evicted for not growing enough

[Two_Sheds]

It sounds like this chap has 2 plots but only grows a few veg, leaving the rest as a "rural retreat".

I think I think - "fair enough" because there is a waiting list, and he admits he doesn't need two plots to supply his needs.

A green-fingered pensioner from Cheltenham has been told to vacate his allotment land for not growing enough vegetables.

[pdblake]

I can understand someone having two 'productive' plots, but 'rural retreat' to me sounds more 'full of weeds'.

Fair enough, take one off him and give him a fair chance to get the other sorted out.

[SarzWix]

Yes, but they haven't done that, they've taken both off him. And he's been there for 20 years... Which means he's at least partly responsible for there even being an allotment site there at all, rather than sheltered housing...

[Redpepper]

Think it's a little selfish, even though Mr Weston has been there for 20 years.
Perhaps It'd be nice if he gave a little bed or two to someone on the waiting list who's desperate to start growing.

[SarzWix]

Think it's a little selfish, even though Mr Weston has been there for 20 years.
Perhaps It'd be nice if he gave a little bed or two to someone on the waiting list who's desperate to start growing.

Mr Weston has been evicted from both of his plots, he doesn't have 'a little bed' to give to anybody....

[Redpepper]

I think it was harsh to evict him.
They should have just made him 'downsize' to one plot or something.

[PaulG]

I agree they should have just removed one from him and watched what he does with the other one.

As somebody now on a waiting list for a plot i know how frustrating it can be having to wait when people have them and do not use them, almost just as frustrating is knowing that of the 2 areas in reach of us 1 has a 2 year list and the other a 3 year list, however some people at these 2 allotments have 5+ plots each which i consider to be a little selfish when so many people cannot get 1 at all.

Numbers wise 1 has a total of approx 160 plots and the other has 110 plots so theoretically each could be taken up by just 30 and 20 people. These are council run plots so i would have thought that as they have obligations to the entire city then surely if more people want plots then numbers should be limited to 1 plot per household and then if there are excess plots existing plotholders can double up on the understanding that if somebody else applies then at the end of the year they have to give that extra plot up.

[zazen999]

I think that the people running allotments are stuck between a rock and a hard place....they are getting hassle every day about not tended plots and are having to explain why plots are overgrown and not being given to people on the waiting list.

A shame because they have kept them on saving them from being sold off.....which will probably happen once the credit crunch/GYO trend disappears, and then they will probably sell the plots to the highest homebuilder once the economy picks up.

[SarzWix]

In simplistic terms though, if someone just bought the last 5 chocolate bars, you couldn't go and demand that they return 4 to the shop so that someone else can buy them?!
If someone has taken on all those plots to make the site seem fully rented, and prevented it being sold for development, then they shouldn't have them taken away just because somebody now wants them. There are a few plotholders on our site with up to 4 plots each, and I was 12 months on the waiting list for mine, but I wouldn't have dreamt of demanding one of their plots...

It does sound like this old chap was struggling to keep on top of his 2 (or maybe not even bothering to try) but if he was still growing some veg, I can't see why he wasn't left a plot or even a half plot.
If only this council could come and deal with my neighbour who hasn't grown a single veggie for the last 2 years, but always manages to make it look 'cultivated' just before the plot inspection

[indigox]

If you read the comments, there are a couple on there from other allotment-holders on the same site.
They said that his plots are not tended much and are used to hoard junk.

Having an allotment but not wanting to grow vegetables on it seems a bizarre concept to me!

[allotmentlady]

a chap on our site has left his allotment to grow into weeds and grass again, yet out lottie officer has not kicked him off, she has given him enough chances, a good lottie going to waste!

[pdblake]

In simplistic terms though, if someone just bought the last 5 chocolate bars, you couldn't go and demand that they return 4 to the shop so that someone else can buy them?!

A shop is under no obligation to supply chocolate though, and there certainly isn't a waiting list.

If you read some of his fellow plot holder's comments on that article, and take a good look at the photos, this bloke comes across as more a fly tipper than anything else.

[zazen999]

They finally rented out 2 of the 5 plots on our site, and the pile of rubbish that they took out of sheds and from the undergrowth was stupendous.....the pile was at least 15 ft high and DIDN'T include any brambles or lottie debris. Bikes, wood frames, plastic buckets, the lot went up in flames and we were annoyed as we could have used over half of it ourselves.

2 blokes had 5 plots - one with a polytunnel on half the rest weed, one with about 8 bee hives, the rest weeds, one with a shed with ferrets and the rest weeds and the other 2 - weeds and one had been used as a parking lot.

If they put the poly tunnel and the bees on one site, then 4 could have been re-let - but they have left one bloke with a polytunnel and another plot and one bloke with the bees....the one with the polytunnel already has another 2 sites - and he can only just about lift a spade he is so ill.

Ah well, it is progress I suppose. There are another 3 unused plots the other side of the private plots which have not been touched for years, and nobody ever sets foot on them, still not let out.

[RedThorn]

If only this council could come and deal with my neighbour who hasn't grown a single veggie for the last 2 years, but always manages to make it look 'cultivated' just before the plot inspection

That's the problem there Sarz... he knows when the inspection is! They should be random, completely random with no notice

[jackie j]

Two plots on our site was given up by a memeber who moved away at the begining of the year, one plot has been relet the other has waist high weeds and thats from a plot that was very well looked after.