greenhouses on allotments?

[Headfry]

Two Questions really about allotments

Firstly - are you allowed a greenhouse on your allotment?
any rules attached to this?

secondly - Did you have to pay a deposit for your plot?
may I ask how much? or what would you think was fair-
It would be to cover clearing your plot should you leave it in a bad condition.

Thanks folks, I really could do with some guidance on this.

[Jeanied]

We have permission to have either a shed or a greenhouse on our plots. No deposit. To be honest the vandalism on the sheds indicates it would be daft to put a greenhouse up unless it had plastic stoneproof glass, but I still think they would bash in the panes!

[bodger]

It all depends on your local councils rules, they seem to differ quite a lot. On our allotment we can have greenhouses and no deposit to pay. Saying that our plot was covered with broken glass which took an age to clear. So I guess a phonecall to the council will sort it

[Headfry]

We are the 'rules.' We have a small committee on our site, hence the questions. I am not keen on greenhouses but wish to be fair. My plot is full of glass from previous owner - its not nice and its dangerous.
At the moment I am trying to clear the contents of a shed (about small skip full) as ex holder took shed and left the contents for me to clear, I am a tad upset about this, which is why I ask the question about deposits. How many tip runs I may have to do - who knows, what it will do to my car - who knows.
A bit
but still trying to

[paula.berriman]

I agree with bodger. I pay £13 a year for my half plot (which is huge) and i have both a shed and a greenhouse. You agreement should say what you can have and if in doubt speak to the allotment provider (the ones you pay the money to). Our parish council provide ours and im only gutted that i cant have chickens on my site :-(

[paula.berriman]

We are the 'rules.' We have a small committee on our site, hence the questions. I am not keen on greenhouses but wish to be fair. My plot is full of glass from previous owner - its not nice and its dangerous.
At the moment I am trying to clear the contents of a shed (about small skip full) as ex holder took shed and left the contents for me to clear, I am a tad upset about this, which is why I ask the question about deposits. How many tip runs I may have to do - who knows, what it will do to my car - who knows.
A bit
but still trying to

Hi. I think it would be unfair not to allow some sort of covered growing space. I would be lost without my greenhouse but maybe you can compromise by only allowing polythene houses or plastic glazing??

I had a lot of broken glass to clear off my allotment when i first got it and also had 2-3 car journeys to dispose of household waste and beer cans that had been dumped.

We dont pay deposits on our site but we do sign an agreement which states that we are responsible to look after our lottie otherwise we can loose it.

[Headfry]

I say plastic too. Our plots are about £5 a year this includes water.

[paula.berriman]

I say plastic too. Our plots are about £5 a year this includes water.

Thats really good value. Our cost includes water too but the rates have been put up this year to accomodate the increase in the water bills.

We have 3 sites in our village of only 1 is owned by the parish council. The other 2 are leased and its huge politics at the AGM as the owned site seems to get everything.

My pet hate is a large polytunnel that has been put on one of the sites. It just spoils the whole view now. Dont allow these is my advice.

[jackie j]

Sheds and greenhouses are allowed. I managed to buy the shed off previous holder even though she gave up last september, I have only just recently taken over.
No deposits.
£18 a year includes water.

[pigletwillie]

To prevent unsightly structures going up all sheds greenhouses etc have to be approved by the committee. There is no set size on greenhouses and tunnels but we set the size of sheds to 8 x 6 as a maximum as we have found they just become dumping grounds for household items if allowed to become any bigger.

We do not charge deposits, a veritable minefield as a plot handed back may be in poor condition but still better than when tsken on.

The only extra we charge for is the use of a hosepipe, cans are free, hose pipes cost £ per plot

[rustylady]

We are the 'rules.' We have a small committee on our site, hence the questions.

I take it you are on the committee. How long have the allotments been there? Who actually owns them? Good site for information is The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, NSALG, Allotments, protect, promote, preserve, grow your own

[Snadger]

We do pay a deposit in that we pay £10 each for the main gate key. If you leave and hand the key back you get your tenner back.

No restrictions on greenhouses or sheds (well I think there may be but no one takes any notice of them!)

[Alison]

We're allowed any structures with permission. I asked when I errected a shed and the woman at the parish council was very confused as to why I asked . I then asked about the polytunnel (nobody else has one although there are a couple of greenhouses) and was told to check that the person on the plot next to me didn't mind. She didn't so it's gone up. Obviously as there are greenhouses we're allowed them too, didn't consider one as I have a small one at home already and couldn't have afforded one the size of my polytunnel at the plot.

Re desposits, we had to pay a non refundable deposit (which in my opinion isn't technically a deposit.............) to cover admin costs when we first signed up, think it was about £15 but can't remember for sure.

[organic]

Structures with permission only.

As for clearing up after you... I can't say for sure but not too long ago the 'elf and safety lot were around. If a shed or greenhouse was deemed unsafe it had to be made good or pulled down within a set time or the council would do it and charge for the plot holder work. I don't know if there's a way you could make that enforcable for clearing up after a departing tennent, it'd depend on the status of the site, I imagine.

If you wanted to cover the cost of a skip the deposit would need to be rather large.

On our site we're contracted to keep the plot in good condition, if not we're served notice and then booted if it's not put right... that stops things getting too bad. Generally speaking the incoming tennent has to tidy up.

No deposit.

[Headfry]

So, if a greenhouse/shed becomes derelict what happens then?
We dont have a council to put it right.
If a plot has trashed greenhouse on it and a wrecked shed full of junk, how would you feel if this was shown to you as your new plot? I'm just trying to work out if I am being silly by trying to insure that people are able to be given a plot in reasonable condition and not full of the last persons rubbish. Should I adopt the attitude of 'well there it is, take it or leave it' - somehow this seems a bad thing for me to do. I cant give the perfect seed bed but I try to do the best I can for our new plot holders.