What's the most you would be prepared to pay for allotment rent?

[Paul Wagland]

Jeannine for Prime Minister.....

I'd vote for her!

[phil the shed]

hi snadger just picked up the thread
we currently pay £45 per 10 rod plot or about 330sq yds this includes water on tap only to fill water butts. this includes council rent water rates and society membership. with 2 plots i have to workhard to claim a good return but always equate it to potatoes at supermarket prices to evaluate my rent.

2.5kgs of good potatoes every week cost approx £2.25 about £112 so without any thing else and good peace of mind the lottie is still good value for money though paying much more would start to make me think

[SarzWix]

I think the problem is having to find £100 in one lump to pay the rent, it seems like a huge sum! But if you look at it as £1.92 a week, it doesn't seem so bad.
For me, theoretically the £30 per plot that I pay now is as much as I want to pay, considering we have no facilities at all- no water, loos, allotment shop... However, in reality, if they put the price up, I'd try my darndest to find the money or ask to pay in installments, because I love my lottie and it's worth much more than money!

[The Doctor]

Our local council has just sold off a couple of lottie sites, the bribe being that they would reinvest the money raised in the remaining plots, by eventually renewing all the security fencing, water supplies and giving everyone a 6x4 shed on their plot.

(They actually sold it to a development company in which Kevin McCloud is involved, and they plan a zero carbon housing development on it!)

Assuming this happens (!) over the next three years, I think I'd be prepared to pay up to about £40 a year for my plot, which is actually one of the smallest on our site.

[Glasshousevirgin]

Mine being £5 last year I wouldn't be surprised at it being even £10 this time round as Parish council seems to want to cover its costs ; fair enough. (We don't have anything there except 5 plots shared between 7 people ; no water etc).
£50 though seems dear to me Snadger comparitively speaking but I think that would be my limit all things considered. I could then happily spend more on equipment.
As its a hobby I don't expect other ratepayers to subsidise me. For me its not for the value of produce but having grown your own as a lifestyle thing.

[dinky_doo]

ours is going up from 22 to 30 nextb year "to cover landfill charges"
it is a big raise when at the end of the day i dont use any of ther skips the council provide and i dont dump any rubbish and most of my waste is reused or composted the council are taking the gypsys kiss here

[Potter]

Hiya, I got mine part way through the year so my plot was 'free' for 8 months only having to pay £9 for the water which is paid separately. In march this year's payment will be due and each plot is charged by size so mine will be £32 ish all in. My friend has a plot on a different site. Her plot is slightly larger than mine and she will be paying £46 next year.

[NOG]

OOOh, I'd happily pay more for an allotment with the luxury of a loo on it, although having said that, doesn't wee speed up the composting process?

Yours won't because of all the hormones in it. It has to be man wee....sorry.

[zazen999]

Being that I am still waiting on one; how much would you pay if you didn't actually have one yet? To me it is worth alot more as I can't get my hands on one!

[Speed Gardener]

We pay about £8 per rod, half price for pensioners, I think that must be the most expensive rent in the country - but still good value, so the council tell us..I must have just over 20 rod with the three plots but I grow a lot of soft fruit and reckon I get my money's worth just from the raspberries, at £2-3 a hanful in the shops. In any case, I don't have anything else to spend my money on that gives me such pleasure, and I suppose that's the point of it all at the end of the day..

[Lizzy]

We pay £6.50 a plot. We have a shop, which opens on Sunday mornings and a group of us get together and have a cuppa. We are very lucky, we have water on tap and also have a toilet. I would be prepared to pay extra.

[wykesmallholder]

hi,
snadger in bradford the rent per plot is £41 per annum thats for a 10 x 20 metre plot with running water but at moment there is a fair demand for plots on the waiting list there is over 10 people waiting on 2 sites and on 1 i know of there are over 20 so you are limited to 1 plot until more come available

[jackie j]

I got my lottie last September and had to pay £12 we pay a couple of pound for a privilege card which gives a bit of discount with some local companies, paid about £15 in total, then in October i had to pay again for this year i am confused as to why but its worth it in the long run. we have lots of water troughs around the site which are connected to a tap but are not allowed to use a hose, no loos but sainsbury's not too far if desperate!!! also a shop on another site not too far away. As this is my first year i cant wait for it all to get going. Got AGM on March 29th so will find out more no doubt.

[carlseawolf]

At the moment 14.75 for 25' by 80' and has been the same last 2 years and i would possibly go to 50 pounds if need be.
The trouble with rents is they have you over a barrel after you have been there a few years as the work you have done and money spent will be wasted if you just leave.

[Eyren]

I pay 10.50 for a 3-pole plot, 4.80 (fixed sum) for as much water as I want (didn't use any last year!) plus a couple of quid each in membership and management fees. This seems about standard, given everyone else's posts (35 quid for a full plot), and I'd be willing to pay a bit more in rent if necessary, since land is so expensive in Cambridge.

There is an occasional shop - I think it has stopped selling compost, etc because they can't get enough discount to make it worthwhile, but they do a seed potato order in late winter. I don't usually bother with the spuds, though, because AFAIK they're not organic.

However some of this may change, since the former secretary died just before Christmas (he was over 90!) and we are having a meeting this afternoon to vote in a new committee. Presumably someone a little bit younger and more up-to-date - the acting secretary has been collecting email addresses to contact people without having to spend money on postage