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Myself & husband have been given a termination of allotment tenancy agreement with Roydon Parish Council which comes under Epping Forest District Council.
We've had a series of complaints made against us by the tenant next to us but they really were petty things like we were inundated with rain last year & she got flooded out rain apparently that was our fault. The latest problem was that a fence we erected because she kept getting loads of weeds because of us even though we had raised beds ground cover down & woodchip over it. So we had a small bonfire as we needed potash for the soil, for the first time ever a small spark caught the fence & made a small burn on the fence about the size of the palm of a hand we put it straight away.
The next thing we know is an email from the clerk saying that we had burnt the neighbors fence killed her cucumber plant & completely ruined a net over a raised bed. As a result it had caused her major stress anxiety & mental health problems.
We were asked to move it away from her plot & was given a calendar month to rectify it. We did this within 4 days, but in doing so we needed to protect a well established Clematis so we decided to take out 2 of our fence panels & put them in front of the Clematis. Before the fence was erected we only had chicken wire & the other tenant kept encroaching on ours with endless amounts of compost paving slabs & wood, which we said we had to move to do the fence.
It was 2nd & 3rd hand fence panels we were given good but not strong enough to take loads of fixtures & asked politely not to attach anything to it, when we took the panels out there was goodness knows how much timber attached to it which we removed & place neatly on her plot, unfortunately the light was fading rapidly so we left with the intention of coming back to erect the chicken wire. Due to stress I was in hospital overnight with a serious Addison crisis so it was about 4 days later we went cultivatioback to put the chicken wire in. So we rectified the issue left a brand new parcel of netting with a note apologizing, the next day the netting had been slung back onto our plot.
We were then ready given ,a formal letter stating that we were in breach of our ttenancy agreement so the parish council were terminating our agreement they didn't even ask or approach us to talk about the issue. We then said we wanted a formal appeal meeting to discuss the matter. When we went, there was the chair of council the clerk another councilor & a representative from the national allotment association.
We were questioned about everything but the fence & moving of the firepit, how we have caused untold anxiety stress & mental health problems for the other lady, why was I talking bulk bags of stuff there, why were we having continual bonfires, why was the plots in a very unkempt state, did we actually grow anything as there were no visible signs of cultivation.
We said what we had been growing & it was a massive list & that we had vegetables still in the ground yet to be lifted as they weren't quite ready. Due to having woodchip on the paths it was delivered in bulk bags & yes we had about 9 but everyone uses them. We had a few decking boards & other pieces of timber as we were going to make more raised beds we've always responsibly disposed of our rubbish by taking it home for either general or recycling. Yes we don't have it like a show garden but we do keep on top of things.
We do have bonfires maybe once a month where everyone can put garden waste in to be burnt why because we need the potash. If we don't keep on top of things I wouldn't have done 300ft of hedging because the council refused to do anything about we cut the verges on the roadside because if they grow to high its a safety issue for getting onto the road.
We've been there for 4 years & not once have we ever had any problems with any of the other tenants in fact we see ourselves as a family. This other lady has fallen out with the others but chosen me & my husband to pin all the faults she has on us. Please can you help us with any advice we've been given 3 weeks to get rid of everything including 2 established ponds
We've had a series of complaints made against us by the tenant next to us but they really were petty things like we were inundated with rain last year & she got flooded out rain apparently that was our fault. The latest problem was that a fence we erected because she kept getting loads of weeds because of us even though we had raised beds ground cover down & woodchip over it. So we had a small bonfire as we needed potash for the soil, for the first time ever a small spark caught the fence & made a small burn on the fence about the size of the palm of a hand we put it straight away.
The next thing we know is an email from the clerk saying that we had burnt the neighbors fence killed her cucumber plant & completely ruined a net over a raised bed. As a result it had caused her major stress anxiety & mental health problems.
We were asked to move it away from her plot & was given a calendar month to rectify it. We did this within 4 days, but in doing so we needed to protect a well established Clematis so we decided to take out 2 of our fence panels & put them in front of the Clematis. Before the fence was erected we only had chicken wire & the other tenant kept encroaching on ours with endless amounts of compost paving slabs & wood, which we said we had to move to do the fence.
It was 2nd & 3rd hand fence panels we were given good but not strong enough to take loads of fixtures & asked politely not to attach anything to it, when we took the panels out there was goodness knows how much timber attached to it which we removed & place neatly on her plot, unfortunately the light was fading rapidly so we left with the intention of coming back to erect the chicken wire. Due to stress I was in hospital overnight with a serious Addison crisis so it was about 4 days later we went cultivatioback to put the chicken wire in. So we rectified the issue left a brand new parcel of netting with a note apologizing, the next day the netting had been slung back onto our plot.
We were then ready given ,a formal letter stating that we were in breach of our ttenancy agreement so the parish council were terminating our agreement they didn't even ask or approach us to talk about the issue. We then said we wanted a formal appeal meeting to discuss the matter. When we went, there was the chair of council the clerk another councilor & a representative from the national allotment association.
We were questioned about everything but the fence & moving of the firepit, how we have caused untold anxiety stress & mental health problems for the other lady, why was I talking bulk bags of stuff there, why were we having continual bonfires, why was the plots in a very unkempt state, did we actually grow anything as there were no visible signs of cultivation.
We said what we had been growing & it was a massive list & that we had vegetables still in the ground yet to be lifted as they weren't quite ready. Due to having woodchip on the paths it was delivered in bulk bags & yes we had about 9 but everyone uses them. We had a few decking boards & other pieces of timber as we were going to make more raised beds we've always responsibly disposed of our rubbish by taking it home for either general or recycling. Yes we don't have it like a show garden but we do keep on top of things.
We do have bonfires maybe once a month where everyone can put garden waste in to be burnt why because we need the potash. If we don't keep on top of things I wouldn't have done 300ft of hedging because the council refused to do anything about we cut the verges on the roadside because if they grow to high its a safety issue for getting onto the road.
We've been there for 4 years & not once have we ever had any problems with any of the other tenants in fact we see ourselves as a family. This other lady has fallen out with the others but chosen me & my husband to pin all the faults she has on us. Please can you help us with any advice we've been given 3 weeks to get rid of everything including 2 established ponds
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