Hi all, as the subject states i need some advice. I have recieved a letter saying that our plot is not up to standards, to be honest this is true although there are reasons, 1, my mother in law and grand mother in law have both passed away in the last 12 months. My Mother in law died first, which left us to care for my 93 year old Grandmother in law and my Uncle in law who was suffering from depression, only to be made worse by the death of his sister. my G.I.L. ended up in hospital. We had to fight the social services for a place for her in a home, which took 3 months, after which she died 19 days later. Whilst we there away from the allotment, sorting out the lives and deaths of my in-laws there were were onions and Garlic growing in there, from which we gained a handsome crop and our shed got broken in to, with pallets and other items removed. Some of which we got back. We have had this plot since september last year, at this stage half is cultivated with beans(we've had at least 50lbs), courgettes, sprouts and pumpkins. The other half was over run with brambles and weeds although the weekend just gone we have cut them down to ground level and burned them. We wanted to wait to collect as many blackberries from them as possible. I know there is a lot of work to be done.

We are at meersbrook and i am wanting to know if anyone has had this type of letter in the past and also how long they had to get up to requirement. I have called the office and they have advised 1 month, the problem is that i work shifts and will only be able to get to the plot twice a week. Do you think i will be able to get more time and what do they mean by the required level. My wife is really upset because after all the problems we have had to deal with, this has been the place where we have been able to come, and just get away from all the stress, and do something productive with our lives again. As well as this, we are supposed to be behind withour rent for the allotment, which was paid in the Christmas period, although we haven't recieved a letter saying this, which we have apparently been sent, and have not got. I know this sounds like a sob story from a family of lazy allotmenteers, but we have all the paperwork to prove these things have happened in our lives, my wife wants to take the death certificates to the allotment office, but i don't think she should have to go this far. If we lose the allotment it would just be the icing on the cake. From what we have seen there are loads of empty, overgrown allotments they should be concentrating on, instead of being finnicky about an overgrown area on what is otherwise a work in progress allotment.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice

Mr & Mrs Raddish

so does this letter outline exactly what standards they expect you to uphold or is that merely subjective based on an opinion from somebody from the council, which could vary according to how hard it's raining?

It says "during a recent inspection of this site it was noted that the above plot was not being cultivated in accordance with the terms of your agreement. As there is a waiting list for this site, i must ask you to bring the allotment into a proper state of cultivation as soon as possible. If this not dine within a reasonable time, reluctantly i shall have to serve you with one months notice to quit for your plot. If you no longer want to continue with your plot, please fill in and return the enclosed termination card. ######However, there may be some sound reason which has prevented you from keeping the allotment in order and, under such circumstances, if you inform mr of the facts i will be prepared to take a sympathetic view. I think you for your anticipated co-operation in this matter, so avoiding the necessstiy of further action on my part." I've emailed them and my wife has spoken to a woman on the phone and told us a month is a reasonable time to get it cleared to standard, which on the agreement states free from weeds, well manured and in a good state of cultivation and fertility and any pathways/avenues should be kept free form weeds. If we cut down the rambloes form the back of the greenhouse, which backs on to a mani pathway, every tom dick or harry would be able to get in there. By the way, we also shelled out £50 to get the little outhouse attached to the greenhouse re roofed. Would we do that, if we didn't want to keep the allotment? Thanks for replying.

I'm going to ring up again in the morning. We were plannig to hire a rotivator and a van at the end of october, while i have time off work, to clear it and remove rubbish. I'm not going to waste the money, if after a month, its deemed not good enough and we're thrown off.

Hmmm, is the mini pathway supposed to be access to other allotments then?

I suppsose you could say it is on one of the main pathway s to get in. Everyone passes it on the way down either by car or foot. Round of the back of the greenhouse is what i would describe as an alley, also accessible by car or foot. We have always kept the main pathway hedge in good order, like we would the ones on our front garden at home. Or son trimmed the hedges and part of the brambles round the back of the greenhouse on Sunday, unfortunately after the allotment officer had already been round on his inspection, or he would have seen we like being there.

No-one has to go through our plot to get to their own plots, so any overgrowth wouldn't cause obstruction to anyone else.

would it be worth your while training the brambles espalier style across the back of your greenhouse to maintain some sort of security? and perhaps raise the issue with whatever plot holders' association there may be?

