Wash Common Allotment Society

The Council last night unanimously defeated the motion to recognise the Soceity.  Leader of the Council, Ivor Sheldon, said that there would be no regognition while I had anything to do with the Society because I had "slagged the council off in the press".  Here's the letter to the Newbury Weekly that caused offence.

Dear Sir

The Wash Common Allotment Society is dismayed at the Town Council's 47% allotment rent increase.  We've seen a 90% real-terms increase in rents since 2003 and having found out how the money is being spent we're utterly appalled at the Council's inefficiency.

Rental income hardly covers 20% of the service cost so with the burden of a £50k subsidy being shouldered by the tax-payer we completely sympathize with the need for change, but £41k of the service cost is administration. It's an outrageous amount, equivalent to £73 per plot, for work that an allotment society could do for a couple of quid.  Comparable councils like Wantage Town Council manage to run their allotment service without a subsidy, and their plots cost half that of Newbury, so our Council is getting something seriously wrong.

The maintenance bill alone is almost half as much again as the rental income. The Society has several times asked the Council to involve the tenants in the site maintenance, and yet they refuse.  Our membership survey reveals that 90% of our members want to help out, but the Council even changed the Rules to prevent this.  We find this perverse in the extreme.

Working with the tenants is key. We enjoy the challenge and responsibility, the tax bill is kept under control, and the Council can then afford to open up new sites to accommodate the hundred-odd residents who are currently sitting on the waiting list.

We urge the Council to suspend the rent increase and embrace the Society, for the benefit of the allotmenteers and the Newbury tax payer.

It might be interesting to compare the cost of an allotment in various boroughs roundabouts.  Who do you suppose is the most expensive?

We need to know what you think about the rent increase.  You can send me a message through this site from here.

The Council have increased our rents by 47%.  So that means that for example, a five pole plot that cost £23.55 last year will now costs £34.70, and a ten pole plot that cost £47.10 will now cost £69.40.

We believe this will already cause some of our members difficulty, but we're also challenging the increase now because we see that the Council have every intention of increasing the pole rate to £25.00/pole, so that's £125 for a five pole plot, or £250 for a ten pole plot.  That proposal was defeated this time, but the £41k cost of administration that prompted the increase has not gone away so we believe that over the next couple of years rents will continue to rise substantially, and we know from the member survey that £25/pole will make allotmenteering unaffordable for 90% of you.

Wantage Town Council charge around £12.50 for a five pole plot, and the tax-payer doesn't subsidise their service at all so we know that allotments can be managed efficiently and affordably, we just want the Council to talk to us about how we can help so that we can keep allotments affordable, and allow the Council to afford to create new sites.

Please let us know what you think about the rent increase.  You don't need to be a member, we just want to know how you feel about the increase and whether you want us to continue to challenge it.  You can send me a message through this site from here.  Thanks, Simon.