked out the rates.  I worked out the cost of both a five pole and ten pole plot with all the compulsory charges like water and association membership, then divided by 5 and 10 respectively.

Hi Treacle, welcome to A4A.  I have some recollection that it originally cost them £4k several years ago but I might be wrong and it's difficult to find the record of it.  There was an estimate in the 2008 service plan for £3k so that might be it, but I'm not sure.  If you're interested you could ask the Council under the Freedom of Information Act for the total amount spent in the last ten years on the car park.  But you formed your site association in the Summer didn't you?

Quote from: vegwise@btinternet.com on January 19, 2010, 21:37:09

Hi All

The average price of £4-33 appears to be wrong.

Because a pole TWO years ago had the average overall rate of £4-40
And a SE rate of £5-20 per pole

How can the price drop 0.07p per pole overall and 0-87p per pole in the SE over two years, when everyone moans at the massive price increases.
The above rates were based on a poll of 86 samples.

This poll appears to be loading the rates shown with very few in the higher range shown and a lot more shown for the low rates. Which gives an artificially low rate per pole? 

This pole also has a lot less samples than the older one.

Unless you compare like with like it is meaningless and pointless.

     
Wypraszam sobie! Always with the pole-bashing

very clever, UW  ;D ;D 8)

 15 ft x 60 ft  £19.50.  there's a slight size variation of plots but I think thats the price overall.  20 plots  3 water tanks. Council run. Sorry dont no what a pole measures and as you can see still working in feet, inches and yards  ;D  ;D

vegwise@bt,

in lieu of NSALG doing another survey (their last one was 13-14 years ago) all private surveys are going to suffer from being limited to small samples. This includes the one that you mention from a couple of years back. While the resultant level of accuracy may be questionable I think that they do provide a broad indicator. I have seen 5 such surveys in the last 2 years and they all point to an average of between £4 and £5 per pole.

Hi Kevin
Thank you for the welcome, I find this site very informative and interesting, people have such good ideas. We had a meeting in the summer to see how many people were interested in forming an association and had a great response so there is a meeting next month to select a committee. I have only had my allotment a couple of years so maybe they spent more money on the carpark before that. :). Im really only a novice at this but find it very theraputic and get lots of advice from the other allotment holders. with regards

Plymouth council allotment info.

'The rent charge for half plot is £14.53 per annum. Water charges are split equally between all tenants on each site; this charge varies according to tenant usage, but is normally no more than £15 per year. There is also a one off, non-refundable charge of £5 for a site key.'

(Sites vary considerably some have facilities and some dont..)

'Due to extremely high demand for allotments, we are currently able to offer half plots to new applicants. This will be anything up to 179m2.'

Thats all I could get about the sizes.

Just got my renewal letter. The charge has not gone up this year- still £20 (having one up gradually from £9 three years ago! It's a big plot (don'tknow how many poles) but no facilities or water.

Hate maths! Here, there are 20 and 40 rod plots (I think).
Small are roughly 16 yds x 7 yds = 112 sq yds
112 sq yds divided by 5.5 = 20 rod approx ???

Anyhow, the rate is £12.50 a year and £25 a year, to go up to £15 and £30 in 2011. This seems cheap, looking at other posts.

Limited supply of water in 2 cisterns on site (officially no hoses). No association. Council cut main grass path once a month for 8 months of the year. No main hut or toilets, no electricity. The soil is very heavy clay, litlle natural topsoil, and about a foot above the water table. There is plenty of free horsemuck locally if you are prepared to barrow it, vehicle access is almost impossible except in high summer.
There are 36 plots on site, 19 small, 17 large. Of these, approx half are properly worked, the other half seem to get taken on and folks mess about then give up or get evicted at the end of the year.

jennym,

a pole is 5.5 yards squared, ie approx. 30 sq. yards.

112 sq yards is therefore just under 4 poles.

Hi UW

JA tylko mówią angielski,  sorry about the pole bashing ;D it should have been poll.

However I like your sense of Humour :D :D :D

Even if your polls a bit shaky ?

Hi tonybloke


Read the last line of my origanl post IS the point.   :o

Quote from: vegwise@btinternet.com on January 23, 2010, 15:34:40
Hi tonybloke


Read the last line of my origanl post IS the point.   :o

We all know this, but, we can only work with what we have, unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world.. This thread was never meant to be anything except a 'rough guide' price comparison, why are you knocking it??
have you done a better piece of research, perhaps? ;)

Hi Tonybloke,

I would not be knocking it if it was only a rough guide, however UW in the allotment movement forum is using it to attack his local council which I think is a bit much  :(

My council may not be the best in the world but I would not use a forum to keep knocking them in an area that they can not hit back or question my info. ???

I had some complaints about my council and I sent in a letter that they could respond to and question my information.  :(

Both problems where resolved with least harm to both parties and we have a good tenant / landlord relationship  :D

I do understand that any poll is only as good as the information available to it, and it is a rough guide, if its used as such. ;)
VW