Allotments on the One Show, Greenwich allotmenteers fight 200% rent hike Options

[Simon Kirby]

I mentioned the other day about the plans of Greenwich Council to increase their allotment rents by 200%, and they were featured on the One Show last night - item starts 1 minute 45 seconds in.

Tenants there are facing a 200% rent increase - that would increase the cost of a standard plot from £67 to £200. Greenwich allotmenteers are fighting the increase on the basis of a 1982 High Court decision which requires councils to apply the same subsidy to allotments as it does to its other leisure services. There are a number of councils who are looking at similar price hikes, not least Newbury Town Council who have already proposed that a standard plot should cost £250, and similar legal challenges seem likely.

The significant difference between Greenwich and Newbury is that Greenwich is actively encouraging its sites to self-manage to avoid the increase:

The Council is very keen on the idea of sites moving to self-managed status. Self-managed sites would be able to set their own rents and manage their own maintenance

Newbury Town Council admit that their administration of their service costs the tax-payer around £80 per plot, and this compares rather poorly with commercial administration at around £8 per plot, and self-managed administration at around £2 per plot. I understand that an allotments management company has already made a formal approach to the Town Council to take on the management of the Council's six sites which would save the tax payer at least £40k by the Council's reckoning, and more likely twice that, with no increase in rent for the allotmenteers. It will be very interesting to see how the Town Council respond.

[dannyboy]

I think SK is trying to allude that a £250pa rent is more than just wishful thinking from NTC.

too much belief in Bertrand Russell - What is new in our time is the increased power of the authorities to enforce their prejudices.

[Simon Kirby]

I think SK is trying to allude that a £250pa rent is more than just wishful thinking from NTC.

I'm being quite direct about it. NTC have already proposed £250 for a full plot, so it's more than an outside possibility in the near future because there's now a precedent from several councils to charge more or less the full cost of the service, and for local government to subsidise allotments while day-centres close is grotesque.

The only think that makes £250 unlikely in Newbury is that the Town Council don't want to push their allotmenteers too far and risk an organised challenge for self-management, because there's a precedent for that too now.

[panda]

I'm being quite direct about it. NTC have already proposed £250 for a full plot, so it's more than an outside possibility in the near future because there's now a precedent from several councils to charge more or less the full cost of the service, and for local government to subsidise allotments while day-centres close is grotesque.

The only think that makes £250 unlikely in Newbury is that the Town Council don't want to push their allotmenteers too far and risk an organised challenge for self-management, because there's a precedent for that too now.

So you can see into the future now. Your quite sad really. I new you couldn't resist talking about allotments again and again and again

[Simon Kirby]

So you can see into the future now. Your quite sad really. I new you couldn't resist talking about allotments again and again and again

Panda, seriously now: This is a discussion forum - you clearly have a problem with what I post here about allotments but you're not saying what it is, and it could genuinely be constructive if you did. If you don't feel able to post openly then you're welcome to PM me.

If you're a council officer then I am genuinely sorry that your council has made it necessary to have the self-management debate in public like this - really, it's not how I'd have chosen to discuss it and I can understand how what I say will be upsetting - really, I'm sorry about that.

If you're an allotmenteer then you'll be aware that I started an allotment society to represent the allotmenteers' interests and create a democratic forum, and you may also know some of the interests who made it their business to undermine that. What do you want from this?

If you're a councillor, then why not work with me.