Am I still allowed to post on here?

[Paulottie]

Me and my big mouth!

So a while ago I posted about our allotment manager leaving and how the woman who was taking it over was a bit of a Hitler and how she wanted to put up the rents and backdate it a year.(there was also a row about a huge water bill-as a drain tap was left on)...I wrote a long letter to the parish council ...but she said I would have to go to the next meeting if I wanted to put our case.

So, I went...quick as a flash and before you could say 'parsnip' I was voted on and it was 'here, catch the hot potato'...I was made manager of the allotments. So its Councillor Paulottie to you plebeians now!...but I imagine you guys and girls want to associate with management..God, I'm the enemy!

The upshot is that I've rented ALL the plots out today (unusual but true-we had some spare plots), I've persuaded the council to pay the water bill and not to backdate the rent rise.

So, I've been up to 4am the last few nights writing bills and maps and tenancy agreements and site etiquette and articles for the local rags and and
and... but I hope I've got the whole thing running a bit smoother with a better sense of community, without losing its rustic charm or putting to many noses out of joint.... It was all a bit haphazard before.

I have to say thanks to you grapes as everyone's posts and experience been a great source of info when it came to drafting the etiquette and rules.

MrsP not entirely pleased...we already have two plots, two kids,a business and I'm treasurer and groundsman for the cricket club. I always thought absence made the heart grow fonder?...I am torn, certainly didn't intend this but as its happening I hope i can run a really cool site.

Not sure If this was relly a question but I thought I'd just let, those of you who know me here, what was happening.

[NOG]

All I can say is "ha ha ha ha"....I've been there and had it done to me.

But if you only do it for a year you will hand it over in a much better state than it was handed to you.

Best of Luck, hope it not too painfull.

Mayby we should have a down load page and we can all put templates on it so when ever this happends you could download a Tenancy or Set of rules and amend them to your needs.

[Paulottie]

Thanks for goodwishes, I know this is going to be a bit of a struggle with a few of the old timers, for them I'm a newbie-just my 6th season there!. I know I can improve things there but I certainly don't want any acrimony as it is my great joy and peace there and I don't want it ruined for me. I have to say the etiquette letter was an inspired document(head swells! If I can format it i'll post it sometime)...Rules are mainly unchanged; except I've banned carpets after having spent an afternoon trying to clean up an abandoned one. We have a couple of gems on the rules...'No tenant shall erect a pigsty!'

The real challenge is my old adversary Mme Hitler...I've had a couple of cracking run ins with her over other unrelated issues in the past......have to say I admire the slick way she handled this one though!!!

My problem with her is she has a plot adjacent to her house and uses it as a sort of extension to her garden, one where she dumps her garden bonfire stuff. etc....and quite a few years back she put a big mound of rubble and a fireplace from some building work on the headland and then covered it with dirt. (old manager allowed this!) She now lets the weeds grow head height on top of it -as it affords her privacy. She has always not paid a share of the water bill saying she uses her own etc..

Going to be a political minefield for a hothead like me...can anyone recommend some good diplomacy pills?

[Derek]

Paul

Congratulations ...you sound as though you have things in hand and enjoying it.

So Madame Hitler has stitched you up and is likely to be a problem...simple.... now that you have the rules, ettiquette in place return the compliment...ask her nicely to be your deputy.
She will be flattered and couldn't possibly infringe the rules she would be there to enforce

[carlseawolf]

how about rule one - a plot must be kept well cultivated and manured and only used for the sole perpose of producing veg or flower for the plot holders ammediate use.
If she don't like that then get her done for fly tipping on council land , or give her the bill to clean up the plot when she leaves.

[Eyren]

Good luck with that minefield, Paulottie! Our lottie manager died just before Christmas (well, he was over 90 ), so we have a meeting next weekend to vote in a new committee. I'm a newbie (coming up 2 years in July) so I'll be keeping my head down...

[Mrs Dobby]

Well done Paulottie, sounds like you're doing great!

[NOG]

Add the water into the Rent....find out last years water bill add 15% the devide between the plot holders...then she is stuffed.

[Flummery]

Well done that man! You took one step back and the others took two eh? Well at least you've always shown common sense here - I think that's a comodity that's not so common as it sounds. I wouldn't like your job but I'd rather be an allotment holder under the new system. Sock it to 'em!

[TPeers]

Does Mme Hitler have a tap on her plot? If so I think you are justified in turning it off - she doesn't need it after all - she runs a hose from her garden!

Does the site as a whole enter the Allotment Soc. competitions? My old one does. There is a category for best overall site - you could play on this and how the rubble pile brings down the tone?