It would be worth training the brambles until we could afford the greenhouse repairs. Could do i supppose, have only been to 1 allotment meeting. Just feeling a bit gutted about the work we have done and were planning to do if all that's going to happen is us getting the boot.

I'm sure you're not going to get the boot :)

You've said yourself you're making inroads :thumbsup:

Take photo's now of what the place is like, and keep a journal (even if it's effectively online like some people do here anyway, so they can share with the group), so if they do get snotty, you have evidence that you're not just ignoring them, you ARE working on it, but you still have a lot of family business to go through wrt to the recent events (and shift work doesn't help as you can't do the plot in the dark)

Thanks for the supportive advice. We've took photo's practically every time we have been down, and already e-mailed some to the allotment officer. We've also got video footage. May sound sad, but we are like that. Perhaps there will be light at the end of the tunnel, will still be calling the allotment officer in the morning though. Thankyou again, you're a star.

no probs :)

I don't know much about allotmenting, but I know somebody who needs to talk when I spot them ;)

PS - we got a snotty letter telling us to cut our overhanging garden greenery recently, so I know how hard that letter hits you and how unnerving it can be :mad:

Council Jobsworths. What do you do about them?!

well I cut the hedges personally, but they do insist on growing again ;)

Whoops. Have i dropped a clanger?

nah, you're right - what do you do about them?

well you could wind up with more bother on your hands if you ignore them completely, so do what you can, and don't get stressed about it

If you want belt and braces so you know where you stand, you could make use of the free legal advice line you get with your household insurance, but I suspect your time would be better spent enjoying your allotment :thumbsup:

Yeah you're right:headbang:

Now either get some sleep or join in the daftness going on elsewhere on the forum at this time of night ;)

Just got hold of john martin, we have until February to get it done. That is such a relief.

I'm glad they were sensible about your situation :)

Enjoy your allotment :)

We will enjoy it, thanks for replying i think i just needed to vent. Thanks for the possitive reply Strix.

The Radish family

I've just had one of those letters, and have just finished composing an irate but polite :D e-mail (haven't sent it yet, I'm going to get my housemate's opinion on it first).
The plot had been neglected for a long time (probably as long as I was on the waiting list :rolleyes:) so is quite overgrown. I don't have as many problems as the Radishes had, but got the plot too late in the season to plant anything. My plan was to wait till autumn to start clearing, as that's the best time to do it. I did start in the summer, but then thought the weeds would just grow straight back with all the rain we had!
Is that unreasonable? Surely they can give a plot 6 months before deciding it's neglected? What do people think?

They normally give you a reasonable amount of time to sort it out so your letter is probably a mistake, Becky.

As for the Radishes being told that their rent is overdue, this has happened to someone I know too even though it was paid immediately. There was apparently a problem with the financial people who deal with the rents, and some of those who claimed a reduced fee as they are OAPs were sent these letters. It isn't actually the allotments office's fault, but they are well aware of the problem and are trying to sort it out, though unless you phone them to tell them that you've paid they have no way of knowing which of these people have really defaulted and which appear on the list by mistake. Unfortunately it is causing some people some distress.

Hi Mr and Mrs Radish,

Sorry to hear about your saga and sorry for not replying sooner. Glad to see Strix has given you plenty of moral support. I totally understand your situation. I'm on the committee of Heeley and District Allotments and we have been demanding that the Allotment Office do something about unworked plots (of which there are approx. 90 on our site). John Martin has been sending out more letters to tenants if he feels that they are not meeting the requirements of their tenancy agreement.

There is a big problem with the allotment 'system'. I actually do sympathise somewhat with the allotments office as they appear to be understaffed. The system is not transparent. What is the procedure and what are the expected timelines for clearing allotments whgen they are very overgrown? The Allotment Federation is working with the allotment office to try to improve the system but we don't have enough volunteers.

There are subgroups being formed to try to resolve some of these issues. All tenants should be getting letters from the allotment office inviting them to be part of these subgroups. The subgroups are looking at issues like:

What is an appropriate use of an allotment (permaculture etc?)
How can communicatiop with societies be improved?
How can the system of warning/eviction letters be improved.
How can the tenancy agrrement be made clearer
Formalising allotment splitting/sharing.

