News / allotments
‘Petty’ allotment proposals could be ditched
Bristol’s deputy mayor has dropped a huge hint that some of the “petty” new rules proposed for allotment holders will be ditched.
But Labour councillor Craig Cheney said controversial planned increases to fees for plots were likely to still go ahead because they were needed to improve the service.
Public consultation was due to close on Wednesday into the city council’s new allotment rents and tenancy policy, which includes a raft of additional charges and changes to what is allowed on the land.
is needed now More than ever
Plotholders would be forced to remove fences, hedges, most trees and large play equipment, as well as replace glass in greenhouses with twin-walled plastic and drain water from deeper ponds.
New fees include £25 for keeping bees, chickens or rabbits and £15 for a shed, greenhouse, cold frame, fruit cage, pond and to register a co-worker, while the annual cost of having an allotment would double for many.
A consultation was extended for ten days after complaints by growers that they hadn’t received enough notice – photo: Mia Vines Booth
A petition opposing the plans has now topped 6,000 signatures, with tenants saying they will be forced off the land.
Bristol City Council, which manages 4,000 plots, with another 1,500 run on its behalf by five associations, has said it needs to increase rents, which were last reviewed in 2018, and that there are 8,000 people on the waiting list, so more space needs to be freed up.
The issue came to a head at a council budget scrutiny meeting on Tuesday.
Knowle Community Party councillor Gary Hopkins said: “Clearly people are not going to be happy when they’ve got a significant increase in the charges, but what is more concerning and what people are contacting me about is what they regard as petty regulations which are going to cause problems.
“How are you actually going to effectively check on this stuff when the allotments team can’t check on this now, so how are they going to check if somebody has a few bees or a chicken or whatever?
“The cost of billing them for these minor things and then trying to enforce and collect it seems to be completely unrealistic.”
Councillor Cheney replied: “The consultation exercise is underway. Will we introduce many of the things in the consultation? I suspect not. I’ll be kind, the document that was issued was perhaps not something that we would have approved of.
Under the proposals, plotholders would be forced to remove fences, hedges, most trees and large play equipment, as well as replace glass in greenhouses with twin-walled plastic and drain water from deeper ponds – photo: Martin Booth
“The income lines are different to what you called petty bureaucracy. In terms of income, for a long time people would not have experienced an ideal allotments service. In order to deliver a better service overall, you need to increase fees, so an inevitable outcome of improving services is to increase fees.”
Green councillor Heather Mack said site reps were resigning in protest. She asked: “If we don’t have site reps or those onboard for our allotments strategy, how do we maintain allotments without then having to increase the number of staff, which will then cost more money?”
Cabinet member for transport councillor Don Alexander, who is an allotments site rep, said: “One of the challenges of being a site rep is you feel a bit like a judge going down to mediate between various parties who are concerned about who’s taken a bit of extra path or who’s doing something they shouldn’t.
“We’ve been short of site reps for a long time before any changes were proposed in the rules, and one of the reasons is that they’re not backed up in trying to sort out the very human problems that occur on allotments.”
Cabinet member for public health and communities Ellie King said: “Site reps are volunteer posts and we try to entice people in by giving them significant discounts or free plots in some cases, but it will continue to be a challenge.
“One of the important points to raise is that it is a very open and live consultation, so nothing is set in stone yet and we are still continuing to work on it with people and listen.”
She said the proposed new rules “did not come out of nowhere” but were in response to requests from site reps.
Adam Postans is a local democracy reporter for Bristol, Bath, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire
Main photo: Rob Browne
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