Increase in allotment waiting times

[plotman]

Stephen I understand your feelings but there is issues here that need to be addressed and talked about.

How do we get more people into allotments and growing their own. I am sorry but issues of multiple plot holdings will come to the fore as the waiting lists increase and now the main tabloids are jumping on the bandwagon.

I know there has been some bitter resentment at people not doing enough or not giving it longer, but they have a right to try and there maybe numerous reasons for the failure rather than just being not bothered, we are becoming guilty of tarring all because of a few.

The landshare scheme is up and running and hopefully that will help a lot as will the NT initiative, (It is about time the RHS did something now) our local council meetings are now tackling the subject more and more and maybe something will happen there.

I because of this thread took it up with my local Councillor and it is an issue because councils are coming under large political and legal pressure for provision, yet do not have the resources to deal with it. As it was put very bluntly to me ask an average person in the street where allotments would be in what they want a council to provide and it would probably be at the bottom of the list as have happened in surveys passed.

So if you have only a small amount of cash in your budget due to demands in people living longer, unemployment etc and you have a large list of people waiting and a large % of people with multiple plots (My Area), what as a council can you do?

Can I ask people with allotments here do your allotments have disabled access or do they have smaller plots for new allotmenteers, do they have a way for people to come down and learn, do you have open days, are they involved with local schools. These are questions councils and government are going to ask now if more money is to be found and I think it will be apparent as more of these politcal movements gain momentum. I do know that especially the disabled access agenda, that this is going to be a big issue.

I will get something straight, I do not have an allotment and I do not need one as i have a small garden that can produce enough for our benefit. Nevertheless, I do feel that allotments should be more community based and open, they should keep proper records made available to all and do more in that community even if it is just a garden club. Of course this comes from experience locally...

Will not go and hide in the bunker as the subject needs a very proper debate!

I did smile at yr community comments lol. Where was the community when i took on this overgrown mess called an allotment. It cost me money and hard graft to get it to the picture it is now. I maintain it and pay my rent. I have NO intention of sharing with any community, club or any other organised parasite. As for a debate. Nothing to discuss.

[Eyren]

I don't begrudge our "old boys" their two plots, since as others have said, these people kept the site going when no-one else cared about allotments. They have also worked hard to keep all the site well-tended by splitting some of the plots up into "beginner's plots" of a half, third or even quarter size of the standard ten poles, and gently nagging anyone who doesn't keep their plot at least strimmed and under some attempt (however haphazard and newbie!) at cultivation. The site is leased from the council but privately run by its members, which probably helps.

One of the older couples have in fact given up part of one of their plots owing to ill-health - but since there are only three or four tenants on our site with more than one plot, we couldn't really accommodate many more tenants even if they gave up some land.

If anyone wants an allotment, I think their energy will be far better spent in either looking for a site with a number of overgrown plots or lobbying their council for more sites, than in fretting over a few established tenants with a second plot. The provision of allotments is one of the few statutory duties laid down on councils - i.e. they are obliged by law to do it - and in the current economic climate allotments are an important local amenity that could help the poor and unemployed to materially improve their diet and health. It may be lower down the council's agenda than most other topics, for sound historical reasons - make it your job to move it higher

[RobintheBobin]

Hello. I'm on two waiting lists for the local plots - one v local (seven months waiting list), one about two minutes drive (one month). My local council have decided to start splitting up un-tended plots from ten poles (about 250sqm) to five pole half plots, which for a lot of couples would be enough to feed them and to tend if time-poor (secretly I'd love a whole plot but half is better than nothing). They offer a free rotavation in your first year of ownership, which is nice

[flowerofshona]

It is duty of your local councils to provide allotments !! If you do not put pressuer on them and form local federations which have far more power behind them you will not get more plots !!
Its no good whinging you need to get together and work towards getting new sites !
In this area we have a federation and we meet twice a year with the council and have put vast amounts of pressure on them and we are finally getting there but not without a lot of hard work !
Due to allotments being in fashion now there are not enough plots and the council have by law to provide them so get down to the council, in a group if you can and ask for a meeting, go to the press, contact your MP's and get pressure put on them IF you really want more plots its down to you to help get them and not sit waiting.

[pdblake]

Last look I was 169th waiting for one of two dozen plots that go out at a rate of maybe two a year. Not even worth thinking about. The other list I'm about 80th on and they reckon 3-4 years.

[GreenGriff]

I have just put my name down for the local allotments in Havering (Essex) - about a 5 minute walk from my house - and I am seventh on the list ! Must admit, I am very surprised as I thought it would be a much longer list! I'm happy to wait as I've only just started growing at home in a very small space, but quite excited by the thought of larger-scale growing!

The cost is £15 a year for a half-plot ... not quite sure what the actual size is though

[drama_mug]

Hi

Im under south lanarkshire, Scotland and just put mu name down so I can have a plot when I RETIRE!!!!. There is a 30 year waiting list.

I am going to start saving to buy land and hope it doesnt take me
30 years.

Like GreenGiff I have just started learning ill be an expert in 30 years.

[GreenGriff]

My goodness, 30 years?! You certainly WILL be an expert by then!

[funstuie]

Just a bump on this one.

As some off you may have seen my thread about my fruitless search for a plot. Anyway as I visited 9 different sites and spoke to site managers at all the places. All the allotments within a 10/15 minute drive of my house have massive waiting lists with most telling me I will waiting for at least 5 years. Those with shorter list were not able to give me much of an indication about how long I will be waiting.

