What Should I Do?

[skipstar]

Hi i have an allotment and out of 15 full size plots, 4 are being used not including 1 person has 2 and just strims them down once a year. We do get a few people that do take a plot on , but they give up due to the brambles being 10ft tall. The council refuse to clear the plots, due to no funding. The council do nothing. We have no site rep. I may become that person i think. It would be nice to have a toilet. lol Regards Skip

[Shortie]

Hi Skipstar

Are you Coucnil owned then? I'm not sure what th regs are for Council owned ones as ours are pirvate plots one ground rented by the council so we don't have to rely on the, etc...

Can you advertise etc to get more interest, seeing as there are lots of people saying they can't get hold of plots for love nor money.

Where in Southe East London are they?

[zazen999]

What does the rent go on then, if not to maintain the plots?

The rent at ours went from £8 to £15 this year, to pay for ours and a few others' plots to be cleared - as the old boys never stop reminding us.

[Snadger]

Just remember if you get a toilet................someone has to empty it!

[skipstar]

Rent is £37 a year and it is council owned , we do get water supplied. But that is it. Located in Belverdere in bexley

[Two_Sheds]

Think yourself lucky you have allotments at all. Many don't.
We have a loo ... you may know it as a bucket ! Which is full of nutrients and emptied onto the compost heap.
We have Parole peeps come and strim our brambles down. Well, the warders do, as the criminals aren't "insured" to do actual work, and it's against their Human Rights anyway.

[terrier]

Could be that the council are trying to put would be allotmenteers off in the hope that they can build on the redundant land! The number of grapevine members looking for lotties, I'm surprised they are not queueing up at the gates. There must be some in your area?

[skipstar]

The allotments are right next to the train track, so no way they could build. Bexley has loads of empty allotments. Thats because they are so f-ing over grown. To much work for most people.

[Snadger]

The allotments are right next to the train track, so no way they could build. Bexley has loads of empty allotments. Thats because they are so f-ing over grown. To much work for most people.

Quite sad really when so many people nationally are crying out for them..........no matter what condition they are in!

[SlugLobber]

I didn't realise allotments were so cheap! If you have empty allotments and the time to clear yourself, I would take over a spare one! Plant stuff that's easy to remove if necessary, but sounds like free space going begging, to me!

[skipstar]

The main problem is that the weeds are spreading to the other allotments. Taken me ages to clear patches. lol. I work all day then try to put in a few hours after work. Most days only 1 hour.

[Two_Sheds]

Skipstar, do you have the time & inclination to become Site Rep? You could put some ads up in the local free paper and get those empty plots filled.
Perhaps the council has a waiting list for these plots? Find out who the Allotment Officer is and badger them to get the plots filled ~ there must be loads of people who will take them on, whatever state they're in.

We have a couple of unemployed but swarthy men on our site, and they are more than happy to chop up brambles all day in exchange for a couple of pints. They have cleared a dozen overgrown plots on our site, by hand. Dug trees up and everything.

[JanieB]

Brambles aren't too hard to clear. They look worse than they are. Keep cutting them back a bit at a time 'til you find the roots and dig 'em up. It might take a couple of seasons but they do give up. If you can use glyphosate without damaging other stuff, that will help kill the roots. They have the very strange advantage that very little else grows near them, so when you clear the brambles you have cleanish ground.

Couch grass is something else. And marestail is a nightmare.

[JanieB]

Oooh. Sorry, I had a more important reason for posting .

I'm on our local council and chairman responsible for our allotments. Our Mayor has just found some obscure rule that says that there have to be 2 acres of allotments to every 1,000 inhabitants. I don't know the extent of our allotments, but my ex-farmers wife eye suspects it's about 3 acres. We have a population of around 6,500. I think we're under allotmentised .

I will ask him where he found this and see if it's set in concrete.

[skipstar]

That would be usefull if you could find out if that is true. Thanks Skip