Advice on getting an allotment ......

Hi,

I thought it may be an idea to start a new thread with the sole intention of helping people get an allotment, as I recently took one on myself.

The first step you can do, is to contact your local authority, this link ( https://www.gov.uk/apply-allotment ) is the UK.Gov link, here you enter your postcode, and the website will take you to your local authority website, this will only take you to your local authorities site, so you may have to search on their own website for "Allotment" to bring up the correct search on their own site (each site is slightly differently laid out, so I cannot go into each indivudual one ). One thing to remember, is that even though your local authority may say there is a waiting list for plots, this may not be true, as they do not update this part of the site all that frequently, so it is still best to ask.

I opted for emailing the general Council Email address, asking for it to be forwarded to the correct department, within 2 days, I had a response and the contact details of the secretary of the allotment group, for which I contacted. You can of course, call in to your local offices, or call them, but both of these ways do tend to keep you in Queues .

If it appears like there are no allotments in your area, then I would suggest you find five people who would like an allotment and are registered council tax payers. Then individually and collectively, submit a formal letter to the local council. Send one (you can put all six letters in one envelope) by recorded delivery and one hand delivered, with at least two witnesses present. All local authorities have a mandatory obligation to provide allotment provision under Section 23 of the 1908 Small Holdings and Allotments Act. (be warned though, there is no time scale attached to this process and unfortunately this process cannot be used in London, as the rule only applies outside of the capital thanks to the London Government Act 1963.)

Sometimes, there are local allotments which are privately run, most councils/local authorities will know of the contact details of these sites also.

Once you have located the site, make sure you ask relevant questions about rules etc that the allotment may have, as you need to know what you can and can't do (for example, I cannot have a bonfire on my allotment, apart from bonfire night, some council allotments don't allow dogs etc). Find out what services are laid on (water/electric ?) . Also, does the allotment suit what you would like to grow ?

There are many other things that could be added to this, and I would encourage any other (longer serving) allotment holders to please add to this, as you may have come across things that haven't even crossed my mind yet .

I hope this is of some help to anyone else looking to get an allotment.

 

I forgot to add, I mentioned to the person running the site, that I would like a shed on my site, He then told me I could have an allotment with a shed on already, I had a choice of 2, I chose the one with the best shed on the site (both were near each other, but one shed needed a lot of repairs). The good thing with this, is that it has saved me at least £150 as the shed is already there.

If you want a greenhouse, mention it, as there may be a plot available with one on already as well