[SnooziSuzi]

Hi all,

Sorry if this has already been asked but I couldn't find a thread that looked like what I wanted to know so...

Does anyone know anything about this potential new Allotment Act that is supposed to come into force soon?

The chairman of my allotment association seems to think that instead of the statutory 6 months notice (as per allotment act amended 1950) this will be reduced to 31 days, and that things are going to be tightened up to the detriment of allotmenteers.

Sorry I don't have any specifics, but he seems to think that there is going to be a law banning ducks / geese / horses from allotments.  I know that the aforementioned act made it legal to keep chickens (hens) and rabbits on allotments, but didn't mention one way or another about the rest, but that some associations have allowed ducks etc to be kept.  I think our chairman is basically planning on telling everyone that has anything other than chooks and bunnies to get them off the site or that they have to give up their allotment (giving them 31 days notice )

Can anyone shed some light please?

Su

[mumofstig]

I suspect they are HIS new rules, (or even Council ones) rather than Government ones 

[savbo]

or they could be new Council rules, lots of which are changing these days

[PembsPanther]

I have googled the obvious and nothing has emerged so I suspect it is a site change rather than a national one, ask him for his sources.

These guys know nothing anyhow:

http://www.nsalg.org.uk/index.php

This PDF was produced by parliament in March and there is no mention of anything here either:

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CIEBEBYwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parliament.uk%2Fbriefing-papers%2FSN00887.pdf&ei=MPDAT9fYEM6r8QOk34nDCg&usg=AFQjCNFuxvAqeU2gKVFx2uYmRLIDKAcckQ

HTH

[Plot74]

Our local council gives 31 days to take anything off the allotment the past tenant left after eviction.
This after several warnings.
John

[compostqueen]

Some town councils will try and write up any old rubbish into their allotment tenancy agreements but they can't change the Allotment Act!  They may not even be aware that such an Act exists!  Yes they really are that stupid 

Ours served three months notice on some of our plotters. Quite illegally of course but they think that plot holders are daft enough to swallow anything. Maybe they used to be but times they are a changing. Thank goodness

It's important for plot holders to have protection against officialdom and we thank goodness our site is a member of NSALG. They were there for us when it really mattered but we still had to do an awful lot of work ourselves to keep the wolf from the door

Our council tried to introduce consent for a shed or greenhouse but they had no hook to hang the rule on (thanks to NSALG pointing out that planning consent wasn't needed)  No raspberries, no hens blah blah. It was all drivel, but unless someone is in the know and contradict, then the council gets away with such nonsense 

[Yorkie]

This is all assuming snoozisuzi's site is a council one and also has statutory protection.

If it's a private site then the rules are what the owner makes up, subject to anything in the tenancy agreements.

[allotmentann]

All national acts and ammendments to them are here (but you do have to get your head around the jargon!)
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/all?title=allotment%20act

[Yorkie]

True, but you have to bear in mind:

a) many Acts have amendments yet to be incorporated - albeit this is sometimes flagged up for information

b) any legislation which hasn't yet been passed (as opposed to been implemented) won't appear on that.

I do not believe there to be anything in the original suggestion, which is that the national legislation has been amended.  Something like that would have been publicised during any Bill's passage through Parliament.

[AnneB]

If you search www.parliament.uk under bills and legislation, it lists all the Bills currently being debated in the Lords and the Commons and all the draft Bills before Parliament.

There is no Allotment Bill currently being debated or in draft form. For info, a new Allotment Act would have to be debated as a Bill first.

Hope this helps -  I have to deal with this stuff for work, albeit in a different Department, and I am certain there is nothing live on this issue.

The future of allotments came up as part of the Government's red tape challenge, but any rumours of amending legislation on allotments were quickly squashed - there were a number of posts and articles at the time.

[Yorkie]

Knowing this government, it wouldn't be in anything as straightforward as a new Allotment Act.

They'd bung it in something really unobvious like the Protection of Freedoms Act, or the Ways and Means Act!! 

[mumofstig]

How can you be sooo cynical Yorkie     

[Lawrence]

How can you be sooo cynical Yorkie     

He probably remembers the last Tory government.

[AnneB]

Just to make things clear, I was only making a factual point - that there is no new Allotment Bill or Allotment Act in the pipeline, according to the public information available.  Nothing more.

[Madame Cholet]

we arn't allowed livestock on our plots  but its owned by a trust and you are told the rules before you sign up.