Is this the worst site in the country?

[robD]

OK, so not entirely sure where this post should go, but anyway...

I'm fairly new to this allotment lark and reading through various forums and magazines, it appears that the site I'm on in Sheffield has to be one of the worse going. 18 months ago there were just 18 of 170 (ish) plot let. The view from the top of the hill looks like a woodland, not an allotment site.

Despite this about 90 plots are now let. When you get the map of the site there is a car parked marked - the council refuse to open it as it has been misused in the past. By whom, there's not been anyone there?! Finding a plot is a challenge in itself. Most were overgrown about 6 foot high in brambles, the paths to the individualy plots were all but inaccessible, and the identification of plot numbers impossible without further help. Many of the plots have trees growing on them, that we are not allowed to cut down. We do have hedges between many of the plots that we are allowed to cut down to 5 foot, most are currently somewhere around 30 foot tall.

When taking on a plot you receive no help at all from the council. No rebate for any length of time, no help in clearing the site, no help in the removal of any rubbish (of which there are large amounts as previous structures are now all rotten and had glass smashed). All requests for help are denied.

We do have water - now. For two months the 'tap' near our plot was constantly leaking large amounts of water with no means of turning it off. Or collecting water from it. Despite many requests to sort it out, it was only repaired when the water was turned off for the winter. Obviously we have no facilities like toilets, secure areas, shops, etc.

Any chance there can be a competition to find the worst site instead of the best for a change?

I'd like to nominate Hagg Hill, Sheffield as the worst allotment site in the country. Can anyone beat this?

Rob

[nick the grief]

Try getting the committee to contact the council & asking if they would be happy to let you go self governing then you just pay them a rent for the site & any moneis you make tyou can put towards improvements.

Have a look at the ARI website for inspiration

http://www.farmgarden.org.uk/ari/ind...tpage&Itemid=1

[Alice]

Hello Rob, The site doesn't sound very good. How much do you pay for it. How much help do you think the council will provide for that kind of money. Might be better to get together with other lottie holders and form a self help group.

[Peter]

Who or what says you can not cut down any trees?
Could the carpark have been used by doggers or cottagers or simply local youths?

My landlord used to do nothing, so I started to do it all and used persuasion and moral blackmail to get them to pay for materials, it works. They now know if I say something will be done it is, sometimes a little slower than planned mind.

You should try and establish a working relationship with the allotments officer.

Do they have some alternative plan for this site, whereby tenants would be a nuiscance?
e.g. development of some sort.

Get other plotholders together and draw up plans, set aside "conservation areas" woodland and scrubland with some mown areas also. Make it realistic and set several sets of targets, year by year over say five years. Try and cost it, see if you have any talents on-site. e.g. is one of the tenants a professional gardener or tree surgeon (or related to one). Check the ARI for advice and look at joining the http://www.nsalg.org.uk/ as they can insure you. Do not forget public liability insurance if you start work days or similar as you only need one accident to sink you.

Publicity, adverse, can help your case, but use it with care.
Good luck.

[Alice]

That's exactly the stuff Peter. No point sitting waiting for the council to help. The challenge is to turn the worst site into the best site. I would go for it Rob.

[Earthbabe]

Yours is definitely worse than ours. Even half let it was nowhere near that bad and the council do help out a little although rotavating or similar is only done for those with specific need (usually on presentation of a little blue card!)

But go for it rob. See what you can achieve then you can proudly pat yourselves on the back and know it was in spite of the council not because.

[Dobby]

What about getting all the plot holders together and raising some money to pay for toilets and things aproch the councel and say we would like to raise some money towards ???? are you willing to go harlfs
you could grow some extra seeds then sell them on I know your not sopost to sell the stuff you grow but its for the plots
and if you get the councels permistion
you never know

[robD]

Nice to see no one can beat it so far!

In response to various comments - committee? What committee? I'd like to think if we had one we could do a far better job and am in the process of sounding out the idea on a local forum. I found the council's document on moving towards self government the other day, but haven't had chance to read it in detail yet. And haven't managed to contact the ARI yet, although was aware of them - Mrs D thinks I spend too long on the allotment as it is, and this work thing gets in the way so much...

Who knows what the car park was previously used for, they didn't elaborate! I did reply to the recent email from the council stating why I thought they should reopen it, even quoting their own allotment strategy back to them. I'm awaiting a reply, but will probably be plot less soon

Not cutting down trees is in the lease. We pay £27.50 including water, and those who are retired or on benefits only half of that. Not a fortune I know. Sheffield has over 3,000 allotments on 70+ sites and just two staff to look after them, one of which is an administrator who never leaves the office. I think this speaks volumes, but there are sites in the city that are far better maintained and managed, with far better facilities.

