Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Alec Powell on January 27, 2007, 18:35
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We seem to have a bit of a problem on our site regarding people waiting for plots.
Some holders refuse to give up un-cultivated plots on the reasoning that "I plan to get back to it some time and if I pay my rent then it's mine"
Can anyone who suffers the same problem suggest what is done on their sites?
Polite letters seem to to get nowhere and I am personally frustrated seeing keen newcomers having to wait for so long :!:
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Our site is run by an association and you have to sign a tenancy agreement which has certain rules about untended plots. If you are late with rent for the plot or water by more than 40 days after the 1st of Jan they will sieze your plot, they will sieze your plot if you have broken your agreement i.e not tending to your plot, dumping rubbish etc.
But there is leeway if you do have difficulty i.e. an illness.
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although we have an association our site is still managed by the local council as regards letting of plots. for what must be three years they have failed miserably to remove bob-the-builder (who uses his plot as a dumping ground and dodgy bonfire site), so unfortunately am not able to offer you any positive advice!
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Our council issue a 'Cultivate or Quit' notice that gives the holder one month to go or put things right. The rules, as a badly put together pdf can be found HERE (http://www.crewe-nantwich.gov.uk/PDF/PE_1501_Allotments_Dec_2005.pdf)
The pdf may be poor but the rules seem fairly well drawn up to me.
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Our site is quite strict now and at least twice a year they are all inspected. Any not being properly worked get served with non-cultivation orders and if a follow-up inspection a month or so later reveals it still in an uncultivated state the notice to quit is served.
Most tenancy agreements have a clause stating that the land must be kept to a certain minimum standard. I would suggest that you read your agreement carefully (if you can find it) and remember, it is a legal doc and all the conditions are enforcable.
Each site tends to have slightly different rules so it is not possible to give a precise answer to the problem. As the popularity with allotments grows, so too will the pressure to evict anyone not taking their plot seriously.
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I have only been on our site for 3 years,when i joined there were 9 empty plots they are now all taken.Unfortunately the guy on the plot next to me does not do anything to his plot,i have only seen him 3 times in nearly 2 years.I have asked the secretary to serve him with a notice to quit,he refuses because the guy has paid his rent.The result is a weed infested plot with a couple of leeks here and there.IT MAKES ME MAD
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work the plots or you are off you have to keep the weds under control or your off , moan moan moan until the commitees get off thier arses . or apply to go on the commitee to change the rules ie tell them your gonna stand for election etc . basically moan moan moan
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I think your right munty,our secretary has been in charge for ever apparently,though he constantly boasts about the site featuring on gardeners world back in the early 80s as the best kept allotment site and in those days you had to keep your plots spotless,seems to me he has lost his bite :(
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there ya go .nail ya flag to the mast mate
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I think it's only fair when there are waiting lists to chuck off those who do not really want their plots but it's important to give some leeway to people. Illness can throw someone off for example. A good site rep (like the Blessed Larry on our site) will get to the reasons before pushing someone.
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The only uncultivated plot on our site belonged to the saintly Robert, who passed away last year...it stands as mute testament to his loss...he was a lovely man.
:cry:
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Im sorry I cant agree with most of you, how would you like to betold how to arrange your plot, if acceptable and sometimes the lotty is the only bit of inexpensive respite some people have. How can any of us say what is right and what is wrong...I go to the plot almost every day love it neat and tidy and have raised beds but I have mine for my own reasons and I assume that the others who have plots and visit occasionally have good reason. I assume the old guys who keep broken glass !just in case, have reason.
I remember someone saying of a friend of mine, soap and water costs nowt that person didnt suffer from depression like my friend who had lost all reason to care.
What really pees me off are the people on the plot who think its OK to criticise others in front of me assuming I am one of them just becuase I prefer my plot to grow veg.............comon guys liveand let live.
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Most of us have signed an agreement and if you don't keep to it you should be evicted, there are other people who would love that plot in most cases. An allotment is for growing veg and some flowers and for keeping live stock, if you don't want to do that then you shouldn't have a plot.
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25% of the plot must be cultivated within 3 months of taking the tenancy, 75% within a year , if no good excuse someone else can have it
Fair enough to me.....
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tully, it's not a matter of them not keeping it neat enough - we're talking about people who take a plot on and just don't come and do anything so it becomes a mass of weeds blowing seed onto everyone elses plot.
If they don't come down to the site, they don't really want it, they're just keeping their option open.
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I don't know what our allotment rules are because we haven't had the paperwork yet - this is where there is a cross over off responsbilities - the allotments appear to have a committee because there is a allotment chairman who showed us which was our allotment and marked it all out for us, but the paperwork is sent to us by the town clerk (being a small town we have a town council which functions a bit like a parish council!), she still hasn't sent it to us yet - despite me chasing her several times and her commenting on it when she saw me in one of the shops in town last week!
People need to remember they RENT the plot not OWN it - there are major differences - if you rent something it belongs to someone else and the responsibilities that are attached to maintaining it may be different then if you own it - when you can do what you like because it's yours. Like other people have said check the rental agreement and if it doesn't cover this eventuallity look at what needs to be done to change it.
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Hi on my previous post on this subject i was complaining about the guy on the plot next to me,well i am still complaining.Went down the plot today and together with other plotholders spent half an hour replacing the black polythene sheets that had blown off his plot and were scattered over other peoples plots.The sheets were put on his plot last autumn to help kill his multitude of weeds.
