Applying for a grant may not be simple. When an allotment society wants support for a project they will need to consider the following:
A) The Internal Perspective of the Society
- The purpose or objectives of the project;
- The use of the the grant monies - essentially to get the project underway and completed;
- The cost of works, ie labour, equipment and other requirements for the project;
- The programme of work; and,
- The quantum of committed self-help avilable from members.
B) The External Perspective of the Funder(s)
- The policies of the awarding body which relate to the application;
- The criteria that the applicants are required to meet;
- The efficacy of the proposals, eg benchmarks;
- The "qualifications" of the applicant against the criteria, eg in meeting "governace" requirements;
- The manner in which the application is made, eg completion of the application form and any mandatory accompanying documentation;
- The programme of works - milestones, eg meeting statutory requirements of third parties;
The longest estimated wait for an allotment that I have heard of is 42 years! If Iwas in that position a look at the English Mortality Tables (Male) would not be worth the bother let alone the analysis of the men and women ahead of me in the queue - my snufferability is much shorter unless I can afford the new wonder drug..?
Other problems with waiting lists do not need writing about in detail merely recording. Theoretically they include:
- family succession: - if an allotmenteer dies or retires injured, the rules sometimes allow a member of the family to take on the plot;
- nepotism: - here the rules may allow a plot-holder's son or daughter etc to become a vacated plot occupier (as in schools);
- plot transfer or multi-plot holdings - the rules permit other allotmenteers transfer to a vacated plot or take a second or third plot (This is appropriate where there is no waiting list - plots are kept tidy etc.);
- 'old boys and girls' network: - here the rules allow a queue member to jump the queue because he/she knows an allotment association's committee member or two.
Most organisations have formal rules and an informal culture. Here the term "rules" is used like elastic. Some practices may be reasonable and some will certainly not be illegal; but some may not reflect traditional English fairness - all need to be transparent.
This post takes a first look at the "rent" and the allotment. The kind of question addressed is: "What is the subject matter justifying the rent for a plot?"
The basic subject matter of the rent is the plot and its environs as a place to cultivate for personal and family consumption the following:
- vegetables;
- herbs;
- soft fruit;
- "hard" fruit; and,
- flowers.
The last two are doubtful since trees are sometimes banned from allotments and flowers cannot in law, it seems, be grown on allotments! Any prospective doubtful activities are excluded, such as growing certain "herbs", as being illegal, ie thay are not reflected in the rent. I have been told that growing tobacco is permissible in law provided the relevant excise duty is paid to MHRC!
Finally, the rent does not reflect any profit from business activities because allotmenteers are not permitted in law to sell produce, ie run a business.
For families allotments are living sustainability but for those seeking a plot there are some phenomenally long waiting lists for allotments in England! (See link below.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2011/nov/10/allotments-rents-waiting-list-england
This post is intended as a first attempt to see the development of a policy for a more sustainable England by ALAT, ie allotment land asset transfer. The intention is that suggested solutions for the reduction of allotment waiting lists are highlighted.
The problem is a marketing problem. A family has a need for fresh vegetables, fruit and (I dare add) flowers. English society tends to see a one-stop solution, a kind of systemic token rooted in values first developed in the 15th Century to 18th Century countryside when it was subjected to about 4,500 enclosures; namely, the "allotment".
Today we need a multi-stop of solutions. The following are merely suggestions:
- Yes, parish and town councils need to become more vigorous in their duty of seeking out patches of land for allotments - in recent times a large number are doing so -yippee.
- Yes, landed individuals should be encouraged to donate or dedicate land (even for short periods) as allotments.
- Yes, homeowners with gardens too big for them to manage should be encouraged to allow their gardens some TLC by allotment-seekers.
- Yes farmers should be encouraged to let land for allotments.
- Yes, business owners with land surplus to current requirements should be encouraged to allow their land to be used with TLC by allotment-seekers,
- Yes the government should be encouraged to encourage ALAT by tax breaks.
