Feedback so far on the council review

Here are just a few of the comments from our membership so far. Names were given for all the comments, but I've removed them in case anyone prefers it that way.

"In my opinion the council expenditure must be supportive and price for rent plot should include council waste collection, help with maintaining of plot, and delivery of manure or compost to allotments.

If the council plans to raise the price by 4 times over 2 years   without any improvement, and put more pressure on plot holders who work mostly  hard to maintain plots, we must say “NO” this expenditure . We have hard work to grow our cheap vegetables. When the price per plot rises by 4 times, I will give up and will buy vegetables. The quality of earth in our plot is very low with 90% of  clay, we spent a lot for cultivation each spring to buy manure,  compost , nobody helps us in our gardening. "

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"The people I spoken to are feeling very strongly that this raise is unrealistic and the majority will have to give their allotment up. "

"I am in the fourth year of renting my plot and have seen litle input from the council. To raise the rents by over 400% is excessive. You state that the cost of running the service is costing you (not the tax payer) money but do not give any figures to back this claim up. I can only see it taking a few hoursa week on average to administer the allotments, say a part-time job, and supply some water – the land is a sunk cost as it has been council land for a long time. I can only assume that you also wish to charge for the use of other amenities that take a lot more time and money such as the parks (grass cutting, maintenance and planting), children’s play areas (maintenance) sports facilities (marking out pitches, grass cutting, providing and maintaining changing rooms, supplying power, heating, lighting, water, and waste water disposal). A pro rata cost for a football pitch at the proposed new rate would be about £3500 per year plus, I would estimate the same (probably more) for the other things previously mentioned and so would cost a team of footballers about £200 per match. At your proposed annual rental of over £3400 per acre this would be far above the cost of rented agriculturalgrazing land in this area as it sells at about £12,000 an acre."

"I have completed the survey as you have requested.  
However there are older people on my allotment site who do not use email - that I know were not contacted by post re this matter? Therefore your survey will be deeply flawed and not reflect all the plot holders views.
I know for myself that an increase of over 300% plus unknown water charges will be too much for me, on top of the cost of seeds,compost,pots,tools etc.
I have worked in mental health and community gardening projects for over 17 years and am shocked at the increase cost proposed when the benefits to people, often who are on low incomes, are so huge - socially, good exercise, mental well being, the satisfaction of eating what you have grown, being in nature, nurturing something: meeting targets for communities with both hard and soft outcomes all of which make so much difference to people.
I wonder if an increase of this much is actually legal?
I am very disappointed by this and wish I had been told of it before I took on the allotment this spring and worked so hard on it."

"We have not had e-mail from the Council, and I know that others on Little Burton Farm site haven’t. I had the impression that people paying for their plots received letters, while those of us of a certain age have not, nor have they received e-mails."

"I heard about the survey from my neighbouring allotmenteers so I came home and was unable to find any link to fill out the survey (this may have been my fault). You kindly sent me the link on your email so I have now filled in the survey.  I do think it is completely unreasonable to put through such a massive
increase and so does everybody I have spoken too.

I have had absolutely no information from Eileen Law or anybody else, not by email or post!! First I knew about it was from my friends at the allotment. I'm really hoping that this doesn't go through as I love my allotment and can't see how I can afford the increase."

There is lots, lots more. Click on "Read more" to see the rest.

"Let's be honest Ashford council has a long established record of deliberately not informing people then going out of their way to ignore everyone involved by saying that they have a personal interest. But we still vote them in over and over. I suspect they're well aware that the vast majority of allotment holders do not have internet access and I saw the posters. I think many will miss them. It wasn't on the gate and was over to the non opening side too. I don't know why I didn't get a copy as I registered my email address. But I'm grateful for the link. I found the questions very closed. It sounded more likely they had made up their minds and the survey is an afterthought. Had they stated an increase in line with inflation I would agree. Personally I'd like to see how much money they receive and exactly what it gets spent on. Repairing fences etc. Because I suspect they included trimming and maintenance of the paths around the sides. Paths that are public therefore nothing to do with the allotments. And in Gashouse Fields area, the orchard? It used to be allotments. Did they include maintenance of that? Perhaps we should be looking closer at what these costs all are." In fact, despite the poor distribution, a lot of surveys have already been completed - which shows just how much those who have seen the survey care about it! The Society has asked several times over the past 3 years for a breakdown of costs, to no avail.

"I spoke to several of the older folks in our site & they were not aware of the survey & have no on line access" Me too, Lynda - and I suspect it's the same on most sites.

"It is obvious that ABC have made their minds up that this is going to be the way they want to go as they probably want the land to build houses on. As a pensioner I cant afford to pay this sort of money it would work out very expensive to keep the allotment with this rent, water rates, seeds, fertiliser,  so I might as well use the supermarkets instead. I wont bother planting any more plants this year just harvest what is there and not even bother to weed and tidy up any more and just let the plot return to the disgusting overgrown state is was when I took it over 2 years ago and put it down to experience and find something else to do with my time."

"How sad that the council has decided to follow the warpath of exploiting those who have the least. The land act was to help the poor I believe, I do wonder how this relates? I didn't get a survey from the council."