A couple of the site managers complained that they would love to take some of their unattended plots back as they owners just show up once/twice a year to weed it and show face they then pay their subs and are not seen again for a year. He said he is getting plots back off people by "strong arming" them into admitting they are not really going to use the plot. Another told me that every time Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstal or Joe Swift are on TV his phone is off the hook with folk ringing looking for a plot. He reckons half his list will have forgotten they have put their name down and half again wouldn't want the plot if offered in a years time.

I have visited a lot of allotments lately and I have no problem with people having multiple plots. Presumably most of them have been on the allotments for years so were around before it was fashionable. What annoys me was the amount of plots which are obviously not being used. Every site I visited had loads of overgrown plots.

If plots are left untended for 6-12 months they should be taken back and redistributed. If I got a plot and I ended up not using it I would expect nothing less than for it to be taken off me.

[NOG]

We have monthly plot inspections and if its not in cultivation (took ages to argue the defination of that one). You get a letter. If no improvement or contact saying ill you get final warning then third letter is bye. But you cant get a frist letter..then mow it then get another one. You can only get one first letter a year.

We have Africans who come once as a family clear the plot. Plant maize on every inch of the plot. then come back once ever few months for a bit of a weed then harvest in September..then dont come back till March to clear and re-plant.

The plot looks like it is unkept but they get a great harvest.

I couldn't get up much last year and had weeds 3 foot high but again had a great soft fruit harvest.

So some "drity" plots are still in use.

[funstuie]

We have monthly plot inspections and if its not in cultivation (took ages to argue the defination of that one). You get a letter. If no improvement or contact saying ill you get final warning then third letter is bye. But you cant get a frist letter..then mow it then get another one. You can only get one first letter a year.

We have Africans who come once as a family clear the plot. Plant maize on every inch of the plot. then come back once ever few months for a bit of a weed then harvest in September..then dont come back till March to clear and re-plant.

The plot looks like it is unkept but they get a great harvest.

I couldn't get up much last year and had weeds 3 foot high but again had a great soft fruit harvest.

So some "drity" plots are still in use.

Fair enough.

I don't see anything wrong with someone using a plot for one crop a year as long as there evidence it's being used. Or again there might be reasons someone can't tend to a plot for an extended amount of time. It's the genuinely unsused plots where someone has one for the kudos of telling people (or whatever reason people take on a plot but don't use it) they have an allotment but never actually grow anything on them which gets me.

One site manager told me that on his plot there are at least 12 plots he would love to turf but they pay their subs yearly so he has no real way of getting them off the land.

[Topcat36]

Well i would love an allotment but havn't put my name down even tho there were some available a while back, there is now a waiting list, i personally do not have the time to tend a plot so decided against it plus they were to far from my house and i dont drive.
Our council has sold of a couple and 1 more is on the cards as for putting pressure on council it's not that easy lady in my area has tried but council and landowner have rejected idea it's a no go.
Do think when media hype dies down things will settle, maybe councils should set up more shared plots for beginners so more people actually get a chance and if they decide it's not for them no harm done, dont think you can take a plot off someone who has tended it for years just because people now want them, the reason we lost allotments was plots were sitting idle, i remember one site was overgrown for years now it is no more, i remember driving past it many times thinking i'd love one of those.
Don't know what the answer is but for those people that have gardens maybe people should be encouraged more to turn part of their garden into veg growing(i know this is being done to a part but i dont think enough is being done) you dont need a big garden to grow veg (if you can fit one of those hideous trampolines in, then you can have a veg bed, sorry if that offends anyone but i hate them) i'm a window cleaner and i dont know how many times those things have almost caused me to come a cropper. Inner city areas i feel are the worst hit, people living in flats with no access to gardens this is where the councils need to do something.

[NOG]

We now only let 1/2 plots to new comers...as we are on clay and it is heavy work.

[Alison]

I got my plot last autumn and it was well high in bramble, rougue raspberries and generall weeds. Cut it back in October, covered and did very little until early March apart from plant a few fruit bushes and trees. Since then I've been going up as often as I can and have cleared over half of it (it's about 80' by 40'). I'm already running out of space for all I want to plant and am grateful that I don't have a plot as small as some of them described above. There are only 10 plots on our site, most are at least partially under cultivation but there are two which are a mess. One of them has had nothing done to it for over a year (apparently) and one of the others was just strimmed back last autumn and has a forest (if you can have one) of rhubarb and that's it. The rent has gone up this year to £18 which is still cheap and there seems no effort to kick off the lazy ones - I know people can be ill but this is more long term than that.

Re people turning down plots when offered. I put my name on several lists and got this one first. About a month later got offered a plot on another site and turned that one down without even looking at it - I know it would have been smaller and more expensive and even if it had been in a better state (unlikely) then I'd still have wasted all the efforts I'd put in where I am.

Re the community thing, yes I like a quick chat with the other plot holders but mainly it's my space to do what I want in peace and quiet. Not interested in opening it up to other people unless I chose to invite friends up for the day.

[Cambuslang Allotment Foru]

Our allotment waiting time is 33 years.
We have 2 sites in our region (South Lanarkshire, near Glasgow) both with plots not being fully utilised.
Any advice on how we get our local council to take responsibility?
Margaret