Taxation Planning The ideas here are for the government and lobbyists:
- Allotment Enterprise Zones (AEZs) - allocate neighbourhoods as AEZ where landowners who release land would be eligible to tax breaks and stewardship grants.
- Council Tax /Business Rates Relief Where a homeowner or business lets land as an allotment a local taxation relief is given - they are after all easing the dutiful obligation of the local authority.
- Capital allowances: Where a homeowner / business installs capital assets - sheds, watering systems etc - capital allowances of a writing down type be given to encourage the allotments' longevity.
- Balancing allowances/charges; Also these could be built into the allotment relief from income tax (ARFIT).
- Inheritance Tax: Where a garden remains as allotments after the death of the homeowner/ business/ farmer IHT conditional relief is afforded to the estate - this would be similar to the timber or heritage chattels conditional relief afforded to stately home and estate owners and others.
- Inheritance Tax investment relief: In the past investment in agricultural land was afforded a IHT relief. Similarly development land, farmland and gardens could be afforded similar relief for as long as they beome and remain allotments - a kind of valuation relief.
I have been a gardener of sorts for more years than I can remember but I do remember being eight when my father gave me orders to look after "his" garden whilst he was overseas for a couple of years - in Singapore. Earlier, at the age of four, my grandfather had had me "helping" in his cottage garden - dibbing cabbages and mixing cement!
I suppose I became more seriously interest (as an allotmenteer) about 15 years' ago when I first took my allotment. Now I am becoming interested in international aspects of allotment gardening. So far I have collected material on Denmark, France, Germany, Russia, and Spain. This note briefly looks at my reading and observations.
Denmark: I visited Denmark in 1977 and my wife and I were taken to see a leisure style allotment. The owners had taken a plot on a laid out site; holding the land on a 35 years' lease. They had built a small timber bungalow for overnight stays on the land. The remainder of the plot was put over to growing vegetables and so on.
France: We have twinning friends and have visited two locations where there are allotments. 1 In Verriere-le-Buisson there is at least one small parcel of land used as allotments. They appear to be mainly used for vegetables and I cannot recall seeing any sheds, etc so they may be "barred" from having them. " In Amiens we have had a couple of boat tours around the hortilliages. Gardens which appear almost "floating". The land is "plotted" into fairly large gardens with narrow canals bordering on one or two sides of each plot. The water is fed from the Somme and I guess that any "dredgings" are rich in plant nutrients. Of course water is naturally abundant and is probably soaking the subsoils - I have never seen such strong healthy crops.
Germany: Readings remark on the diffferent styles of the indigenous Grermans and the migrants from other countries. Home-grown allotmenteers grow a mix of vegetables, fruit and flowers: whereas migrant allotmenteers grow far fewer flowers - concentrating on vegetables.
Norway: The allotment movement began in the late 19th Century. There is a site known as Kongsgard Allotments (Kristiansand) and comprises over 100 plots and has a coffee shop on Sundays. Of the other dozen or so are Etterstad Kolonihager Klemetsaunet Gardens (at Trondheim) and Solvang Kolonihager.
Russia: I know the word "dacha" from boyhood days but had not realised until recently that it applied to relatively humble "leisure" allotments, ie ones with small timber dwellings, as well as "country houses" for the aristocracy of Russian society in the old days. It seems that more than just many town dwellers in Russia have a plot in the countryside for growing food. Where they have build small dwellings they are able to stay overnight.
See http://www.open2.net/blogs/scitechnature/index.php/2007/09/07/russian_allotments
Spain: An interesting link is given below. It descibes how the ownership, management and use of allotments differs in Spain and England. In Spain most seem to date back to the time of the Moors with several changes of ownership patterns. Some local authorities in Spain now seem to be providing allotments which probably reflects the economic circumstances of the country.
