Posted: Wed Feb 11, 09 11:32 am Post subject: What do you really need for an allotment site?
Well having met with the council last night they are now using the excuse that they do not want to commit to "investing" any appreciable sum in a second allotment site at present. But that phrase "investing" makes me think that they are, whether deliberately or naively, setting the costs of setting up a site far higher than they need to.
For example in discussion one councillor referred to perimiter fencing for pest control 'and security' until I pointed out that rabbit fencing should only cost �2 / m and security fencing is completely unnecessary in a village where theft means someone nicked a scarecrow in the last village scarecrow competition.
So I was going to to talk to my last allotment site and another some miles away to get some real costs so that we can browbeat them into not using that excuse again, but offhand all I can imagine is needed is;
- a field (this they have already)
- a standpipe
- rabbit fencing (which we can do between us so the council can give us the first year at half rent and save that cost)
anything else we might need that would really be a cost that the parish council might have to bear?
risk assessment ,admin setup ,loss of land sale as allottments are permenant legally .etc buerocrappily later
stuff the council buy/rent a field and share it
Bernie66
Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 13967 Location: Eastoft
Is some form of chemical bog a requirement now? We've got one but not sure if it's a regs.
Insurance, maintenance contract and admin - who maintains the fence, access gate, mows the paths, collect the rents etc - that costs the council unless the allotment set ups a management c'tee.
The National association of Alltoments may have some advice.
... loss of land sale as allottments are permenant legally .etc
No a problem in this case as the site is already deisgnated as allotments but the council currently let it out for grazing and won't put it back to being allotments as there is another allotment site in the same parish (parish not village) which is a bigger project but is three miles away and the council are being so ambitious with their project that they have ended up spending far too much money and taking far too much time.
dpack wrote:
stuff the council buy/rent a field and share it
That's plan B. But then I need to find somewhere suitable and also find a site where the council won't turn round and say "Oooh you can convert that from ag. use to allotments as that's a different category of use and there's already an allotment site in the parish"
So how much does liability insurance for a field cost? (is that even a meaningful question? I mean exactly what are you insuring against?)
I don't think loos are a requirement. Our council are talking about them, so it might be a case that they are going to become a requirement in the future.
The liability insurance is important. I don't want to give a misleading figure, but I vaguely remember at one of our meetings someone on our committee said it was about �500 (our site has about 100 plots). You are insuring against plot holders tripping over their rakes and suing the council, members of the public somehow getting into the site and tripping over and suing the council, chickens escaping from their pens and flying into the road and causing an accident, that sort of thing.
The liability insurance is important. I don't want to give a misleading figure, but I vaguely remember at one of our meetings someone on our committee said it was about �500 (our site has about 100 plots). You are insuring against plot holders tripping over their rakes and suing the council, members of the public somehow getting into the site and tripping over and suing the council, chickens escaping from their pens and flying into the road and causing an accident, that sort of thing.
But membership costs �20 per year which we can't really add to a plot rent so a communal insurance would be the way to go. But following links to nsalg's insurers suggest that an entire allotment site can be insured for a premium of �70 (just public liability, no building, contents etc insurance)
I thought that was whole site, not individual member?
lizardwyn
Joined: 07 Jun 2008 Posts: 20 Location: Oxfordshire
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 09 1:01 pm Post subject:
Our allotment just has a couple of standpipes!
It is up to the individual to fence off their plot if they so wish.
The allotment in the next village doesn,t even have a standpipe - people collect their own rainwater!
I think it is as simple or as complex as they want to make it!!
I thought that was whole site, not individual member?
Individual membership of NSALG costs �20
Society membership of NSALG costs �2 per member
Both of those offer access to their insurance schemes but do not provide insurance themselves
OK so far I've got
- Field - Nothing, zip, nada, zilch it's already there
- Standpipe - not sure
- Rabbit fencing - about �400 (more if the council do it)
- Insurance - �70
When you lay out the allotment plots, you'll need some kind of hard-standing area for vehicles [parking for plot-holders; delivery of muck/leaf mould; ditto for skip delivery/uplift if you decide to have a skip], so you need
tarmac/hardcore/sub-base/gravel or whatever.
You'll also like to have some main paths through the plots, so tarmac or whatever again - otherwise it will get horribly muddy and poached as people walk to their plots
If you think you might want an allotment 'shop' or a place where the committee can shelter from rain, keep records of rent received, sell seed potatoes, seeds, etc, a container would be useful.
View Latest Posts