How strict are your allotment site rules?

[LOTTYPOTTY]

I took over a half plot last May and visit daily and absolutely love being there.

However, there are barely any site rules and anything goes really. For example :

1) We have no public liabity insurance and no one seems worried to have it and the site is surrounded with rusty barbed wire (which is illegal)

2) People on one plot have been storing drug making equipment in their sheds which was discovered by the police, they kept ferrets (livestock is supposed to be prohibited) which they neglected over the winter months and subsequently died of the cold and they have an ever expanding range of 'buildings' that cover approximately two thirds of the plot and the rest is covered in junk/rubbish and items with no connection to gardening at all.

A group of us from the site are trying to form a committee and install regulations in order to tidy the site up and encourage more of a 'community' spirit instead of carrying on in the very hap hazard way it is currently. The problem is though that the so called 'leader' is a junk hoarder himself and his plot is packed solidly with things that he drags out of skips etc. He has made an effort to improve the tidiness but as he clears a patch he brings more junk in!! He is also a decent bloke but rather spineless and won't address plot holders with any issues.

We have a site meeting booked for 1st April and I have raised a number of concerns that I have but I don't have a lot of faith that anything will ever be resolved.

Sorry this is rather long!!

Any thoughts or ideas?

[Hans Mum]

Are you a council owned site in which case I would contact the Allotments Officer for your local council and get them onto site for a discussion. Have a look at the NSALG website The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, NSALG, Allotments, protect, promote, preserve, grow your own theres loads of useful information on there - good luck you sound as though you'll need it.

[VirginVegGrower]

Ours is in a village run by Parish Council. We are allowed no sheds or structures. No fences either. No chickens. No trees.
Be careful what you wish for!

[Alison]

I took over a half plot last May and visit daily and absolutely love being there.

However, there are barely any site rules and anything goes really. For example :

1) We have no public liabity insurance and no one seems worried to have it and the site is surrounded with rusty barbed wire (which is illegal)

2) People on one plot have been storing drug making equipment in their sheds which was discovered by the police, they kept ferrets (livestock is supposed to be prohibited) which they neglected over the winter months and subsequently died of the cold and they have an ever expanding range of 'buildings' that cover approximately two thirds of the plot and the rest is covered in junk/rubbish and items with no connection to gardening at all.

A group of us from the site are trying to form a committee and install regulations in order to tidy the site up and encourage more of a 'community' spirit instead of carrying on in the very hap hazard way it is currently. The problem is though that the so called 'leader' is a junk hoarder himself and his plot is packed solidly with things that he drags out of skips etc. He has made an effort to improve the tidiness but as he clears a patch he brings more junk in!! He is also a decent bloke but rather spineless and won't address plot holders with any issues.

We have a site meeting booked for 1st April and I have raised a number of concerns that I have but I don't have a lot of faith that anything will ever be resolved.

Sorry this is rather long!!

Any thoughts or ideas?

The drugs issue is nothing to do with lack of rules, it's against the law, simples so not really an allotment issue unless you want a committee to take the law into their own hands. Likewise, if lifestock isn't allowed then that rule is already there and to be honest does it really matter although they obviously should be looking after them. This becomes an animal cruelty thing, not a commitee rule issue. We're only supposed to be allowed to keep chooks and bees but I know one woman has a couple of rabbits there temporarily while her son moves house, it's not a problem, they're on her site, not mine. The issue of unused plots is more important but that's not really a rule thing, it's a moving people on thing and not well enforced at most sites.

To be honest one of the main things I love (well, OK there's loads of things I love about it but this is one of them) about my site is that there are pretty much no rules and we're not bound by red tape, if somebody on our site made the sort of comments you're saying then I'd feel an icy fear going through me that the site I love would be ruined by being told what to do by somebody who thought their way was better than mine. It probably is to them but not to me and probably not to other people. We're a friendly bunch on our site but we come and go as we please, without the need for community events. Some of the kids play togther but that's their choice. Last weekend I probably spent about an hour talking to some of the other people but I was very busy today so simply said hello and moved on. I do what you'd probably consider hoarding junk but the old windows I have at the back of my site are going to be made into cold frames when I have the time etc etc. I love my plot but know it's not perfectly tidy, it's an allotment not a show garden so please don't come over too forcefull as your ideal could be somebody else's hell.

[Norm]

Sounds like you have a bit of a problem. If I may suggest, you need to address a few factors.
1) The allotments should only be used for the purpose for which they are designated, i.e. growing stuff.....legally! If not, you need to get the Council to do their job and the Police to do theirs. So the drug factories and junk yards have to go.

2) Get a committee going, join NSALG (they'll offer all the help you need), formulate a constitution and some simple rules (all of which should relate to gardening, and above all, use common sense)

3) Be democratic when you make decisions about the allotment. Everyone is there to enjoy their gardening, or at least they should be and not follow the whims and fancies of a chosen few.

I'm secretary of our allotment association. If you wish, send me a PM and I'll help in any way I can.

[VirginVegGrower]

I would like help or advice as we wish to put up a brand new sentry style shed for shelter and tool storage. Also we wish to sink in gravel boards as we have a problem with twitch creeping from the pathways which are not kept well. The allotment site is under the Parish council and last month we asked them for permission to site a shed and fence (post and rail). We were told "no". No explanation just flat no.
In the rules of the agreement it states if you wish to site a structure you must seek written permission - we tried. Others have sheds, fences and fruit cages. When we explained this we were told that they could ask them to take them down. Use Roundup to get rid of twitch was another suggestion.
What can we do?

[Norm]

When you signed the contract with the council for tenancy of the plot, you should have been given a copy of the rules and regulations relating to the site. Does that mention sheds/fences/chemicals?

[VirginVegGrower]

When you signed the contract with the council for tenancy of the plot, you should have been given a copy of the rules and regulations relating to the site. Does that mention sheds/fences/chemicals?

It stipulated that we should seek written permission from the parish council for any permanent structures. We were then told no permanent structures are allowed so why state we should ask? Others have fruit cages - walk in style and sheds/lean tos.

[Norm]

I'd go as far as to suggest that the reason other plot holders have such structures is because they didn't ask and just put them up. The other point would be interpretation of "permanent structure". Wooden sheds and wooden fences aren't necessarily permanent. If it was me, I'd just put the shed and fence up and if asked, claim a precedent had already been set by other plot holders and overlooked by the council. If they demand you take yours down, everyone else will have to take theirs down and I'd like to be at the council meeting when they try and sort that one out !

[VirginVegGrower]

I'd go as far as to suggest that the reason other plot holders have such structures is because they didn't ask and just put them up. The other point would be interpretation of "permanent structure". Wooden sheds and wooden fences aren't necessarily permanent. If it was me, I'd just put the shed and fence up and if asked, claim a precedent had already been set by other plot holders and overlooked by the council. If they demand you take yours down, everyone else will have to take theirs down and I'd like to be at the council meeting when they try and sort that one out !

I am liking your style Norm - you are lovely and I think we will put this plan into action!

[Norm]

As an ex District Councillor, I can assure you that unless the council receive a complaint, they are likely to turn a blind eye. Office staff are far too busy discussing Big Brother or last night's episode of Coronation Street to be bothered about a bit of fence or a little shed

[VirginVegGrower]

As an ex District Councillor, I can assure you that unless the council receive a complaint, they are likely to turn a blind eye. Office staff are far too busy discussing Big Brother or last night's episode of Coronation Street to be bothered about a bit of fence or a little shed

They received a complaint about the fruit cage at the end apparently, but it is still there.
Thanks for advice!

[chris]

My new plots rules are just pretty much common sense.. the main one is, as it's so close to houses, bonfires can only be lit when the winds are blow up/down the allotment, not across towards the houses. They do a written warning, then eviction by writing if you're a dope

3 month trail for newbies, you have to make progress (as said to me, dig 1 row) - he didn't get my joke about digging a bed instead (). Still, not really strict on this site, chickens/ducks top half away from houses, erm and that's it really!