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Same really on our site it's council run and the agreement says weeds are to be kept under control if you get reported you get I think up to 3 letters then a final. If your interested in keeping it then most parts will be maintained but the problem is if someone has paid their rent then no one can take over that plot until the previous tenancy has expired. :?
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If your interested in keeping it then most parts will be maintained but the problem is if someone has paid their rent then no one can take over that plot until the previous tenancy has expired. :?
I feel for you cornykev, i'm lucky because if you break your tenacy agreement on our site it doesn't matter if you have paid rent they will still evict you.
You should check you agreement because there must be away of getting rid of them, it can't be right they can do anything just because they have paid their rent.
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upto a few years ago it was the allotment rep from the council who inspected the plots and sent the letters out,butwith cut backs they handed this to the site steward who reports back to the council and so on :?
a chap a few down from me took a plot over 2 years ago he strimmed it all down the 1st year,last year he paid norman (the tractor guy) to turn it over and rotavate it,it looked a treat and this chap planted a packet of beetroot and that was his year,the beatroot is still there and the weeds are slowly coming back.
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This topic is obviously a 'Hot potato' and has not been caused by global warming! (sorry for the poor pun! but I could not resist) ....
On a more serious note it seems that many allotment sites have similar problems as regards to uncultivated plots and where my plot is no exception. We are all only given right cultivate whilst we pay rent and if we don't cultivate then we should loose the right to cultivate.
I was privilaged enough to take posession of my plot last June and have managed to get it in fair fettle for this season. I got quite a few crops sown, grown and harvested last season even though I got it well into growing season.
I do admit I put a lot of work in (paticularly over the winter digging) but it is well worth it. My immediate neighbour got his plot at exactly the same time as me and it is now an overgrown mess. I have never seen him on site once - a great shame as it is a great plot and it will be a much harder job to get it back into good condition now it has been left uncultivated for a 18 months or so.
The commitee that run the site in my view give people too much slack. If someone cannot find time to get down to their patch once in a year I do not think it is unreasonable to expect them to give up their tennency.
Allotments are not for everyone and we all need to allocate time as and when we can but not doing anything for a year is unacceptable in anyone's book.
As a result of my neighbours lack of action I am plagued by seeds from his plot as well as an army of slugs (Bah!) and he still has the plot in his name! I have nothing against the chap but IMHO the powers that be should get tough and boot people off who do not cultivate anything other than couch grass.
There is a waiting list of eager replacements who would be delighted make better use of the land. It seems the soft approach is prevalent at many sites. It may not be nice having to tell someone that they are going to loose their plot but sometimes there is no alternative.
Mixdiver
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... but run by a voluntary association.
The rules here are fairly lenient and the site manager can only do the job for a couple of years, they can reapply though so it seems to change hands between 3 or 4 peeps.
We have to keep our plots tidy and the surrounding verges too, and there's rules on sheds and greenhouses, but it's all applied with a common sense approach.
If a plot is left to go to hell in a handbasket, they talk to the owner and find out why, if it's ill health or personal circumstances, they're more lenient. They offer to downsize the plot, basically getting someone from the waiting list in for half the plot, or if it's genuine ill health, like poor aul Bill over the back from me, they offer to organise some help.
Bill had a heart attack about six months ago ... and some of us have been helping to keep it under control whilst he's been getting better. Bill's now back and his plot is safe and secure and not too wayward.
But if it's someone who just hasn't got round to it, and keep stalling they're given a month to improve it, and work it continually or they're out.
The plot behind and to the left of me was a mass of weeds ... one guy took it on, planting acres of carpet and was never seen again. It's now been split in half and taken on by two guys, one who's obviously an absolute newbie and the other more experienced. And it's good to see the plot worked.
We have a lot of plot shares on our site.
There are a few of the die hards who grumble at Betty who just grows flowers on hers, but she's breaking no rules, so they've been told to keep quiet.
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YEP,where there is a genuine reason,common sense must prevail.On our site we have a full occupancy,however Neville suffered a stroke last october,so we covered his plot with polythene ,so if and when he comes back it will not be full of weeds,and if he dont come back its easier to let than aplot full of weeds
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... is that long standing plot holders are able to hand their plots on which I think is a really lovely idea. I inherited my plot from Charlie, he had had the site since the 60's and had worked it with his brother up until three years ago when his brother died. Charlie was struggling with the plot, but didn't want to hand it over.
I worked with his daughter, and Charlie asked if I would like to come in with him and share the plot. I said yes, but Charlie then suddenly became quite poorly and he was allowed to hand the plot over to me.
Obviously I like this idea because it got me my plot, but I do think it allows elderly plotholders to let go gradually. Charlie still comes down to what is effectively now my plot, he goes and sits in the shed or on the plot, he leaves me notes, digs a few carrots or picks a few beans. He still has some invovlement but he doesn't have all the hard work that he's no longer able to cope with.
I shall be very sorry when I go into the shed and find that Charlie's old straw hat, and his deckchair aren't there anymore.
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Thats fabulous WELLINGTONS,you are obviously a caring person,and i share your sentiments entirely
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I take my hat off to Charlie. He is obviously person who is fully aware of his limitations and knows when it is time to ask for help. I hope he continues enjoying the carrots for years to come!
Mixdiver
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... but one that's positively encouraged by the management.