New half allotment

[dominic10]

Hi all, I'm delighted to say that my husband and I have been offered our own allotment after a wait of 4 and a half years - half a plot as so many applicants now that half plots are the norm but I am pretty sure this will be OK for the two of us. I have been sharing one third of half a plot for the last 4 years and really looking forward to extending how much we grow. I have been dipping in and out of the forum and found all the advice really helpful.
The plot is not in good shape but hopefully with a lot of elbow grease and some black sheeting etc we'll get into production soon. We made a list of what we would like to grow and realised it was everything so we will have to rein ourselves in!
The bad news is our local council would like to build houses on the site....The proposed new allotment site is a lot further away with no road access unless you do nearly 3 sides of a triangle. I along with other allotment holders have been contacting our council but in the off chance anyone has any suggestions - does anyone know of any regulations etc about chucking people off a site?

[VirginVegGrower]

I only know that in my local village there is a new lady that has been given a PC plot next to us, after getting notice to quit her old site at the end of the growing season, about now.
Not sure whether it was a private, allotment association or PC site, but it's going to make way for further building on the private school site - either residential or open air theatre she said.

[bazzaboy]

The bad news is our local council would like to build houses on the site....The proposed new allotment site is a lot further away with no road access unless you do nearly 3 sides of a triangle. I along with other allotment holders have been contacting our council but in the off chance anyone has any suggestions - does anyone know of any regulations etc about chucking people off a site?

Yes, the double whammy of a government declared policy to build 2 million new houses by 2020 (won't happen, was previously THREE million so already reduced by 33%.....) and the Green Belt and Brown Site arguments are increasingly going to put allotments under pressure. You may recall not very long ago the Government proposed to change allotment requirements (they knew why!) and there was such an outcry about it from allotment supporters far and wide they soft-pedaled on it and shelved the suggestion.... But I would expect it to be resurrected at some stage, allotment sites in towns and cities are incredibly valuable and for the local councils who own them could solve Council Tax worries etc for decades.

Two sources of useful info about your dilemma, regulations etc might be the following:

1. Campaign to Protect Rural England, reference Home | Campaign to Protect Rural England
Although they are not primarily about allotments they have defended sites from building exploitation, wind farms etc so might be able to advise.

2. You probably know the books by a chap John Harrison and as well as publishing about allotments he runs a "growing on allotments" website and mailing list and must have faced this question many times.... His email address is
<john@allotment.org.uk>
and I'm sure he will respond to any questions.

It would probably be useful if any regulations or approaches you unearth you circulate more widely on this site as I suspect the problem you're facing now will be faced by many others in the not too distant future..... To be fore-warned is to be fore-armed!!

Hope that helps. bb.

[Two_Sheds]

You might want to look up the NSALG as a source of info. Here's a bit to start you off:
http://www.nsalg.org.uk/uploads/arti...e%20Basics.pdf

PS. You've only had a sixth of a plot? Wow, that's tiny

[Matt94]

good luck with the new plot - and i hope that they dont kick you off. What i dont get is that allotments where left derelict for years - with nothing done on them. Then now that lots of people are wanting them they decide close them down.

[Two_Sheds]

What i dont get is that allotments where left derelict for years - with nothing done on them. Then now that lots of people are wanting them they decide close them down.

It's the economy.

During the boom years people could afford shop-bought food and looked down on grow-your-owners.
Now, with council finances tight & a shortage of housing, councils are looking to cut costs & sell land, while consumers are also trying to save money by GTO

[sowitgrowit]

Selling off allotments has happened 'round my way in the last year or two. It makes me sick, even before I joined the wonderful world of grow your owners it seemed wrong to me.

They're there so that everyone gets a chance to grow decent food to sustain their families. Maybe I'm a bit of an old fashioned leftie but something with the aim of helping the common man (or woman!) by providing affordable land and space to improve their lot (get it?) should be protected and fought for.

GRRRRRRR. Rant over.

[bazzaboy]

You might want to look up the NSALG as a source of info.

Has anyone picked up on NSALG's suggestion, as a counter to many building threats, to celebrate a National Allotment Week this year (6-12 August)?
For details see National Allotment Week Main

Anyone doing a party?

[dominic10]

Thanks folks for your responses - it's supposed to be raining today here in sunny Christchurch but I did my back in yesterday digging over half of our plot - so I am catching up on the vine. I keep getting different responses from my neighbours on our site but am digging on regardless. I am having to have a day off today even though the sun is shining. I will check out all the links thanks again.