Comments on: Allotment Shortage

By: Jackie

Jackie — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:14:40 +0000

Does anybody know if there are private allotments avalible in the Brentwood area? or if there are any land share plots avalible?

By: Jackie

Jackie — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:52:21 +0000

Dear Keith

I live in Brentwood, I have my name down for an allotment,at present there are 160 people on the waiting list, but yet when I walk around the diffrent sites so many plots are overgrown and under used, I find this so frustrating. I grow some veg in my small garden but my chickens tend to eat more produce than us.

By: Ian Edge

Ian Edge — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:05:49 +0000

I am sorry if this upsets anybody or turns them green with envy but here goes, I live in a small village in west wales and with only a very small garden attatched to my council house wanted a small peice of land to grow my own veg, No allotments around here so i asked people i knew in case i could get them to part with a bit, eventually i spotted a small advert in the local paper for a garden free to use and got on the phone very quick, i was ivited down to a local country house and offered a 1 acre walled garden, not to look a gift horse in the mouth i took it on and spent lots of tim getting as much of it into shape as possible during the summer of 2007, one day late August i arrive and found 2500 young pheasants happily having a picnic, Turns out that this walled garden has been a rearing pen for years and the owner who i has assumed was a gentleman had forgot to tell me, Having a bit of a short fuse i thought it best to bite my tounge and retire to my armchair where i promptly wrote out a bill for a great number of seeds and a good number of hours labour charge which was posted to the “Gentleman” with and attached note that payment would acceptable either personaly or via a small claims court, i shortly afterwards recieved a reply and a cheque, I thought he may have learned his lesson but the advert appeared again in april 2008, however in the meantime i had again been asking around and was offered a 2 acre field which had at one time in the past had planning on it but which had now lapsed, the owner told me that because of british tax laws he had now decided that he was just going to leave it to his children when he died, of course with no planning the value is much lower so less tax to pay, i started with a friends tractor and plough on new years day 2008 and despite the weather have had good crops on the area planted so much so i have had some to sell, considering the cost of food and that i have only been asking 20p for a cabbage and 40p for a cauli i have been dissapointed at the very small number of people who have taken up the offer of very fresh veg, I have now been aproached by a vegetable shop in a local town to grow as much as possible for them as it seems people are lining up outside to pay premium prices for LOCAL FRESH VEG so not only does it look like i got more than i bargained for i could also get a nice little earner out of it, The moral is dont give up your time will come and if you really can not wait to get started get in touch and bring a spade, payment in the form of great veggie stir fries

By: Charley

Charley — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:40:27 +0000

I have a plot in Bristol and I was told there was a two year waiting list but after 6 months and regularly calling the site rep I got my own full sized plot.
Since getting the keys I have noticed that the majority of plots are vacant….

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:15:56 +0000

There’s a shortage on our site in Leicestershire. The allotments are church owned and let by an agent. The waiting list is now 20 strong. The problems are similar to what Keith in Brentwood says – plots not worked for years, new people come with great enthusiasm but disappear after finding the plot unmanageable. There are a number of plots, rented but not worked which irritates those of us that do try and keep our plots cultivated. There is no simple solution, but I feel these TV gardening programmes don’t help. They paint a romantic picture of what having an allotment entails, which in reality is a lot of bloody hard work!

By: Richard Sherman

Richard Sherman — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:34:21 +0000

My allotment is on a site in Broadstairs which also has a waiting list.

There are a number of plots which are only half used, usually by people who do not relise.the task they have taken on,especialy if they work.

I have suggested to the committee,to cut a number of these plots in half for newcomers before allowing them a full sized allotment.

I believe this would reduce waiting lists and reduce overgrown sites.

Mr R Sherman,Broadstairs.

By: Cawdor

Cawdor — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:32:28 +0000

I think every red blooded male fancied Barbara! Saw her whilst driving through London about 20 years ago and nearly crashed my car whilst rubber necking.

Cawdor

By: BenF

BenF — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:10:03 +0000

There is a shortage in London.

Myself and a few others have been petitioning our local council (LB Waltham Forest, East London) for another site. Since according to the council allotment officer has stated
“Don’t even bother putting your name down – you’d be dead by the time you got one”.
The Council has said it doesn’t have any available land, since we are an Olympic Borough – enquire again in 5 years. Yet walking around the area, even looking on the existing sites many seem overgrown, and untended…..Yet given the fact we are semi-young things and ready for the challenge we are having no luck.

By: keith

keith — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:52:19 +0000

there is a shortage in my area Brentwood Essex the problem being that plots got so overgrown it is now nearly impossible to bring them back into use .The number of people who take plots on and dont use them is also a problem because it is so difficult to get them back. Bit of a suprise to find we had a frost this morning the dahlias look rather sad.