Should people with a garden at home give up their allotments?

[gadgetman]

BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | 'Forty-year wait' for allotments

Makes me wonder if people with room to GYO at home should actually be encouraged to give up allotments for those that have nowhere to GYO (ie flats)

[jackie j]

No why should they. They are probably the people who have had allotments for a long time and have kept them going when no one else wanted them, and kept the builders from building even more blocks of flats. They should find a way of creating more space for allotments, I know this is hard in city's but there must be some land available.

[NOG]

I have my allotment so I do not have to turn my garden in to a farm.

I think that people with no Children should be allocted children from familes with more than one.

[Alison]

If you haven't got an allotment, but have a huge garden then it seems a bit unfair to grab plots however I see no reason at all why anybody who is working a plot should give one up.

[Alison]

I think that people with no Children should be allocted children from familes with more than one.

Please nooooooooooooooo

[chrissie the chippy]

I got my allotment when I was living in a flat. I am now thinking about giving it up as I have a garden to grow in, although I would never be able to fit in everything I wanted to.

It seems like the most simple option for councils, to encourage people to give their plots up. If someone keeps it up and they waited on the list like everyone else, then why should they? The councils should provide more land instead of building on it. Or stop building flats with no gardens and craming families into them (different topic altogether, but my theory on a lot of problems today ).

It's a lot more than somewhere to grow veg to a lot of the allotment holders (with gardens I might add) on my site. For some, it is their only means of socialising, exercise etc... I think it would be very unfair to even ask

[SarzWix]

No, I don't! I have a reasonable sized garden, but my landlord won't let me dig it up for veg. And even if he did, I wouldn't be able to grow the amount of stuff I can at the allotment.

Plus, as the others say, you can't go taking plots away from people, just because the councils can't be bothered to sort out more plots. Or for any reason other than breaking the rules/contract.

And finally, nobody knows yet if this is a 'fad' which will disappear again as it did after the boom in the 70's...

[RedThorn]

NO so you must penalise people purely because they have a garden. I travel 27 miles each way to work as that was the only way that I could afford a house with a garden and move out of a rented flat. My DD has a 1/2 garden to play in and so do I My choice to move further out, however I find that I prefer it. Each to their own, but to penalise on this basis is Ludicrous! ( All because greedy councils would prefer to sell land and houses for a quick profit rather that provide their obligations... typical weasel out of it and point the finger at the selfish person as he already has a garden phooey!


OH and lol Nog

EDIT : I don't have a lottie as I cannot afford the time to keep it in the state it deserves ( again my choice!)

[Alison Adams]

No.
If there are not enough allotments to go around then more should be created and GYO widely encouraged.
Heres an idea - take over golf courses which use (waste ?) huge amounts of water and land.
Sorry to anyone who enjoys both gardening and golfing !

[zazen999]

I think that people with no Children should be allocted children from familes with more than one.

WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT YOUNG MAN.

Gee; don't give the powers that be any ideas...........

[gadgetman]

I knew this would cause debate.

I work with a guy that has 2 lotties + a huge garden. Fair play to him, but surely that's taking the mick in areas where there arent lotties available?

As for land, in areas such as london most areas that could be raclaimed would be contaminated, and not suitable for growing surely?

[zazen999]

There might not be any lotties around now if people hadn't taken on multiple lotties when nobody wanted them.....

[maytreefrannie]

There might not be any lotties around now if people hadn't taken on multiple lotties when nobody wanted them.....

I think that's an important point - if people have an allotment and have paid the rent and kept it in good condition for years, then it seems to me they should be able to keep it without any pressure, whether or not they have a garden at home.

Perhaps the 'landshare' idea would be the one to adopt - where someone will take care of a garden for a person who cannot work it themselves for whatever reason - age, not being well or working so many hours that there aren't enough left in the day. I know there's a landshare site but I feel this could be done simply and informally between neighbours / friends, where they could come to an agreement and each would benefit from the arrangement.

It seems to me it shouldn't be a matter of 'taking away' but of 'making available' ground for more gardeners - part of a park or school grounds or some of the neglected empty spots around urban or rural areas could surely be used to bring in a small bit of extra income for a council while the allotmenteers would improve the area.

[thedrisback]

i don't think they should have to as there may be a number of reasons.
also a lot of people don't have space for all th stuff they want to grow.
and some people may have kids so may want th garden for playing in.
other people may want there garden for a lawn or flowers.
as you are only allowed to grow so much of flowers on allotment's.

[Hans Mum]

if people keep up their plots why should they have to give them up????

as for the shortage of allotments our site has 30 plots (that's 60 people off the waiting list as we are only letting 1/2 plots) which are not being used as the council won't pay for the fencing and clearance it needs, (the site is split down the middle by a public right of way) and although it is statutory allotment land its just being left. I am meeting with a local councillor in a couple of weeks but am not holding my breath