Allotment Association???

orchidpepper

Hi Everyone,

Basically I rent a plot off of the council, we don't have an allotment association like many of you do. I was looking online for information but have found very little.

Does anyone know:

• Can you form an allotment association if you rent from the council
• What benefits are there
• Any other info appreciated

Most of my other plot holder friends are a bit older and don't use the internet so I've offered to find out more but im a bit annoyed at myself for not finding much out.

Gayle

Yorkie1

I have an allotment on a council site and we also have an association.

There would be 2 different reasons, and outcomes, for forming an association.

1. To provide services to members. This is what ours does.

We have an allotment shop which sources and sells things like compost, canes, weed fabric, seeds, spuds, fertilisers etc.

We also have RHS affiliation, which gives members a discount on entry to RHS gardens and access to their advice line.

We organise social events e.g. bat and moth ID night, autumn feast, pub evenings. And issue about 3 newsletters per year plus sell our own calendar with members' photos.

As long as the shop and subscriptions cover your costs you'll be OK.

Committee needed, meetings at the pub (!), and an annual AGM.

The association has nothing specific to do with the council, the running of the site, the management of the waiting list, or the organisation of tenancies. These expectations - both with the council and the members - must be managed.

2. Self-management. The council usually gives you a lease of the site and you run it completely yourselves. Includes collecting rent, warning letters / termination of tenancy / water / repairs / maintenance.

Not to be undertaken lightly as it will require a lot of input from a committee. And you can get a little stuffed if there's a falling out in the committee or no succession plans for those initial dedicated volunteers.

We wouldn't ever consider going self-managed.


The allotments regeneration initiative website often has useful resources.

orchidpepper

Thank you so much, we will def go with option 1 as the council are actually really good at maintaining even if it does take ages to get it done. It was more to get us all working together, club together to get better prices etc. some of the guys think we could get grants etc if we formed an assoc but I'm not so sure, surely the council would get the grants if any were available

Gayle

Yorkie1

Actually, our council recently told us that often grants are not available through the council, but only available if applied for through a community group. The council suggested that if we had ideas of projects we wanted to undertake, we should get plans together and let the council know - when they become aware of such grants they just let the assocation know and help put the application together.

We have trade accounts with some horticultural suppliers, which I doubt an individual would have access to. Some of the seed suppliers do discounts for allotment associations too. We do have our own bank account to enable us to be invoiced etc. So you would need someone prepared to be treasurer. Also someone to be stock manager (could also be the treasurer) to order stock in for the association if that's part of your business model.

Our council lotty officer is fab at helping council sites discuss whether to form an association - do you have a good lotty officer who might be able to advise you?

ScratchandSniff-->[X]

Yorkie1 wrote: »

I have an allotment on a council site and we also have an association.

There would be 2 different reasons, and outcomes, for forming an association.

Well put.

Only other things to add are that the OP might want to have a chat with NSALG (www.nsalg.org.uk) and make friend with your local Council for Voluntary Service (if you are formally constituted then you may be able to apply for grants via them and they have other voluntary sector support).

Yorkie1

Ah yes, I always forget the NSALG! They are indeed a very useful resource.

However, the cost has always been too significant for us to consider joining as an assocation. We have over 200 members (not all of which are allotment gardeners), and at £2 per head we can't justify £450-£500 for what would be very fringe benefits for us. We have an allotment site protected by statute and we have a very supportive council lotty officer.

forgotmyname

Dont forget it will be hard work. Look at the way everyone works.

Some just plant spuds, Some build huge mounds to plant them, Some earth them as they grow.

Get 20 members and you could have 20 ideas on what's best.

Setting up a small shop is a good idea if you have secure storage and can offer a discount on shop prices or sell it for the same price and have £ ;eft over to put towards the allotments.

I found a review of my allotment online and it had rather nasty comments about the committee members.

Yorkie1

forgotmyname wrote: »

I found a review of my allotment online and it had rather nasty comments about the committee members.

That's awful!

I know that some committee members can have egos the size of a county, but I imagine that most do quite a bit of work for the association for free, spending quite a bit of their time for little thanks.

I also bet that the majority of the people making the nasty comments would never dream of stepping up to the plate instead...:mad: