Our allotments are owned by the allotment holders, much to the chagrin of the local council who would love to have them under their control. They were given to our allotment association by the previous landowner when she died about 80 years ago. Most plots are pretty well tended so there's few issues there.
The biggest problem is with one allotment holder who has about three plots but also helps out lots of other tenants with their plots. He has a haphazard way of managing his plots and even though he spends a lot of time tending them and on close inspection the ground is well worked and weed free, they resemble a jungle.
The main problem with him though is his unpredictable behaviour. He can be very aggressive if anyone mentions anything to him about things and is always the first one to cry out that he's being threatened and that the secretary or chairman who challenge him are drunk and aggressive.
He has a large collection of wood, most of which is rubbish, in another allotment holders shed. That allotment holder is his uncle which complicates things a bit and he's also an old man of about 80. He's been wanting his nephew to clear the shed now for six years that I know of but I think the battle has been going on a lot longer than that, and the problem is raised at every annual general meeting. The guy always comes back with "well he's never said he wanted it shifting" which is a blatant lie as he's always saying it. To make the matter even more urgent, the shed in question is made of asbestos so it needs to be dismantled by qualified people as soon as possible, but the people hired to remove it won't touch it until it's emptied.
The upshot of it all is that at the last AGM he was given a three month warning to either clear the shed or lose his three allotments. The AGM was about six weeks ago but I'll wager he's done nothing in the way of making a start on removing the wood. What will happen when the three months is up is anyone's guess but I reckon nothing will be done and we'll just carry on as before.
The biggest problem is with one allotment holder who has about three plots but also helps out lots of other tenants with their plots. He has a haphazard way of managing his plots and even though he spends a lot of time tending them and on close inspection the ground is well worked and weed free, they resemble a jungle.
The main problem with him though is his unpredictable behaviour. He can be very aggressive if anyone mentions anything to him about things and is always the first one to cry out that he's being threatened and that the secretary or chairman who challenge him are drunk and aggressive.
He has a large collection of wood, most of which is rubbish, in another allotment holders shed. That allotment holder is his uncle which complicates things a bit and he's also an old man of about 80. He's been wanting his nephew to clear the shed now for six years that I know of but I think the battle has been going on a lot longer than that, and the problem is raised at every annual general meeting. The guy always comes back with "well he's never said he wanted it shifting" which is a blatant lie as he's always saying it. To make the matter even more urgent, the shed in question is made of asbestos so it needs to be dismantled by qualified people as soon as possible, but the people hired to remove it won't touch it until it's emptied.
The upshot of it all is that at the last AGM he was given a three month warning to either clear the shed or lose his three allotments. The AGM was about six weeks ago but I'll wager he's done nothing in the way of making a start on removing the wood. What will happen when the three months is up is anyone's guess but I reckon nothing will be done and we'll just carry on as before.
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