Plot Sizes

[binley100]

Of course you can , plenty of room down here if you like city living ........

[Stu8706]

My allotment is 1,5 rods I'm very jealous!! Can I come too?




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[binley100]

We do have a waiting list but if people show their interested and pop in regularly they it goes in their favour ...but if then they don't work it then they will get asked to either leave or move to a smaller plot. 20 rods is a large area to work and you have to be committed else it gets out of hand very quickly and you have to maintain the hedges ..

[binley100]

Don't know if this will work

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/...63b3c764ebb162

[Methe]

Those look huge!

[binley100]

They are and reading about other sites around the country we are very lucky ...If you look at the map on here the red area is what we have plus the triangle shaped bit of land along the railway which is where the old plots coming back into use are. Whole site used to be 50 acres but is now 19 plus the other bit.
BTW the guy mentioned Joseph Raven is my great Granmothers cousin ...(just thought I'd do a bit of name dropping )

[Sheneval]

We do have a waiting list but if people show their interested and pop in regularly they it goes in their favour ...but if then they don't work it then they will get asked to either leave or move to a smaller plot. 20 rods is a large area to work and you have to be committed else it gets out of hand very quickly and you have to maintain the hedges ..

20 rods is 4 times the size of our full plot and 8 times the size of the one I have just now - only one or two on our site could cope with 10 rods never mind 20 - many of them are fair weather gardeners and will not be seen from harvest time till spring planting comes round - a small number drop out every year - we had 4 half plots and 1 quarter plot empty all this year with 2 more half plots abandoned shortly after early spring.

[binley100]

We probably have a few fair weather types too....think some people dont realise you can grow all year round but our weather phaps isnt as severe in the winter as Scotlands

[Aberdeenplotter]

Is there a legal requirement for councils to provide allotments? and if so is there a legal size? .

In Scotland which is what we are talking about here, yes, there is an obligation on Local Authorities to provide allotments but there is no set size. Each local authority may set whatever size it wishes.

[Two_Sheds]

my local council have a policy of reducing full plots to half plots when they fall vacant

I think it's a good idea to have some half-size starter plots. Otherwise a lot of land is tied up, sometimes for several years. New people don't always realise how much work is required, and many people are holding down jobs too.
I don't think allotments should be only for retired people, and smaller plots would bring in a wider mix of people as well as providing a manageable size for first timers (who can always apply for a full plot if they find they like it).

[AllInContainers]

I agree that a range of sizes are best. People of variable amounts of time and fitness to invest on a lottie. Just keeping up with my 4m x 8m backyard was tough going at times last year, which is why I've moved more to trees, bushes and perennials this year

[Sheneval]

I think it's a good idea to have some half-size starter plots. Otherwise a lot of land is tied up, sometimes for several years. New people don't always realise how much work is required, and many people are holding down jobs too.
I don't think allotments should be only for retired people, and smaller plots would bring in a wider mix of people as well as providing a manageable size for first timers (who can always apply for a full plot if they find they like it).

We have 89 plots with 6 of these being what they call full plots ie; 150sqm - the vast majority of the remaining 83 are half plots, with a small number of quarter plots. I have never suggested that there should be no half plots or even quarter plots or, as you call them, starter plots - I think that is a good idea and I am aware that some Councils have a sensible policy of using these to allow people to test their abilities and indeed allowing people who wish to downsize from full plots to do so. I would call that good Council Management of the site in accordance with the wishes of the plot holders.

What I am saying as there should also be provision for full plots for those who wish them and the Council have no right to meet their waiting lists by cutting plot sizes.

They should, and many do, meet their obligations under the legislation by starting new sites as our adjacent local authorities have done where the plots are 25osqm.

[Sheneval]

We probably have a few fair weather types too....think some people dont realise you can grow all year round but our weather phaps isnt as severe in the winter as Scotlands

Since I got my plot in November 2012 I have only done this with overwintering onions, garlic and this year shallots, as I am obviously on a learning curve but the plots do need to be tidied after the harvest and prepared before spring planting. However each to his own as the saying goes :-)

[Sheneval]

In Scotland which is what we are talking about here, yes, there is an obligation on Local Authorities to provide allotments but there is no set size. Each local authority may set whatever size it wishes.

I think ours is working towards 4.5mx7m or thereabouts on new sites but can't see them getting away with that on existing sites and am hoping that the new legislation will force them all to a common minimum standard with allowances for plot sharing where the individuals agree to do so although I must admit I thought the latter bit was already in the legislation

[sparrow100]

I think that one of the worst practices we have is the use of proxies. Ie someone working a plot that's in someone else's name. I can understand it for a season or so if someone is ill or has other shortish term problems, but not for years. And not multiples. Our committee are happy to let it go on on the quiet, but with a waiting list as long as we have I think it's wrong, and something does need to be done about it. Am steeling myself.