why cant i have chooks

[fooguvnor]

i have an allotment in enfield where i live , there are a few plot holders on site that have chooks ,so i thought it would be a good idea to have some of my own ,i've built a realy good coop to hold at least 10 birds and a very good sized run for them,,althouh i only want 6 birds.
but the old boy network of the commity that run the site have told me that i'm not allowed to have chooks and if i buy some put them on my plot i will get banned from the site ,,,

they have changed the rules to suit them selfs on this matter ....!
the ruling at the moment is that no one may buy chooks and bring them onto the site ,,so i arranged for one of the plot holders to give me a few of there chooks as you are only allowed to have a maximum of 10 birds so i thought this would be ok but not so they still wont let me have them ....

i've tryed contacting the local council to find out there ruling on this matter as it is there site and we rent it from them although it is commity run now and they wont give me a copy of he rules so i cant find out who i need to talk too on this matter ..
so any advise on this matter would be greatfully recived ...

[Victoria26]

Are you kidding??? This is outrageous!

Why don't you speak to all the other chook owners and see if you can get them all on your side. Get a petition going and take it to the council and go right over that old morbid gits head!!

[di]

Sorry,could you just clarify who has made the ruling...council or the "old boy network"?
I would have said to persevere with the council,but if they've handed all responsibility over to the site community I guess there's not a lot they can help with?
How do you get on with other plot holders...is there any chance you could join the committee?Find out why the ruling has been made...maybe there's been complaints from residents nearby?
I'd say your best bet for now is to work with them & not against them & tempting as it may be to make a big deal & report those that have them,I think it would work against you in the long run....maybe if you can get in with their little gang they'll bend the rules for you too?!
Good Luck!

[Eyren]

Hi fooguvnor and welcome to the Vine!

I'm on a similar type of plot, in that the site is leased from one of the university colleges via the city council and run by the tenants. Our committee are pretty good, and have provided us with a set of rules, and a copy of the society's constitution (a boilerplate document produced by the NSALG). On the other hand I know a lot of these old boys who have been hanging onto allotment sites by the skin of their teeth can be at best condescending and at worst hostile towards us "johnny-come-lately" types who didn't have the privilege of being born before 1950

When you say " they wont give me a copy of the rules", do you mean the committee or the council? If it is the committee who are not providing a copy of the rules, I would write to your council politely explaining that:

1. You would like to keep chickens on your allotment;
2. Other tenants keep chickens, so you assume this is within the rules;
3. You have told you cannot keep chickens, but have been refused a copy of the site rules by the committee;
4. You wish to know to whom you should complain about the poor running of the society.

If the council don't want to help, you could try approaching NSALG directly (www.nsalg.org.uk) and see if they can advise you.

Good luck!

EDIT - andi&di makes a good point, in that cooperation with the old boys may be the only way forward. The council probably only cares that the rent is paid on time!

[MaureenHall]

Hello and welcome to the vine.

It's a pity that there's such a conflict going on over keeping chickens. Have the rules recently been changed in that no allotment holders may bring any more chickens onto the site? I mean that when the existing chickens have gone elsewhere they can't be replaced. I think like the others have said, have a friendly chat with the other chook keepers and see what you can find out that way as well as demanding a copy of the rules and contacting the Council.

Good luck and I hope you get your chooks

[Eyren]

Yes, it could be that a decision has been taken to phase out chicken-keeping onsite, but it was considered unreasonable to expect tenants with existing flocks to get rid of them. It might seem unfair from the point of view of a newcomer (and the committee don't sound too helpful!), but if that's the case I can see their point.

[Suechooks]

Have you signed a tenancy agreement and who receives your rent? If the council are running it then there must be an allotment officer - may be worth finding out who it is. You should have a tenancy agreement to protect you from arbitrary decisions like this. Could you talk to your local councillor?

[Snadger]

On our plots which are Council owned we are given a 12 page tenancy agreement from the council (once every three years).
I was Secretary and rather than send copies out to each plotholder entailing expense, I posted a copy for all to read on the noticeboard. Our tenenacy agreement only needs be signed by the Chairman and Secretary and the allotments officer. This is a legally binding document.

As a matter of interest our tenancy agreement states that plotholders ARE allowed to keep poultry but no cockerels or ducks!

[fooguvnor]

thx for the advise and the replys

i have brought a brand new rotovator and have tryed to get in with the committee by rotovating there plots to help them out and i grow a lot of extra veg plants and give them freely to the committee members and other plot holders to help them out ...

it was 3 members of committee that changed the rules to suit themselfs
i do everything i can to stay on the good side of these people

as to the other plot holders that have chooks there on my side and we did have a pettion a couple of months ago and at least 3/4 of the plot holders signed it in favour of keeking chooks but when haned in to the committee it ,apparenty was dissmissed at the local agm meeting

but i wont give up i'll keep at it till i get a result in favour of chooks ..........

[Glutton4...]

Jeeeeeez they sound like a load of - - - holes!

Sorry, can't think of anything else to say - people like this drive me mad!

...and it's not even my problem, but you know what I mean...

[SarzWix]

We have a rule on our tenancy agreement which says "No new livestock allowed" which means that the plotholder (only one) who has chickens is allowed to keep them, but no-one else is allowed them. Funnily enough, the plotholder who has chickens is the Chairman's wife.... And, when I got my plot a few years ago there was only 6 hens, there's now 11, and none of them the same colour as the original 6
The new rule was brought in before I signed my agreement though, so I can't argue with it really.

[Hilary B]

Aren't allotment rules made either by a committee, or by the owner of the land (usually council) rather than by an individual?

[di]

thx for the advise and the replys

i have brought a brand new rotovator and have tryed to get in with the committee by rotovating there plots to help them out and i grow a lot of extra veg plants and give them freely to the committee members and other plot holders to help them out ...

it was 3 members of committee that changed the rules to suit themselfs
i do everything i can to stay on the good side of these people

as to the other plot holders that have chooks there on my side and we did have a pettion a couple of months ago and at least 3/4 of the plot holders signed it in favour of keeking chooks but when haned in to the committee it ,apparenty was dissmissed at the local agm meeting

but i wont give up i'll keep at it till i get a result in favour of chooks ..........

Were you given a reason why it was dismissed?...it would be easier for you to reason with them(or at worst accept their decision)if you knew why!
Also how many people are on the committee...and of those how many have the final say?
The only two reasons I can think off the top of my head would be that either neighbouring residents have complained or that perhaps someones run isn't secure & maybe chooks have escaped in the past & damaged crops?..oh & thirdly could they think that chooks bring with them a problem with rats???...there's definately a few on our plots that think this,however others are perfectly aware that compost heaps do that job just as well & that actually as long as you remove uneaten food from the run in the evenings,chickens doesn't have to mean rats!
I think your best bet for now is to chat to the chap who's supposedly in charge & try to find out why.Then if you have no joy,do some research & check that he really is in charge & hasn't just assumed the job & everyone's following on for an easy life!
Again good luck with it all.

[knittywittywoo]

Are you saying that one of the plot holders have given you some of their chickens to put in your run and they still won't let you keep them?
So there aren't any new chickens on the allotment, these have just been moved from an existing run to yours?
This seems very unfair.
I could understand if they didn't want any new chickens there and were hoping to phase them out when all chickens on the allotment died but these aren't new, just moved.