[Paulottie]

I've already sorted the water issue, You pay water whether you use it or not and I think she has accepted that. She kind of played into my hands by trying to backdate the rent hike to cover the rogue water bill before I got the parish to write it off.

If we have spare money this year I have already decided that I shall try and get more water butts especially for those who have greenhouses (I donated a couple a few years back placed under the taps). I thought I might try the district council but, if anyone knows where i might pick up something suitable please let me know.

I am having a big bonfire anyway and will burn her garden waste and clear the old path that it now blocks. I will then be more able to say something if it starts again.

Also introducing a couple of general tidy up days a year and I will allocate the new waterbutts, compost bins, mypex, or horse poo or whatever I spend the rent on at those occasions(or to those who help at other times)....the carrot.... This should encourage people to take a hand in general maintenance and underline that those who help keep our costs down benefit... No input= no output!...if this doesn't work and nobody helps I'll explain that the rents will have to go up again next year....The stick!

Don't know about this mound though its 10 yards long by 2yrds wide and 3 ft high. I can probably apply pressure to her hubby to strim it. Stop it seeding everywhere... but can't think of a way to achieve her actually moving the rubble etc. very confrontational that one....but slowly slowly catchy monkey.

You posted as I was writing Terry. back in a min with answers

[Paulottie]

No Terry she doesn't have a tap, and to be fair she is the furthest from the three we have. but it is partly because she said she didn't need one when the fellow reorganised water arrangement 3 years ago. I donated a couple of butts back then to help conserve and warm water rather than folk always using hoses. But still my view is you are a tenant or not.... the bill is usually only a fiver or so each anyway!!!

Its a small site with only about 20 tenants, There is a veg garden competition run by the local garden club, but we do not at present belong to a society and don't enter the site as a whole to anything. I see your reasoning though..it is an idea that I could slowly introduce, especially if it meant we could win some money or a grant.

It irritates me most because part of it is actually on my plot! and my neighbour, who has a greenhouse adjacent to it. Further still the main path also crosses my plot because we have to go round it... meaning I lose even more land still! (not so much of an issue now that i have two plots but hey, not the point)

When she took over for a bit she suggested we spend most of our small budget on a skip, I could just imagine her emptying her garden crap in it too!

I have just spent a couple of weeks renovating a greenhouse that old manager had put on the bank years ago. He put glass under a budlia and subsequently hit it with his tractor....I have taken loads broken glass to the tip and tons of chicken wire fencing too. Ironic part is I spent more than £170 on glass before someone said they had a load I could have for free luckily the glass co got the order short though and so I have at least saved a further £100.

Really chuffed with myself though...hard work...took two days just chiselling out the putty from the channels on the corners...that is before I worked out the way to do it was to drill it out(good tip that) Now its a really cool 11'x7' house with a proper two course concrete block wall base and I've made some guttering to suit etc....looking fine must take a photo to show off.

[TPeers]

With, of course, water butts from each side of guttering!

Having just priced up skips as we have loads of junk to clear and decided that queing at the dump on a bank holiday was preferable - personally I think a few well sited waterbutts from the budget would be a better way to spend the money!

I don't think that affiliating to the National Allotment Soc. costs too much, memory promts to the tune of £3 a year per plot, but it would probably have to be voted on at an AGM - it is quite a radical alteration to T&C's.

Does your town council/parish council have a garden competition? Bet you could enter polts as 'gardens' in the same way that back gardens have to be deliberatly entered while front gardens are automatically looked at. Have you thought of a development award from the lottery? Quite a bit of work setting up the plans but might be worth considering?

Well done with the new greenhouse

Terry

[Novice Gardener]

Hi everyone. This thread has been real interesting to me as I've got my name down with the local council for a lottie, so its been great to read about the do's and don'ts of having a lottie. (first time I've ventured on here too )

[allotmentlady]

good stuff

I have/still am campaigning for more allotments in chorley. Currectly there are roughly 104 allotments, covering a huge town! Under the small holdings act, there are supposed to be 15 allotments per every 1000 household but our council dont move that fast. On our site I managed to get the council to give us 1000 for a composting toilet, money for repairs to the communal cabin, a new gate to the site, have the road resurfaced and we got VAT knocked off our rents! We try to encourage plotholders to use waterbutts and conserve rainwater, rather than using the tap!

Good luck on your venture, its tough! I resigned as Secretary of our society at the AGM on wednesday and sadly nobody else put themselves forward. Its tough work but rewarding when you see developments.