allotments are good and it would be nice to have more - however there are clear practical difficulties in providing more.
Either parks get turned into allotments, the council tax payer has to pay to create them on brownfield sites or they are created a long way from where people live.
councils can have massive inertia and be slow bureaucratic monsters. However On this one the whingers simply have not thought it thru
MF - have you any idea the amount of work involved? Ever grown your own veg?
Loving the generalisations on this thread btw.
MF - have you any idea the amount of work involved? Ever grown your own veg?
I'm doing it in window boxes at the moment, it's ace, they're pretty much growing themselves 'n' everything after I planted the seeds! My mushrooms are taking some more effort, they need constant lack of care and attention and a bit of moisture.
CK..... that was about as tongue in cheek as I could manage!
I blame Thatcher for everything!
Can't stand the woman, and we're hardly in the middle of a city, but this works quite well around here.
Saw her on the TV the other day 'gorilla' gardening...... 
CK..... that was about as tongue in cheek as I could manage!
I almost replied in a rant, then realised and chuckled into my coffee, glad I spotted it before ranting back 
MF - have you any idea the amount of work involved? Ever grown your own veg?
Answer MF - have you gown your own veg in reasonable quantities? Made good soil from bad? Do you know what is involved?
Does it matter whats involved? The fact that people do it on a regular basis means that you are able to do it.
If everyone gave up from day one because something was involved and might need some hard work then we would still be living in caves.
Err yes thanks Jeremy - I have grown my own vegetables as well as spending my childhood helping my father with his vegetable plot. So I reckon on approximately 35 years experience of growing fruit and vegetables with around a 10 year gap in the middle when I couldn't be arsed.
Does that help?
if people have a problem with their local council why not stand up to be a councilor
instead of coming on here and bitching!
if people have a problem with their local council why not stand up to be a councilor
I don't have the right amount of anal retentiveness.
Fair enough then MF - you should know how difficult it would be to take a brownfield site and make it into productive land for growing food.
Hainey - thats the point - I was talking about brownfield site where this is not done often as its a long and hard process
Whats hard?
Turn it over, check the ph level, add some organic, inorganic fertilizer, organic matter as required, check ph again. Add seasoning to taste. Done.
you should know how difficult it would be to take a brownfield site and make it into productive land for growing food.
the council could easliy add a condition on any large development planning permission (section 106 IIRC) that requires that an appropriate local facility is created, it's just they rather squeeze the developer to subsidise a bus route, road widening etc. Brownfield sites can be remediated in most cases and it is better done properly rather than by a bunch of amateurs doing it piecemeal. In most cases I imagine it would be a "scrape and replace"
councils are also under a lot of pressure to identify land for housing devlopments which goes into their planning policy. GB's obsession with the need to build "affordable" homes for the rapidly increasing population in England means they can't afford to "lose" sites to allotments in urban areas. The reality is that house building has collasped and will only start again very slowly. Still doesn't get your allotment though.
There are allotments at the end of my road. The buggers are constantly lighting bonfires to burn the crap they just grew and smoke wafts down the street because they can't be bothered to take account of weather conditions. I'd be much happier if someone built apartments there instead.
(Does this make me a little Englander or not TJ?)
to burn the crap they just grew
Most cities already have reasonably fertile green spaces which could be turned into allotments with little effort. They tend to be fenced off, or behind high walls, so there is also a degree of privacy and security. They also cost councils a lot of money on upkeep and maintenance.
You'd have to get someone to dispose of the gravestones though.
Druidh - and the doggers / cottagers would have to go elsewhere then
TJ - I wouldn't know about these things,but (as usual) you are plainly an expert....
zing!!!
I went for a walk round warriston cemetery - it was a little disturbing. It took me a while to work out why all these men where hanging around.
I think Hugh FW has a campaign going to use up unused growing space - people identify spaces to grow the seed then get permission to grow the seed and them people go and grow the seed....
Anyway, not sure what the councils have done wrong here - is it cost effective? If so let the private sector buy land to rent out as allotments - if it's worth doing they'll treat brownfield sites too and charge more.
I thought 'nature grows the seed'?
Oh yeah - that's why I fail in my growing.
Actually I'm slowly digging up more and more of my garden to grow stuff in - this year could be good - if we get enough sun anyway.
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