Portable Lottie?!

[faerie9]

Anyone know the best way to move a lottie?!

After finishing digging it all over and planting seeds....... we have 2 months to move out as the landowner is selling up.  :o
Typical!  ::)

I have broccolli, leeks ,onions and pumkins in seed trays, potatoes in the ground, as well as carrot and parsnip seeds.
Assuming I have somewhere to move them to, what is the best course of action?!

Or do I have to give up this year???

Thanks :o)

Jenni

[faerie9]

[waggi]

i am so sorry to hear this
if you are still in date with your rent you might have some rights
good luck finding a new site
::)

[faerie9]

thanks waggi

i am going to the CAB tomorrow about the whole thing - 30 people in our village are being kicked out! :o

An old friend who lives a half mile from me has a lottie on her property that she said I can use  ;D But it needs digging over and weeding  :o Oh well I've had a lot of practise this year at it!

Cheers

Jenni

[Columbus]

Hi Faerie, I am sorry you are losing your plot, If you all can`t negotiate to move on after harvest then I think I`d dig out the spuds now and move them straight into big buckets taking generous amounts of soil around them.

Then prepare the new plot and move baby plants in the last few days available to you. I think you lose carrots (and parsnips?) because you`ll get white fly.

Its a bit like the thread started by JRP where the whole lottie is in milk containers on pallets so its portable, maybe you could create a container garden?

www.recycling.moonfruit.com

Best of Luck, Col

[Sarah-b]

Really sorry to hear what has happened - that is very harsh.
I hope you get another plot soon and come to terms with all this...

Sarah.

[moonbells]

I suppose they're selling it for building... I read not long ago that allotments are registered as brownfield sites (!) so builders have to use them before farmers' fields.

How stupid is that?

If there's 30 of you then is there a hope of a cooperative buyout? Probably not I know...

Try www.nsalg.org.uk - they were formed to fight this sort of thing. Though I'm not sure it helps for private landlords.

My condolences. I'd rustle up a parish meeting or three!

moonbells

[adam04]

look at the office of the deputy prime minister there are hundreds of regs oin this matter! its aganst the law. if there is less than a years notuice, they have to pay back your rent, the seeds etc sown, and provide you wiht a lottie that can be easily hand dug.

i think the website is   www.otdp.com   but not quite sure

[slugcatcher]

Thats really bad luck.

As it has been said b4 I would be looking at your rights you must have at least some compesation for the produce you are going to loose and the hard work you have put in.
The short notice must be a big point on you side.

Good Luck

Ron

[fat larry]

I really feel for you. I have this halcyon dream of being able to guerrilla garden on vacant plots but in reality it all goes wrong.

It just has for me :-[ ..

last year I took on a derelict plot in a semi derelict site with about 3-4 other lottie holders. the most senior guy told us nobody hhad collected the rent for years and was suitably vague about it all saying 'if someone comes and seems official, pay em'.

being always on the lookout for a bargain, we all took his word. now he has given notice to the landlord (whom he knew all along, he just didn\t share the info with us cos he knew they would say we couldn't have a spot).

now the landlord has got intouch with one of my mates and told him we need to get off the land. it's owned by oxford diocese and they want to put in a planning application.

as it is just across the road from me I wanna know all about it, but legally we don't have a leg to stand on, and I'm loathe to kick up too much of a fuss in case they put an 8ft fence up round it to keep us out.

wish they'd put up a notice stating their intentions, but I wonder if they are trying to keep it quiet - wonder if i should put up a notice of their intentions, though that goes against what I just said.

this year I've dug three qurters of the plot and already ahve broads, oniooons, peas, pots - and a nice pallet shed that I only, er, finished, the other week.

My wife and kids love, it we get loads of lovely veg and fruit off it, and it is great exercise for  a slothful officebound git like me...

I am gutted. the only other lotties with vacancies in Bicester are on the other side of town. not so appealing for a quick water/weed/dig ... Very very sad

[Gadfium]

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_control/documents/homepage/odpm_home_page.hcsp has shifted over here  ::)

[Ceri]

fat larry -

just a thought - does Oxford Diocese have an Environmental Officer?  They should have.  S/he might be worth a try - the Diocese may have other bits of land around that are too small to develop - environmental issues are a pretty trendy Church topic at the moment - garden of Eden and all that!

[fat larry]

what a brilliant idea!!! I will find out. I was gonna write them a letter about it all anyway, or sticck up a poster on the site, but your idea appeals to me. I've got a local councillor interested cos it is right near the only/oldest grass airfield left in the UK (home of hanggliding these days) and that is protected, he reckons they will have tough job doing anything there.

[Merlins Mum]

hi fat larry
sorry to hear about your liottie.  Is that the site off skimmingdish lane near the roundabout.  I had wondered about those but didn't know who owned them. 
there is a site at Anson Way off the Churchill Road but there is a waiting list.  but you probably know this already.  If you manage to negotiate and get to stay on your lottie perhaps for another year you could put your name down now on the waiting list for Anson.
just a thought, it's the nearest council lottie site to you. 

MM

[fat larry]

yes it is. we are working on staying there somehow - I've emailed and phoned the church, garden of eden, garden of greed-en! also mentioned it to local councillor (les sibley) who is interested in it cos of proximity to airfield etc). ansons way has a waiting list of 10 and only 19 plots which haven\t changed hands for several years :( . only other sites from town council are in highfields, which is the other side of town. I live right on edge of the estate so skimmingdish was well handy.

[Merlins Mum]

I hadn't realized that Anson Way had a waiting list of 10!  I did know they'd had a spot of bother on there in the past but there is now a new fence around it.
I've got my name on the Leach Road waiting list as that's the nearest one to me, on the opposite side of Bicester to you.
Anyway good luck, hope it all turns out OK
MM

[faerie9]

thanks for the kind words and advice :)
Larry sorry to hear you are having trouble too - what is it about Oxford? It's New College, Uni of Oxford that are selling my property plus lottie.
Speaking of which, am I entitled to compensation as the lottie comes with the house, it's not a separate lottie tenancy?

The latest is that I am going to see how much they want, see if I can't buy my home. Here's hoping and keeping everything crossred....  8)

[waggi]

my fingers and toes are crossed for you so is my OH, my baby, my two collie dogs, my two ferrets and if my fish could they would
:D

[fat larry]

didn't know about leach road site ... who owns it? town council only offered ansons way and kings end, which hs several vacancies, but v overgrown - council may be able to rotovate it. new problem is that the lottie, which has been there years, may be in neighouring parish, launton, so bic town coucnil not interested.

my bet is estate agents who act for church want it to be vacant to avoid any probs in future with it, and with church saying they don't want to sell off working land.
we'll have to try to attract people - merlins mum, want a lottie squattie? we have two vacant at the moment, whcih are in ok condition  and loads that are appalling (and no guarantee of our future!!!)

[Merlins Mum]

Hi fat larry

It's tempting very tempting, drove past there today.

will send you a pm too

MM

[fat larry]

ceri's advice about the environment officer of the church could be very helpful. it's a guy called ian james, a prof of meteorolgy at reading uni, who would be great to get on our side.

He's featured here in words and pix
http://www.sageoxford.org.uk/news.htm
and I note that in oxford church volunteers helped clear overgrown land/plant hedges ... hmm. sounds promising fingers crossed etc (not sure if that is v religous but hey!)

on a slightly ironic note - on sunday afternoon I finally finished digging what I planned when I took on the lottie last april!!! (there is more I could do round edges etc, but at the moment four big beds is enough) - how do people avoid treading down the ground - planks? featherboard fencing pieces?