I would urge you to get involved as you know first hand how the current system works and what you would consider fair treatment. It is really important that people taking on abandonned plots have there say and they will be given the oppurtunity to do so. I hope that some of you take it.

If you want to me (or another committee member) to come and have a look at your plot then please pm me. We meet on the first Sunday of every month at 11.15 in the shop shed if you want to come and dsicuss your experiences at one of our meetings. Be good if you could give us some warning as we can make time for you. We always seem to have a lot to get through.

Good luck with the plot. I'm at plot 149 if you feel like dropping in.

Kevin

Hi low carbon. We have actually met at the allotment meeting at the beginning of the year, can't remember when exactly, time has passed so quickly this year. There was myself, the hubby and our 3 kids. I was the one who asked about my great grandfather having a plot in the 50's. I'm quite happy with the plots progress at the moment and was given until february to get it in order. I'm happy to do that, weed growth will be minimal and i think that's a decent time scale to get the land in order. Won't be able to get enough funds together to get the greenhouse in order for a good while though, so i hope this won't become an issue with the allotment office. I'm looking forward to recieving the letter about the subgroups. Not everything is black and white and this seems, on the face of things, to be a good way to getting things clarified for both the allotment office and the tenants. Hubby is on late shifts next week, so there won't be much done then, but with half term the week after we can all get involved in getting "a bit more done" as we say in our house. I've really enjoyed the first year on the allotment, and it's helped us all through a really awful time. I'm looking forward to giving it back the T.L.C. it's given us. Hope we can get to a meeting soon. Thanks for the information and support, Mrs Radish.

I was mulling over the allotment situation earlier this week

in reality should the council be handing out plots of land which are currently in a disgraceful condition?

I know it's a right can of worms, but ethically, why should somebody put tons of work into an allotment, never get it right (but massively improve it), then be threatened with 'eviction'?

I don't like the current system, but perhaps rent should be halved for the first 3 months of an overgrown allotment? (or even free, as it's neither use nor flaming ornament until it's in a fit state to grow stuff in)

Perhaps there should be an agreement drawn up for a clearance plan when an overgrown plot is taken on, instead of these nasty letters which are sent out at the onset?

I was mulling over the allotment situation earlier this week

in reality should the council be handing out plots of land which are currently in a disgraceful condition?

I know it's a right can of worms, but ethically, why should somebody put tons of work into an allotment, never get it right (but massively improve it), then be threatened with 'eviction'?

I don't like the current system, but perhaps rent should be halved for the first 3 months of an overgrown allotment? (or even free, as it's neither use nor flaming ornament until it's in a fit state to grow stuff in)

Perhaps there should be an agreement drawn up for a clearance plan when an overgrown plot is taken on, instead of these nasty letters which are sent out at the onset?

That sounds like a good idea. My plot looks like it's got years worth of overgrowth - I was on the waiting list for 2 years and I doubt it's been touched in that time! As we've started to clear it, we found carpet underneath the overgrowth - if that's put down to stop growth, how long before that gets overgrown!!
I explained before why I hadn't done much to it up to now, but it seems to me that the allotment office is expecting me to clear years worth of overgrowth within a few months.
How reasonable are they? How observant are they? I think they'll be inspecting again this week, I don't want to lose it but I don't know if we've made it obvious enough that we are working on it :)

We've just had one of these letters as well. We bin on it for 2 1/2years and have been growing things for the last 2 after spending a lot of time sorting it out.
Ive just planted over a hundred onion sets and am about to put garlic in. There are sprouts and leeks on it.There are 8 raised beds on it and 2 more in the working towards mode. It can be untidy (needs striming regularly) and the raspberries and gooseberries (these were on when we got it, so we haven't planted them against the rules) want sorting but it is clearly in use.
The 2 allotments either side are not in use one has never been used while we have been there, and is completely rampant, and the other was given up at Easter, but still is overgrown.
I'm wondering if they have got wrong number? unless we been doing wrong one all this time but the number on the door was the one they offered? but can't get through to them as usual.

How can i find a plan of the allotments so i can check right one?? We are on Long Lane/Hagg Lane ones.