Help needed in reclaiming allotment

[yoanbob]

Hi, last night a few neighbours came to us and said they wanted our allotment so they could sit out back in the sunshine in the evening and have street bbq's etc. Like a community garden but just for our street. (we are beset on all sides with lowlifes who shoot each other and beat there children to death but our street is a little community of hard working normal people)
what they see as land going to waste is our orchid and veg plots and chicken area.
I dont want them to have it obviously, and I felt quite intimidated, however there is land next to ours that is council owned and was once allotments, the council tried a playground on it once but it was trashed and burnt and a hang out for druggies so they took it down, now its just overgrown wasteland.

I told them about the rule that they are obliged to provide allotments for if a group of 6 or more ask, and I promised to help them get the land but to be honest I dont know where to start.

They are worried about security because it backs on to a very rough estate so they would want suitable fencing and a locking gate, the council dont provide any of this for us but we took ours over as a going concern, would they provide it?

who do I write to and how do I phrase it?

Has anyone out there done this?


Any help would be much appriciated as I feel a little out of my depth and I am also concerned that if they went to the council they could win the its not being used argument for our lottie as we still havnt finished changing things up there and to be honest parts of it are a mess. (although we have asked the council for assistance but got nowhere)

Please help.

[nick nack]

Yoanbob

1.Contact one of your local councillors (better the one who's up for election next, they look at votes) and put the idea to them. Put it over as a Community Project (most 'Area Committees' have budgets for this type of thing). Councillors info will be on the Council website and there will be contact details etc.
2. Get everybody on the street to sign a petition on the idea and send it to the Chief Executive of the Council. Council's have procedures to deal with petitions.
3. Put together a plan of what you want to do and also a layout of how the piece of land will be organised and form a little committee, show the council that you are serious.
4. Go to the local press and get in the papers, Councillor's like nothing better than getting their picture in the paper.
5. Get the piece of land leased to you little organisation and you will have greater control on what you can do.
6. Most big companies give funding for local community projects.

Hope this helps and good luck

[Mrs Dobby]

Sounds like a difficult situation to be in Yo, obviously you dont want to be upsetting the neighbours, but as long as there is some evidence that you are utilising your plots, then the council shouldnt be able to take them away from you.

The idea of getting the residents together to get the land sounds like a good one, I'd try and get a petition with as many names on it as you could, then contact the allotment officer at the council groundworks dept to see whether they can and will help.

As to fencing etc, take a look at whether there are any community grants that could be applied for, even the lottery charity commision may be able to help!

Good luck, and if we can help in any way, just holler, ok?

[yoanbob]

thanks nick nack
thanks suzanne, any idea how I would write the petition? what I would put in it?
I'm hopeless at transfering whats in my head onto paper.
thanks

[Two_Sheds]

So the neighbours want this land, not you? Why are you doing all the donkey-work?

Give them some phone numbers, some websites, and wish them luck, but leave it at that.

[Mrs Dobby]

Just print up something such as,

'We, the undersigned, are signing this petition to be presented to the local council to show our support and register our interest in being granted a growing space or allotment on the derelict land at.................. As there is a constitutional obligation for the local council to provide suitable allotments where there is a registered interest of more than 6 parties it is our hopes that the council will see fit to grant us rights of access to this land for use as................................. We would also request that the land is provided in a suitable manner (cleared of rubbish / brambles etc) with easy access and made reasonably secure. '

Then get everyone to sign, print their name and adress and date it. That should be ok I would have thought?

[yoanbob]

thanks for that mrs D.
they want my land two sheds and I think if they made enough fuss they would get it, this way I get to keep my bit and have some control without falling out with them.

[dwrudd]

Hi All,

Just a quick note regarding a petition. Local government see's a petition as a single request, not a number of requests. Much more weight is put behind a situation like this, if everyone writes their own letter and sends them in a different envelope, posted at the same time. ( they could give them to you as they are written and you post them on all at once to the right person )

I would request that you, 'The XXXX Street Community Allotment Project' are 'given' the land to promote this type of shared community allotment, and then go about chasing funds once you have the deal in place.

There is a lot of money at local level in the councils from the European government, which is use it or lose it. This can often get things started by installing secure fencing, water and paths etc. Also, the lottery commision has huge funds for 'Local' schemes, they must have a basic outline of their constitution though and this must include a geographical limit to be considered local. Alll you need to do is make one of the rules state that it is only for residents of your street to use as a community area.

Good luck, and do let us know how you get on.

Darren

[Lavenderblue]

out of interest, how long has the land been an allotment - does it have statutory allotment status? If it does then it might be difficult to change the use from allotment to community garden - they will have to go to the secretary of state to do this. If they do get difficult about wanting your lottie, you might be able to use this to hang on to your space.