FAQ's
If you have questions you would like answered, please contact wfas.sec@gmail.com
Why does the Federation want to develop a Quality Standard for sites?
The Quality Standard is a self-assessment tool for societies to look at what they have on site and compare it to a certain standard agreed across Wirral. So, for example, it would include such things as secure fencing, adequate roads, good drainage etc.
It is NOT a tool for the Federation to inspect your site, it is a self-assessment and all the information collected is kept private by the society.
This self-assessment allows societies to bid for funding to put right any problems. Funding applications usually ask a question which says something like "what evidence do you have of need for the project?", and the answer to this section will then be that you've done a self-assessment, compared your site with the Quality Standard for Wirral allotments and shown that you need funding to bring it up to that standard.
Why does the Federation want sites to go self-managed?
This is simply not true, Wirral Federation does not want sites to go self-managed.
If we are approached by sites who are interested in finding out more, we will do what we can to give as much information as possible. However, the Federation has no interest in pushing this issue - it is very much a decision for individual sites to make.
Can allotment societies sell produce to raise funds?
Yes, providing it's not specifically excluded in your allotment tenancy agreement.
Wirral Council's new tenancy agreement does not prevent the sale of excess produce to raise funds for the Allotment Society.
Growing in the Community: a good practice guide for the management of allotments (LGA, 2001) has a section called 'Sale of Produce'. It emphasises that the purpose of an allotment is a plot which is "wholly or mainly cultivated by by the occupier for the production of vegetable or fruit crops for consumption by himself or his family". It then goes on to say that "Plotholders with surplus produce could be encouraged to donate this to the allotment associations which can then sell them for the purpose of raising funds for the upkeep of the site."
It gives an example in Cambridge where local allotment societies sell excess produce at a stall at the farmer's market. The stall also acts as an information point about allotment gardening.
The Allotment Regeneration Initiative include this in their extensive ARI factsheet on income generation for allotment sites.
Can I keep chickens on my allotment?
NSALG legal advice is that plotholders have a right to keep chickens or rabbits (but not cockerels) provided that they are not allowed to cause a nuisance on the site.
Wirral Council requires that plotholders register an interest in keeping chickens on site. It has produced a document: Agreement and Conditions for Poultry on Allotment Sites, which can be downloaded here.
It gives you some important basic guidelines as to the minimum standards expected of tenants who keep poultry on WBC allotments.