allotment taken away - conclusion (of sorts) post 668 onwards

[kiwirach]

just been to read the comments and see mine did actually go thru yesterday.

tis getting a bit mucky on the comments front over there....regardless...council didnt follow procedure!.

[maytreefrannie]

I've just read over my post (above) and I hope it's clear - this whole thing is so maddening it's hard to express exactly what I mean.

[BrideXIII]

Just tried to leave a comment but couldnt. Bride have you read the messagr from dave he would like you to tell him the name of the online comunity that is supporting tricky.

yes i saw it, but we all felt it was best not to mention GYO on there, we don't want an influx of posters here over this issue, and as GYO were not officially involved, its not right to mention the site

[Joe]

Just an observation; the photographs posted on this thread seem to suggest that the council were correct about this allotment. It appears from the photographs that this allotment was not being used.

Of course the council were out of order in not following procedure in giving warning over eviction, but they are under pressure from people like myself who would like to have an allotment who pester our councils into action which might result in evictions of those who appear not to be using their plot.

Is it also normal practice for a council to plough an allotment prior to handing it over to a new tenant?

[Hazel at the Hill]

I may be wrong, but I think that the photos posted on this thread were of other plots on the site - I don't think anyone has posted any 'before' photos of Tricky's plot.

[smallblueplanet]

Just an observation; the photographs posted on this thread seem to suggest that the council were correct about this allotment.

I'm not sure about the pictures, but shouldn't the fact that there were still veggies in the ground - tricky's xmas veggies - have hinted that the plot was still being used? The rent had been paid and it's approaching winter, what's a plot supposed to look like then?!!

[lottie dolly]

that is correct hazel,
does'nt look like this one going away yet,seems like the council still need a bit of education.

[Joe]

I'm not sure about the pictures, but shouldn't the fact that there were still veggies in the ground - tricky's xmas veggies - have hinted that the plot was still being used? The rent had been paid and it's approaching winter, what's a plot supposed to look like then?!!

Well actually I'd would have expected to see rather more soil than grass. The photographs show untouched land like you find on many neglected allotments.

[BrideXIII]

there are no 'before' pics of Tricky's allotment, just of it after they ploughed it up, the other pics are of other allotments on the site that were in a worse state than his, but left alone.

the point here is weeds or not, veg or not, he wasn't given any warning, either to clean it up, or that they were taking in back.
he had no chance to argue his case, or to comply with any order to clean it up.

[Joe]

there are no 'before' pics of Tricky's allotment, just of it after they ploughed it up, the other pics are of other allotments on the site that were in a worse state than his, but left alone.

the point here is weeds or not, veg or not, he wasn't given any warning, either to clean it up, or that they were taking in back.
he had no chance to argue his case, or to comply with any order to clean it up.

Thankyou. I have already agreed the council were wrong. Why did the council plough it up? Is that normal practice?

[smallblueplanet]

Well actually I'd would have expected to see rather more soil than grass. The photographs show untouched land like you find on many neglected allotments.

Maybe so - but the pictures aren't 'before council ploughing' shots of tricky's plot (and there were 'worse' plots that the Council just ignored).

Still at issue is what is meant by 'maintained' - what if he'd left weeds and stuff for bugs to overwinter in? Or does the plot have to be tidied into nothing but soil? What if the 'grass' you say you can see is actually 'green manure'?

So when tricky maintains his next plot what will it have to look like? Is there a rule book and will there be notification if he transgresses?

[BrideXIII]

Thankyou. I have already agreed the council were wrong. Why did the council plough it up? Is that normal practice?

I don't know about 'standard' but many councils will rotivate a plot before you take it over yes, you can ask them not to, so that anyweed seeds are not ploughed into the ground.

maybe the council worker they gave it to wanted it rotivated? , or maybe they wanted to cover up the fact that it did have veg in it, who's to know other than the council themselves, and they are clearly not saying.

[di]

Firstly I wholeheartedly agree that the council were totally in the wrong to take away Tricky's plot without any notice & secondly am concerned that they will now be waiting for him to allow the smallest amount of weeds to grow & penalise him for it....which is why,Tricky I think as someone else has suggested,it would be a good idea for you to keep a running blog,with pictures,of what you've done.
As far as what is considered "maintained"...A difficult question,I can't claim to have ever been 100% on top of all the weeds,but we have worked incredibly hard to get them down to a minimum....it is then so disheartening when a neighbouring plot is allowed to get seriously out of hand & all you can do on a windy day is watch the weed seeds being blown over!!
By no means Tricky is this aimed at you,& I really wish you every amount of success,but I can also see the point that Jo is trying to get across.

[jackie j]

In september this year I decided to keep a diary of my allotment more for my family to read in future years of when I ( mum granny etc ) kept an allotment, it is just a notebook of when I visited and what I did, nothing elaborate. Hopefully my kids will keep it and pass it on to their kids etc. They will see what a mad woman I was !!! I will probably add pictures as I go.

[Hazel at the Hill]

...... but they are under pressure from people like myself who would like to have an allotment ......

I also understand Joe's frustration here!