Consultation on Allotment Rents, Discounts and Waste Collection Charges

Overview

In April 2025, the Council will make changes to allotment rent and discount levels, waste collection charges and the Tenancy Agreement and will develop proposals for allotment waste collection charges. We have a duty to give 12 months’ written notice of the proposed changes and are advised to “listen to stakeholder opinion”.  

The Council is seeking opinion from allotment plotholders and residents on allotment waiting lists about: 

• proposed increases in annual rental charges

• proposed reduction in the level of discounts offered to qualifying residents

• proposed measures to encourage plotholders to manage their garden waste in line with Tenancy Agreement conditions

• the revised Tenancy Agreement 

The proposals reflect the need for better investment in site maintenance, tenancy management and to support the ongoing development of self-/joint-management of sites. 

We will seek opinion from the 1,200 plotholders, the 900 residents on allotment waiting lists and any organisations leasing buildings on allotment sites through: 

• An online survey 

• E-mails with the link to the survey to those with e-mail. 

• Hard copies of the survey posted to those with no e-mail address. 

• Emails with the link to the 20 Allotment Site Liaison Representatives to notify their fellow plotholders to get involved. 

• Hard copies of survey to Site Liaison Representatives to hand to plotholders. 

• Posters on sites directing people to the web survey.

• One site meeting per site (20 sites). Due to time constraints, some site meetings may fall on weekdays or weekends. Ongoing queries can be emailed to allotments.reading@reading.gov.uk. 

The Housing, Neighbourhoods and Leisure Committee report setting out the proposals will be posted on the Allotments page of the Council website. 

Why your views matter

When a Council proposes to change allotment rent levels and the terms of the Tenancy Agreement, they must “listen to stakeholder". The law states that setting rent levels is solely the Council’s decision, but the Council “should listen to other interested parties” before setting the rent level.

We would like to explain why we are proposing to increase rents, review the terms of the Tenancy Agreement, and introduce measures to reduce waste generation by plotholders.

We would like to know whether existing plotholders have seen any improvement in the maintenance and management of their site since the start of the Allotment Project in 2021. Feedback will fine tune the proposals and will feed into a new Allotment Strategy. 

We are asking respondents to read explanatory notes around the themes of  

• “Does your allotment plot give you good value for money now and how much does your allotment produce save you on your household food bills?” 

• “Which of the proposed allotment rent levels is most acceptable to you?” 

• “What types of people do you think should benefit from Discounts on their allotment rent?” 

• “What levels of Discount should we offer plotholders?” 

• “If your rent increased, do you still think your allotment plot offers you good value for money?” 

We would like as many responses as possible. We will give extra weight to opinions offered by Allotment Societies/Associations/Committees.

We have included people on allotment waiting lists in this survey because they are future customers who will be affected by the decisions made. 

What happens next

We will collate and analyse your feedback in October 2023 and report the responses to the Council’s Housing, Neighbourhood and Leisure Committee on 21st February 2024. The Committee make the final decision about changes in rents, discounts, waste collection charges and the terms of the Tenancy Agreement. The Council will then give all tenants 12 months’ written notice of the changes on April 1st 2024 and implement the changes from 1st April 2025. We will continue to publish updates to the Frequently Asked Questions on the Allotment page of the Council’s web-page. Customers can contact the service throughout the survey and notice periods and beyond via the service email Allotments.Reading@reading.gov.uk