evicted for not growing enough

[Fluorescent green]

2 blokes had 5 plots

It seems to be like that in a lot of places.

It does sound like the old chap did very little, but some on the waiting list may try it for a few seasons and then find out, it is hard work, and give up.

FG

[NOG]

People have a funny idea about allotments. We let a plot once to a woman who then let it slip that she intended on grassing the lot and installing a swing set for the kids. We had to inform her that there were things called parks that she could use and she had to grow flowers or veg. She asked for her chq back.

[Snadger]

I'm afraid I'd have to reserve judgement until I'd seen piccies of the plot.

I just hope the powers that be made a visit to the site and had a word with the bloke, rather than him receiving an eviction notice out of the blue from some faceless bureaucrat!

[Snadger]

Ooops just realised there IS a piccie in the article.....but I can't enlarge it. It looks as if the two plots are end to end? Can't see any veggies though?

[miffy]

Perhaps he could have been offered a half plot and that would have enabled him to stay on the lottie and use the land for the veggies he needed and would then have released one and a half plots to folk on the waiting list.
I was up our lottie a couple of weeks back when the site manager came to look at the plot next to me which was really overgrown, a young family have it and struggle with small children to get anything productive done.
I heard he say he was going to serve them with the dreaded improvement letter.
Next time i went up they had rotivated the site and flattened it out.
Yes it seemed to look better but it was full of roots of weeds all mashed up in the soil, they had obviously tried to get it done double quick time, he came inspecting again and said it looks a bit better but they better keep on top of it.
Allotments are for growing veg on of course they are and they need to be cultivated and if someone is making the effort then they should be given the chance to get their plot up to speed. I think in this case a compremise would have been a better solution as he had been there for twenty years.

[Two_Sheds]

Perhaps he could have been offered a half plot and that would have enabled him to stay on the lottie and use the land for the veggies he needed

Maybe he was.
We don't know the whole story... there may be other factors that contributed to his eviction, we just don't know.

[NOG]

or its journos making a story out of nothing just to sell their rag.

[RedThorn]

or its journos making a story out of nothing just to sell their rag.

Noooo they wouldn't do that now then would they!

[mclarenpitcrew]

We have one family that have been issued with a cultivation order after they use 1 half of there plot for growing veg and the other is grassed with a little wooden wendy house, and a swing for the kids, As they dont have a Garden, its an ideal way of keeping the kids happy and interested in growing veg. The argument from the powers that be (in my most official nasal voice) " Guidelines state that 75 per cent of it for cultivating fruit and vegetables".
So add a shed, a place to sit, a compost, water butts' Flowers, and thats your lot. POPPYCOCK!! If you cant give the kids something to do whilst there, then the family element and introducing kids to growing fruit and veg may as well go out the window.

Rant over. Thanks for listning.

[Fluorescent green]

I dont cultivate 100% of my allotment, but I wouldnt get a swing. I have a big mound of soil at the bottom end, that is from when a JCB leveled the paths, I didnt complain, so they cannot complain about my grassed paths and my time restricted growing efforts.
My daughter like to mess around, one chap has just got 3 kittens to keep mice away from his hens.

FG

[NOG]

We have one family that have been issued with a cultivation order after they use 1 half of there plot for growing veg and the other is grassed with a little wooden wendy house, and a swing for the kids,

The other side of the arguement is that Parks are for playing in and allotments are there to grow veg. You wont learn much about gardening when you are on the swings.

That is 1/2 a plot that someone on the list could use.

[mclarenpitcrew]

NOG.
I do agree a swing wont teach them much, however, take a 6 yr old, a 2 year old and parents that want to spend a couple of hours a week growing veg for the family. 10 mins of planting and watering followed by and hour of weeding will never keep them occupied. Thus I would rather a swing and a playhouse than the kids running amok or the family not having the oppertunity to try and produce fresh veg and the bills down.

Plus on a lighter note, the legs on the swing could make excellent runner bean supports

[Noodles]

A couple on our site have got a swing on their plot for their todler and have also turned half a raised bed into a sand pit for him. It doesn't take up a lot of the usable space but keeps him occupied so they can get on with the gardening so I have absolutely no objection to it. Using a whole plot for non-growing purposes is out of line though and not in the spirit of what allotments are provided for.

[Maximillian]

Well a while back on one of our plots it was found that the rather well to do lady that rented it but was never there even tho it was well tended would send her GARDENER to tend the plot!! On our plots we also have people with 2/3 plots and have one or two of them solely for flowers. Hmmm

[Gwyndy]

In the report that I read the allotment tenant admitted that his land was 'not as well stocked as some other plots'. He was also given six weeks to improve matters - a generous time I think. I know from personal experience how frustrating it is to be surrounded by overgrown, under-utilised, and badly maintained plots. On both sides of my plot I have forests of grass and weeds, and at the back I have a building materials store! Our local authority has over 100 people on the waiting list and I wish that they were as proactive as Cheltenham Borough Council in weeding out (excuse the pun) those who are blatantly abusing the system. Allotments are for cultivation, not for cheap storage or for use as overgrown "rural retreats". With sensible planning and some hard graft one can have good crops, flowers, and the rural 'idyll'.