USA: I have seen on-line, to my surprise, that they do not have allotments in the USA. I have stayed or visited in houses in Virginia where they had large "backyards" (gardens to the English); except in one case where they had created a typically "English garden", my experience was disappointing at seeing no flower or vegetable gardens.
http://www.allotment.org.uk/articles/Allotment-Spain-1.php
Jots: I have seen from trains on journeys in Belgium, France and Italy parcels of land neatly sub-divided by baulks into plots, each with sheds, and water butts. Some appeared to have been built in the months before the journey. Is it a sign of the times that more and more Europeans - including the English - are finding the lure of land for allotmenteering gardening irresistable? Maybe the European Commission should have a Directorate for Allotmenteering!
Most of what follows is about trees and bushes at the periphery of the allotment site. Generally one can have mixed feelings about trees on or near an allotment site. However, with careful management trees can provide a welcome and sustainable resource of fence posts, bean poles, compost bins, etc.
Positive attributes include:
- a) their beauty,
- b) their welcome shade on sunny days;
- c) screening from severe wind blows, d) the fruit or nuts they offer;
- e) the contribution to biodiversity as habitats for flora and fauna;
- f) a sustainable source of typical timbers which will be usefull for structures and supports about the allotments;
- g) may provide a natural and secure boundary marker;...etc.
Negative attributes include:
- a) invasive root systems sucking water and nutrients from allotments' soils,
- b) falling branch causing injury or death to allotmenteers, visitors, trespassers and neighbours.
- c) the shadowing of an allotment's growing plants;
- d) boundary overhangs to highways or neighbours' lands - perhaps enabling unauthorised access;
- e) root damage to boundary walls and fences, neighbours' buildings..etc;
All of this suggests that the "mangement committee"/local authority landlord, etc might devise a "trees risks and management plan" (TRAMP).
The following pointers are merely suggestions of possible example inclusions:
- statutory risks may include: a) tree preservation orders, b) "important hedgerows", ie historic hedgerows, c) anti-social "high hedgerows"; d) ancient trees, e) trees in a conservation area;
- management standards include: British Standard BS 5837 re tree assessment;
- undertake an initial risk assessment of the growing trees and any plans to plant trees, and report findings;
- plan to make the trees more manageable, eg where possible plant or adapt trees for future coppicing or pollarding;
- annually inspect and report on all trees but particularly mature trees for damage or disease, eg as evidenced by broken hanging or dying branches;
- inspect and report on all trees after severe storms, incidences of lightning and heavy frost or snowfalls;
- from the reports; a) organise emergency works if needed, and b) devise a regular maintenance schedule of lopping and pruning etc;
- plan to use the gleaned dropped branches as logs, poles and brush logs - use as: a) fence posts, b) bean poles; c) plant support stakes; and d) pea plant supports;
- create from the timbers some storage bunkers or bins for the fall of leaves - so as to create leaf mould and keep the site tidy;
- make and install nesting boxes to increase the bird population;
- restrict the number of trees and their height and nearness to the edge of the plot, ie of fruit and nut trees on the allotment plots - so as not to allow the development of root and branch systems which will trespass over a neighbour's plot;
- report to the appropriate authorities evidence of notifiable or "new" diseases affecting trees on or near the site;
- planting suitable bushes ot trees at the boundary may add to biodiversity and security (if they have thorns, etc);
- waste timber and/or brush might be recycled on site (or to the local centre) for energy generation or ash (incineration) or composting as a soil conditioner;
- review the site insurance policy for public liability;
- establish a grounds management group to do the work under the TRAMP;
- .... etc.
The capital cost of agricultural land varies from place to place but the range is likely to be from say £2,000 to say £10,000 depending on whether buildings are included. Vacant parcels of land near existing settlements, eg a village or hamlet, may have an open market value reflecting uses for purposes other than agricultural, including allotments.
If such land is in a "green belt", national park or other protected / designated site one might find development potential for housing or other types of building limited or non-existent. Here "leisure and pleasure" land uses may well come into their own, including allotments. Nevertheless apart from L&P uses allotments may have to compete for "urban" type developments - housing, industry, etc; this is particularly so in large towns and cities which tend to have large waiting lists for allotments. Where sites are "brownfield" and would prove to be, perhaps, excessively costly to "clear" or to "decontaminate", allotments have a chance - particularly where the land is owned by a public sector or voluntary sector body.
