Campaign launches to oppose hike in fees for Bristol's allotments
The City Council say they're looking to put the rents up because of rising costs, an increased number of tenants and extra demands
Last updated 21st Jul 2024
A campaign has been launched against massive hikes in Bristol allotment fees, with some more than doubling.
Plotholders say the proposed new charges, which the city council has put out to consultation, will force them off the land.
Rent would rise from £30 to £64 for a strip up to 74sq m, £70 to £141 between 150sq m and 224sq m and from £85 to £158 for a allotment 225sq m to 349sq m, and even more for those with water access
Strict new rules would force allotment holders to remove hedges, fences, most trees, glass from greenhouses to “prevent soil contamination if it breaks” and replace it with twin-walled plastic, and large play equipment “to reduce any liability issues for injuries to all persons including trespassers”.
The new policy introduces a raft of additional fees, including £15 for a shed, pond, greenhouse or cold frame, £25 for keeping chickens, bees and rabbits, £32 for a new or replacement key and £50 for late payments.
Setting up a tenancy would also incur a levy – £25 for individuals, £150 for a collective growing group and £400 for a community interest company.
And each one carries a new £35 administration charge on top.
Bristol City Council, which manages 4,000 plots, with 1,500 more run on its behalf by five allotment associations, says there are now almost 8,000 people on the waiting list because of the surge in interest in food growing and that just to maintain existing service levels, it needs to increase rents, which were last reviewed in 2018.
But Holly Wyatt, who has run a plot at Bedminster Down for more than six years, said the changes would make allotments a “luxury for middle-class households” only.
She has launched a petition opposing the plans, which already has more than 600 signatures.
Holly said that she and wife Sal, who also owns a plot, had worked hard to transform their overgrown and unloved allotments into productive plots that provided them with most of their fruit and veg.
“Our plots are also home to a huge and varied array of wildlife, from newts and frogs to birds, butterflies and everything else in between,” she said.
“We keep chickens on one of our plots and spend the majority of our spare time at the allotments through the spring and summer, sowing, planting, growing, tending, harvesting and then preserving our hard-earned crops.
“The site is a community, where we hold events such as cider making and an annual bat walk, and there are always fellow plotters around to chat to for those who may live alone and need company, or just those looking for some advice from more seasoned growers.”
Holly, an admin worker at Bristol Children’s Hospital, said they were already struggling to make ends meet and could not afford to keep both plots if the new fees were introduced.
She said their combined annual rent would rocket from £135 to well over £300.
Holly said plotholders who were financially comfortable could afford the increases but that their need to reduce food bills was not so pressing, whereas allotments would become inaccessible for those who needed them most.
“Access to space for growing food is something that should be accessible to everyone – it shouldn’t become a profit-making enterprise for councils who actually do very little to maintain and manage these sites,” she said.
“There is no possible justification for adding charges onto items that the council should already be handling as part of their management responsibility and are already paid for.
“There is also a proposal to charge sites for holding events, which would have a hugely detrimental impact on the community and deter sites from doing this.
“Our site holds an annual bat walk – this is a free event which brings the allotment site together but would be unlikely to go ahead if we were expected to find funds to pay the council for an event we organise and that they have no involvement with.
“There is absolutely no cost to the council in us holding such events and therefore no justification in charging sites other than purely for greed.”
She said the proposed new rule to ban glass in greenhouses would “destroy perfectly good structures” and be expensive.
Holly said: “The worst of these proposed rule changes is that all trees, except dwarf root stock fruit trees, must be removed.
“The implications for this are huge, both environmentally and financially, and in many cases would result in absolutely no positive benefits.”
Temporary workers would have to register as “co-workers” for a £15 charge, while anyone moving over a mile outside Bristol would be barred from having a plot.
In its consultation Bristol City Council said: “Allotment rents in Bristol have not been reviewed since 2018, and to simply maintain services at existing levels we need to increase rents to cover rising costs, look after an increased number of tenants and cover the demands on the service.
“However, we aspire to go further than just maintaining the current service, as we want to improve the offer to our current tenants and work towards increasing the number of plots available for those on the waiting list.”
The council said it could do this by employing an extra allotments officer and restoring abandoned plots.
It said: “We understand that the rent increase at this time may be difficult for some on a low income, so we propose expanding the current low-income discount we offer to include tenants in receipt of Universal Credit or Pension Credit.”
It said rents would be “aligned” with other similar sized authorities.
The consultation runs until January 22 and is here.