Holders of Thanet council allotment sites in Margate say they are being squeezed out of their plots due to a ‘huge’ hike in water charges.
The annual water charges will rise by 300%, from £1 per perch to £4per perch. This will be done in a phased approach with the charge for 1 Oct 2024 to 31 March 2025 at £3 and then from 1 April 2025 onwards the full £4 per perch will be charged.
A perch is 25 square metres and average plot size is 250 sq metres although these can be divided in half. This means the average rise is from £10 per year to £40 per year for water.
The cost of an allotment is £5.60 per 25 square metres and a £36 minimum charge is applied.
The charges apply for plots at Brooke Avenue Garlinge, Dane Valley, Nash Road and Tivoli Road.
Boycott
One angry allotment holder, who asked not to be named, said many people are now thinking of either giving up their plots or boycotting the extra charge.
He said: “The £4 rise is per perch, a full plot is about 10 perch so it’s a hike from £10 a year to £40. Given the number of plots across Thanet that is a lot of cash that Thanet council is leaching out of allotment holders.
“Rather than being charged on usage per site, the council will instead take all readings across every (TDC) site in Thanet as a whole then charge each plot. No matter what water we use everyone gets charged the same. This is wrong because as example Garlinge allotments are a lot smaller than Dane Valley allotments so Garlinge will have to pay same per plot as Dane valley even though Garlinge would be using less water as a site.
“Every allotment site in Thanet has a water meter and every year for years it’s always been done as you would in your own home, a meter reading would be taken for a site and that site then divided up the bill per plot. It’s unfair to charge those that are environmentally cautious with their water usage the same as someone who over uses water.
“There’s no reason for such a huge jump in price as the council is only allowed to charge what it pays for the water direct so no profit can be made on it.
“The environmental impact will be detrimental as there is now no onus on saving water.
“The financial shock of this hike means the water rates are now going to be almost as much as the rent for a plot.
“And there is the distress this is causing. People who rely on their allotments for mental health and physical health are now looking to give up as the cost is too much.
“The price per unit rate (for water) has not gone up 300% (for TDC) yet they are trying to charge that. It’s scandalous, councils are not allowed to charge more per unit to allotments than it costs them to buy it.”
Plots and water prices
According to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by one resident the unit price for water was at £1.545 in 2022/23 and stood at £1.61 to £1.72 for 2023/24 for Brooke Avenue, Nash Road and Tivoli while for Dane Valley the 2023/24 rate was slightly higher at £1.82.
Brooke Avenue has around 52 plots, Dane Valley 169, Nash Road 62 and Tivoli Road 15.
Other allotment sites across Thanet are managed by town and parish councils.
‘To cover costs’
A Thanet council spokesperson said: “The decision to increase water charges on allotments managed by Thanet District Council was considered by the Fees and Charges Cabinet Advisory Group in November 2022. The final recommendations were approved by Cabinet on Thursday 12 January 2023.
Cabinet agreed to increase water charges for allotments managed by Thanet District Council from £1 to £4 per perch (25 square metres), on a phased basis. The charge for the six months from 1 Oct 2024 to 31 March 2025 is £3. From 1 April 2025 onwards the annual charge will be £4.
“Water charges are increasing solely to cover the costs incurred by the council. Land and water charges have always been calculated per perch on allotments managed by Thanet District Council.”
Just get water butt’s and stop using their taps!
I agree with the sentiment you should pay for what you use, but you say you use less than £40 a year on water? Current domestic properties probably average higher than that a month. Seems like good value if you can water your plants every day for that or am I missing something?
How quaint to use a measurement of a perch. In school we were taught that five and a quarter yards made up a “rod,pole or perch” and that four of these made up a chain, with ten chains making a furlong. In sixty years of work and community involvement I had never come across rods,poles or perches – until this stuff on Margate allotments!
Suspect property developers are already eyeing up the plots if there is a mass exodus.
There is a law that councils MUST provide allotments if there is a demand for them. Thanet Council have been very deceitful over the year’s in their administration of allotments . They Built on the allotments in Whitehall Road Ramsgate then they built on the allotments in Manston road Ramsgate then they took allotments to build the tunnel and they have done the same all over Thanet just taking allotments wherever they can. I complained to the ombudsman and the government about it. To get around the deception of stealing allotment plots they now have divided allotments plots into half plots-quarter plots semi plots and patch. So when they multiply all the plots together on paper it looks like they’ve got the same amount of allotments, but of course they haven’t just been deceitful figures so they can keep selling off the land for building and taking the allotments which bring a lot of benefit both physically and mentally to a lot of people.
Over to you Ms Pink, ‘Real World, etc…
As a newish allotment plot holder in Thanet the charge was outlined from the beginning of my tenancy so it is difficult for me to take a negative stance. The charge however does not cover the whole year as the water is turned off from October to March so that would be my only gripe. It would be better/fairer to charge pro-rata for the months it is a available. £40 a year on water – still represents reasonably good value in that we can water our plants every day without lugging too many heavy cans around!
£40 to water an allotment a year is cheap, why do people want everything for free, by growing your own vegetables ,your saving money. No nobody gives me cheap water to grow my vegetables in my own garden .Which I do,because I love it
If you increase the price of anything on an allotment you get the
Same response of gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair.
Ken is correct in that there is a statutory duty to provide allotments where there are no allotments but there is a get out of doing so ‘is unviable ‘,which is why Minster and Cliffsend don’t have allotments and try to piggyback on Ramsgate.
It is also true that TDC sold allotments and pocketed at least a proportion of the proceeds,which was dodgy of them, but then they are a dodgy outfit.
I am afraid the allotment tenants will have to grin and bear it.
Perhaps an agreed square metre rate across Thanet would be a good idea,but that would require sense from TDC and trust from the Towns and Parishes, both are in short supply in Thanet.
My issue was not about the cost of an allotment or the increase in the water bill, my issue is for the allotments to stay as allotments and for the council not to sell any off for building the on.
So does this mean, the council plan on fixing the leaking taps at Dane valley allotments, or do the plot holders have to pay for the wasted water? My main issue here is the lack of an actual contact at the council, and the fact they claim to have a five year waiting list, at least 50% of Dane valley is vacant and costing taxpayers money, if they actually employed someone to manage it properly they would see a small return, small but at least it wouldn’t cost them. Instead they continue to ignore they exist have an actual benefit to local wildlife and clearly want shot of it to sell to developers. Again I have no problem with the charges they are reasonable as long as they actually fix the taps and monitor people for overusing.
If TDC put in tanks at allotment sites which would collect water through winter this would cut the water rates and get growers to put in rain butt’s to collect water from sheds this would also help
The law requires that any council wishing to sell off allotment land acquired for that purpose has to request permission from the Secretary of state at the Department of Levelling Up and Communities ,however, experience tells me that is not as difficult as it sounds.Even then the proceeds must pay off any debts, improve the existing allotment estate or purchase new replacement land.TDC do nothing of the kind and it disappears into their accounts without trace
Water charges aren’t really covered by the statutes, except that they must be reasonable.What reasonable means is anyone’s guess.