Thanks for the various suggestions. As I said I'm awaiting the response re the car park. If that is still negative I intend to take it up via the local representatives on the council, along with the problems with the rest of the site.

Should I try and persuade GYO to do a feature to shame the council into doing something

Rob

[nick the grief]

Hi Rob,

Further thoughts. We are in the throws of getting a grant to have some work done on our lottie site so if you fish around there are loads of places that you can get money from. One is the Coalfeilds regeneration Trust, I think SHeffield would qualify still they can only say no to you.

I think that if there are only two people they would welcome you with open arms if you say you want to declare UDI as it means that it's one less problem for them as the committee would police things for them & they would only need to get involved when there are problems, this would be last resort though as hopefully you could sort most things ahead of the game.

I wouldn't go down the name and shame route just yet as you may just put there backs up but hold onto it just in case

If you can get half a dozen like mined people to form a committee & then arrange to meet yer man from the council and put forward your proposals I think you may well be able to sway him so keep plugging away.

[robD]

Following the suggestion to contact the ARI, I did just that with the issues concerning me and some of those from the other people I know on our site. I received a prompt reply that was very helpful and detailed - the guy had obviously put in quite a bit of work to his reply!

He suggested I contact the Sheffield Allotments & Home Gardens Federation and gave a contact number - they've not joined the digital age yet so whilst I'd heard of them, I knew nothing about them.

I spoke at length to the secretary of the Federation, who again was very helpful. As luck would have it the local Area Panel of Councillors have 'summoned' (her word not mine) the Allotment Officer and his boss to their next meeting to discuss allotments - in a couple of weeks. I think this is primarily because in parts of this area there is a an 8 (eight!) year waiting list for some sites and they want more to be developed. She did say that the state of our plot would be discussed though and as many people as possible should put their concerns to the area panel.

As a Federation they were going to ask for a considerable amount of help - no guarantee we'll get it, but you've got to start somewhere.

Thanks for the funding suggestion Nick but the allotment area doesn't come in the areas of funding. Sadly it also comes under the most affluent area of Sheffield (somewhat bizarrely as I'm sure most of the plot holders don't live in that area), which is one of the most affluent areas of the country (no really!), yet alone Sheffield. So I'm guessing that's going to severely cut down on the number of places we can apply for grants

I'll keep you posted with further information as and when we know more. Thanks again for the suggestions,

Rob

[nick the grief]

It doesn't matter where they are Rob, it depends on how much you've got in the bank

Our council get money from the EEC that they have to allocate towards community projects so we've bange in for some of that as we can say it benefits the community. ALso, is there a local school nearby? You might want to go and see them and ask if they would like an after school club on gardening (best wait till you've gone sefl governing) then you can get monies towards that. We are luck in as much as the local mental health people rent two of our plots & use this as part of their "therapy" (not quite the right phrase but I guess you know what I mean) as it get people who are suffering with depression out in the fresh are & meeting differwent people (confidence building) and I have to say they have two damn good plots.

We'll await with interest.

[robD]

An Update:

I sent off a long and detailed letter to our Area Panel last week. Just one other allotment holder wrote in as well, together with the Allotment Federation here in Sheffield.

This morning I received an email back from them saying they'd awarded us £300 to spend on sorting the site out. OK so not a fortune and not going to get much done for that, but not bad given the number of people who wrote to them and the speed in which they came up with it.

Thanks for the various pieces of advice and contacts, proved most helpful. It's a start, but doesn't mean I won't be moaning again in the future about the site or asking how to get more money out of them

Rob

[Alice]

Hello RobD, I have to confess I am a bit lost here. I'm sure you said you were paying £27.50 a year in rent for your plot. I make that 52p a week. I gather from your posts you were not happy with what you got for your money. I'm blowed if I know what can be counted as not good value for money at 52p a week. You now say the Council has awarded £300 of council tax payers money to help, but you will carry on moaning. As I said - lost, lost, lost.

[nick the grief]

Just to make you feel really sick, we have just heard that we've secured £2k from one lot of funding & £4.5k from another to have work done on ours I don't think ours is a s bad as yours Rob but it will pay to have half of our boundary hedge sorted, a new sign, paint the Gate & general improvements to the site (road ways etc) and if new people start & haven't got a shed we can supply one of those now.

[Lesley Jay]

Blimey Nick that is alot of money. All I want is a new main path laid to make it safe for our disabled members.