i hope i can do this....re an allotment being taken away....

[kiwirach]

i belong to a gardening forum and became aware of this situation last week.

a man has had his allotment taken away from him by the council claiming it was unattended, despite vegetables growing and a new shed in place. the council did not send out any warnings, and have admitted to an 'administrative error'. the man turned up to his allotment to find it have been plowed over and been given to a new plot holder, who appears to be a council worker.
his story has been highlighted in his local paper here, and i hope it is ok for me to bring it to the SS communities attention.
it would be great if some fellow plot holders could add their support via the comments section of the newspaper.

i appologise if this isnt the done thing, but feel since alot of us are allotment holders it was worth bringing it to your attention.....after all, this could happen to any one of us potentially.

i will understand if the thread is locked or deleted...i dont want to ruffle feathers, i just want to suppport this man in getting his allotment back.

[Millymollymandy]

I can't see any reason why you should not post this. I think it is absolutely disgraceful and I hope he gets his plot back, plus compensation (unlikely though).

[evelyn]

Just added my coments to the artical.

Eve

[Annpan]

Yes, this is ridiculous - and he should absolutely get compensation... I can't imagine how livid I would be.

Did the council workers who came in to rotovate it not see all the carrots, onions, fruit bushes growing??????? what a bunch of idiots, thoughtless stupid idiots

[kiwirach]

hi all, thanks for the support.....it appears this has been resolved late this afternoon when the local paper informed the man he had his plot back.

[red]

how awful.

[JulieSherris]

My tuppenny worth has been duly logged.... even though he's got his plot back... think of all that hard work down the drain!

Poor guy - I hope the council recompense him for their cock up

Julie.

[sez]

Newbie poster here (been lurking a while). I have to laugh at this ... came onto the site and this was the first thread I opened, and funnily enough it's about Scunthorpe (where I also live). Let me apologise in advance for the following essay of a first post!


In late feb this year I was given an allotment too. When I arrived it was in better condition than I expected - the majority of the plot divided into two large beds which looked like they'd been unattended for no more than 6 months to a year. I broke open the rusty padlock on the shed and discovered that while it was a MESS - the floor covered in stuff and hundreds of spiders and webs - there was loads of equipment there - spade, fork, petrol strimmer, cordless screwdriver... etc. I spoke to the people who give out the allotment keys and was reassured that if I had been given it then the old owner would have given it up and it was my plot now.

So... I got on with working on it over my 2 weeks holiday from work. I dug half the beds (in the snow!), and cleared out the shed - a mammoth task. I kept anything useful but two thick coats were condoned to the bin as they were infested with spiders, along with lots of old packs of seeds, etc.

What happened? Two weeks later I was told by the plot-next-door that the old owner had turned up. He never gave the plot up and was never sent letters. He had had a break for a few months due to personal issues but was ready to get back into it. I had to give up 'my' plot (and the HUGE pile of compost a kind freecycler had spent a day helping me transport from his home!). I was offered another but it was covered in knee high perrenial weeds and frankly I'd lost heart after being messed around so much, and gave it up a few months later. I imagine he was fuming too as I'd been busy re-working his allotment to my plan (ripping up his wooden strawberry and salad bed edging to edge my new smaller main beds etc), and had thrown out his coats and probably other property of his. Mind you he got his shed cleaned for free and nice shiny new plot numbers on his shed door!

While I was there I also heard of another plotholder on the same site who had come in one sunday to find his newly planted potato bed had been rotavated... whoops, the council workers got the wrong plot! (despite them being clearly marked out and numbered).

I have to say a big WELL DONE to the man in charge of allotments in Scunthorpe (I won't name names), you're clearly doing an excellent job!

[kiwirach]

interesting!!.

this story is far from over, cos after the newspaper told the man he was getting his plot back(having been told by the council that was going to happen), he received a letter yesterday or monday from the council saying he would be given another plot and would be put at number 2 on the waiting list!.