"I have completed the survey but knowing the way councils work they have already decided what is going to happen so it will goodbye to the allotments,most of the well looked after plots are worked by pensioners as they have the time needed to keep them looking nice and full of vegetables so if you take away them the allotments will just become weeds with just a few worked plots.
I have studied the plots at GasHouse fields over the past 5/6 years and as the pensioners give up a plot(which were very well kept) due to ill health  it is cut into 2 or 4 smaller sections which remain un-worked for a couple of years with young tenants not knowing what to do and only turning up after receiving a letter from the council and mowing the weeds and making it look good which goes on for a couple of years then when it is in a very poor state they get evicted which goes on & on & on, so we really do need the retired pensioners to keep the allotment going, as they make up the bulk of plot holders prepared to put in the hours a graft to keep the allotments looking nice. So making us pay £133.00 plus water rates and a large deposit is just too much so i for one will definitely give up my plot as it is not cheap growing your own so it will be cheaper to go to the supermarket."

I've collated a lot of info and I don't know where they get their 'in line with other areas' comment. So far our current rent is about average. With others at our level getting 2 skips a year. A loo and free manure delivered! Locally we are about normal with a few less but without water.

"We have completed our survey BUT only because you (ie the Society) sent the email. We have received neither an email nor postal version from the council. We did see the poster at the site last weekend but I know that a lot of people do not look at the board as it's often out if date.
We, like most people, were appalled to hear of the new proposals. Although charging in advance and with a refundable deposit is a good idea to ensure commitment, the exorbitant amounts suggested will mean that many will be unable to afford their plots anymore and instead of encouraging commitment will lead to many longstanding committed plot holders giving up. Allotments will then become either an elitist pastime or a thing of the past.
And finally can we suggest that people are encouraged to write to their local councillors and the MP regarding these proposals and the way in which this survey has been conducted"

"It hardly seems fair to only survey people with email addresses, rather than posting survey forms to people without email, which I understood was agreed previously at meetings.
It appears discriminatory, as these are the very people most effected by large price rises, or reduced/withdrawn concessions.
In order to avoid accusations of discrimination, wouldn't it be best to send surveys to all plot holders who have no e-mail and wait for replies - before any decisions are considered?"

"It's a bit of a worry that ABC wants to put the rents up by that much, specially if you are a pensioner and they remove concessions. :( I can understand the need to cover the water costs though. Have the association any opinion on the way forward?"

"I found a page on your site about empty allotments. The Ulley Road allotments fell out of use in the 1980s. The parish council seemed to want them to fall out of use. My father enquired about renting one and they weren't very keen, even though some were empty. The church authorities then applied a couple of times for planning permission to build houses there but were refused and now I understand they are in a conservation area so can't be built on. It would be lovely to see them cleared and used again." The lady who left the above comment didn't leave her email address, so I'm unable to reply personally. I do agree and a lot of people would like to see reinstatement of some of the 'mothballed' sites as part of the review. This would reduce the waiting list and relieve pressure from those who want a full-sized allotment, not one of the bijou versions currently being offered.

"It's a shame the council wasted so much money a few years ago on things like the 'flume' which was just some dangerously uneven paving slabs! Now we are to have a new bandstand at great expense. The cost of the allotments to the council is tiny in comparison to other things, and though the water bill is obviously a problem, there are huge benefits from allotments."

"I really feel this is ABC's way of reducing the waiting list. I have no problem with a rise in fees, but the scale of the proposed rise will only serve to 'put people off' or force people to give up. Also, given that many people use an awful lot more water than others, how would ABC charge for this? Would be happy to pay a fair amount for what I use."

"Only looked at the first page of questions to get a feel for this, but allotments are covered by the Allotment Acts and any subsequent legislation. It doesn't matter what other councils are doing. Price of plots should not exceed break even costs and are seen as an amenity for the 'working poor' and those in need, so can be run at a loss. Eg, if you are a tenant and lost your income you can pay a £1 nominal fee for the tenancy. They can be run as a loss as they are a community amenity. If there is an increase to to brake even, that should include the water charge, not done as a separate charge. I think there was a ruling a couple of years ago saying increases had ot be in line with other amenity charges, ie.if leisure centre price rose 2%, allotment fees can only rise 2%." - from a friendly colleague in another area.

"If they bring this in only the well-off will be able to afford an allotment. Surely that wasn't the idea? I thought allotments were for poor people!"

"I would like to know if letters have been sent to the allotment holders as I am aware of quite a few people at my site (Westrees) that had no idea the consultation was happening as they do not have internet access and they had not seen the small signs?

Also quite a few of us feel the questions on the survey are unfairly weighted and do not allow the user to give the full answers that they would like to give. Question 4 was heavily weighted towards the answers to increase prices rather than allowing options to explore other alternatives. Basically if you did not agree with the price increase the only option you could choose was to give up your plot. This is not a fair survey and I would implore you to reconsider your questions, I honestly feel you will not get a rounded-honest result." This respondent was, I think,  under the impression that the Society had sent out the questionnaire; I have asked them to make their valid and entirely justified protest in the right quarter!

 "I'm worried sick.  I do the allotment for peace of mind. It's great for my fitness levels and mental well being. I get very stressed and the allotment has made it manageable. I'm scared what it'll do if I can't afford the allotment. "