Kingston Federation of Allotment Gardeners

 An exciting new KFAG project to return neglected and overgrown plots to productive use by plotholders

Allotment gardening has seen a huge surge in popularity over the past six years or so.   All of the allotment sites in the Borough, direct and voluntary managed, now have waiting lists; some are very long and could take years to clear even without any new additions.  The Federation has become increasingly concerned about the number of plots considered 'un-lettable' at some direct managed sites due to their neglected overgrown condition.

 We felt that some plots could be brought back into use by determined plotholders prepared to put in some hard work, with support and close monitoring of the progress of the plots by the management.  We knew from our own experience at voluntary managed sites that this approach is successful.  However, this was unlikely to happen under the existing letting arrangements so KFAG put forward a proposal to the Council and Quadron Services after discussions with and the support of Councillors Penny Shelton and Marc Woodall.  They have a special interest in allotments and were also concerned about unused land and the length of the waiting lists.

 It was agreed that KFAG would rent some allotment plots from Quadron Services and that we would sublet them to people on a site's current waiting list, a maximum of one half plot per person (which is now the norm for a Quadron managed site).  KFAG would manage these plots according to voluntary management principles independently of Quadron Services.  The rest of the site would remain under Quadron management.

 It was envisaged that the project will run for two to three years before the plots transfer back to Quadron management.

 The Federation hopes that with a continuation of the plot holders' awareness of the time and effort necessary to cope with a difficult plot and our expectations clearly set out with the availability of advice, support and close monitoring of the progress of the plots we will be able to break the cycle of letting/failure/re-letting.  This inevitably leads to the eventual loss of plots to cultivation.

 We hope that we wil be able to make a small but significant difference to the waiting lists and return unused allotment plots to productive use.