'putting people first' - hah!

I've just come from a public meeting about our allotments, and this isn't a good time to be writing a blogpost because I'm still annoyed, but because I'm annoyed, I'm going to anyway.

To cut a long story short, we've been out-manoeuvred. No-one's said as much, but looking only two moves ahead, I can see it coming, and we're on our own. Ours is now the only occupied plot in an area that the city council wants to turn into a communal garden. We're outside the secure area because the gate was relocated a few months ago, and the plots in front of us have been cleared. If we stay, ours will become an island.

I won't say what I think of the individuals concerned, and I'm not referring merely to the council officers or indeed the councillors. We just want to be left alone to tend our plot. We haven't been there long, but we're attached to it. We've thought long and hard about how we want to develop it, and put in many hours improving the soil and cutting back weeds and brambles (that's blackberries to some of you).

I missed the event during the meeting, but Lisa heard someone quietly say (though he was quickly hushed) that they just won't renew the lease. When we came home, we checked the tenancy agreement, and discovered that either party has the right to terminate the lease giving twelve months notice. There's a clause that prevents people being forced out during the middle of summer when crops are ripe, so basically, the council has until the 6th of April to give us notice, or wait until the end of September. We therefore have to decide whether or not to pay the rent that will fall due on 1st April.

As far as I can tell, there are only one or two empty plots within the area that the Council proposes to retain. If we decide to move plot, therefore, there isn't much choice, which is bizarre considering the number of currently vacant plots. But that's because the council proposes to get rid of them all. How to improve the occupancy rate in one simple step! But there's no demand for them because they're in a bad state and the water supply is poor.

Who has asked for this communal garden, though, and who's going to maintain it?

There's no concluding point to this post. I'm not even ready to outline the options facing us.

P.S. And our allotment was broken into last night, along with three or four others. No loss other than the padlock and chain, but the door is broken, as is our hedge. Grump, grump.