Repeated fails of a plot holder

I would be really interested to know what other sites do with a plot holder who every year seems to get a notice about the state of his plot - sometimes the weeds are 6" high and has very little area under cultivation.  Once served a notice he does a mad push clears all the weeds roughly and then grabs summer crops like pumpkins and sweetcorn and covers the plot successfully.  We can't be the only site that has repeated "offenders" so to to speak - do you include any sort of 3 strikes and you're out policy somehow?  His poor neighbours have had 10 years of it ....

It's unfair to everyone to behave like that.  Where I am you get a verbal warning, a written warning and then unless you have a good reason you are out.

There's a waiting list of almost 3 years.

Hold on!  Hold on!  Hold on!  I feel I need to push back on this thread.

I’m one of these guys whom you’re complaining of. My allotment is not the neatest on the allotments. I grow the sweet corn, squash, Asparagus, Raspberries etc. Low maintenance plants that produce high value tasty food (oh, and the pumpkins are great as weed suppressors).

Why? Because I have to work for a living! If I’m not working, my kids potentially aren’t getting fed. Even on a minimum wage, 1 hr of work will buy more potatoes in Aldi than if I grow them. I don’t have the time to put the dead straight rows of veg and keep the all the weeds out. The allotment is not there for feeding the family. The allotment will never be an efficient return on investment. It will however, teach my kids where their food comes from, how it grows, how to grow it, and that milk doesn’t get magicked into Tesco by some fairy.

Give the guy a break and walk a mile in his shoes.

P.S. Hopefully I’ve not offended anybody too much here. A little is acceptable. Though I’m not a great fan of the old “Major Blyth, Mrs Bucket” style of Parish council allotment management. This forum is great because as a complete beginner a few years ago I’m learning a lot from the “older, experienced guard” with still an awful lot left to learn. Long may it continue.

I’m one of these guys whom you’re complaining of.

I am not so sure that you are. Cardoon queen is talking about someone who only clears and plants their plot once a notice is issued, not someone who is trying to maintain order while holding down a job and so whose plot is cultivated, just a little rough round the edges at times. 

Lots of plot holders work (me included) and mine is not the neatest plot either. Yours sounds fine to me and it would be an unfair council (in my opinion) that served you a weedy notice.

There is the other side to the story as well.  Our site has a waiting list of nearly 150 people.  We are only a small site, so plots don’t come up that often.  Last year I met, showed round and got plots allocated to more newbies than the council had managed to let plots to in the last 5 years.  We are now full    Having said that we still have several plots covered in tall weeds and totally unused, or just about scraping through as under control, but not a single thing growing as a crop.  I’m not Mrs Bucket, but that seems unfair when so many people have no allotment at all. 

Thank you.

Maybe I'm just being a little too sensitive on my plot. However, perhaps, going back to the original question: there could be a number of approaches. It depends on how the plots have been managed and the committee and the "community" within the allotments.

 A letter can feel rather aggressive, but is less confrontational. It may also be ignored and then we need to repeat until we get to the ultimatum stage, as discussed by Christine.

Another approach could be a telephone call. The caller however would require some soft skills to perform this without the conversation becoming heated. The aim being to ask what their plans are? For the caller though, it can be have some trepidation and be rather stressful. Ultimately though, a letter of eviction so as to have a paper trail would be necessary.

In my opinion, talking is always better as you get a faster resolution with understanding on both sides of the direction of travel. Then of course the committee can get another off the waiting list far faster and into an active plot. Both approaches, if not handled correctly can end in bitterness from both parties.

I hope Cardoon Queen that my ten-peneth might help.

Angus.

Same experience here as MoS.  The council like everything recorded and on the record.  They used to just issue letters after a site visit, but nothing ever got followed up, so some people got letters every year for an awful lot of years and got used to ignoring them.

Currently I am in contact with everyone on the site via one means or another, because they have given me contact details or joined our WhatsApp group, but the enforcement of the tenancy agreement (which says you must cultivate the plot), lays with the council.  They are sending ‘weedy’ emails, rather than letters, but we are at an early stage and if they do decide to evict, it may move to posted correspondence.

It seems harsh, but if they are getting it in the neck from people waiting or plot holders next door to a weed patch, you can see how a system of recorded warnings make things simple for them to move people on and/or say ‘Look - we are doing everything we can’.  A bit cynical perhaps, but that is the reality of it with most councils.

I wish our council would be more proactive with plotholders who don’t do anything. The woman behind me got her plot early 202o asked me about paying by direct debit! Turned out she thought the £26 rent was per month !! Should have been a warning there. Did a fair bit at first, then hardly picked anything, mainly visiting with friends & sat with a can or 2 of beer. Left it to grow & grow, November’21 covered it all in thick black plastic, & I mean everything straight over the plot from one end to the other over raised beds & all. Never came back at all in 2022, & the council let her have it again this year, she finally uncovered half of it in May, came with her son he put the spade in & she dropped a potato in ( I was on my plot at the time, when we spoke & she said she was going to crack on I said little & often, they went after 10 minutes, I very nearly shouted I didn’t mean that little) & she’s not been back & done anything since.
Apparently our person at the council likes to have an informal telephone chat before sending a letter, & we have no idea if they do ‘plot inspections’
Thing is there’s a waiting list of over 60 for the 2 sites with 40+ for ours, there’s at least 5 more plots not being done at all, not done and then the weeds have caught up with them etc. Then they have the cheek to write in the newsletter you get with your invoice “ if you have more than 1 plot (I do, 2 x 1/2 plots) please consider giving up 1 to shorten the waiting list!
Photos are of plot neighbours plot last week or so

A rule change sounds like an ideal start.  If you can get in it place over the winter, at least you can go into next season with a plan and some teeth to back it up.

You are doing great work and all on your own time for the good of the site and all the plot holders.  Don’t beat yourself up over things you have had no training for.  Imagine how bad things would be without people like you