Invitation to Discuss New Council Proposals for Your Allotments – 12th January @ 7pm

What’s happening to my site?

Whilst Allotment Associations have been managing their sites for many years now, there is no documentation that spells out for council site members and their committees exactly what management functions they are personally responsible for, and what management functions are retained by Glasgow City Council.

Under the terms of the new Community Empowerment Act (2015), this relationship needs to be formalised as a written agreement between each Association and the Council.

Glasgow City Council is obliged under Section 123 of the Community Empowerment Act (2015) to:

1. Respond to a written request for delegation from each allotment association.
2. Agree with the association what the terms of delegation are.
3. Make the agreed arrangements with associations transparent and open to scrutiny.

We are now, in 2023, at the point where we are being consulted on the issue of delegation of management.

Our previous work raised a number of issues that need to be addressed in this process:

1. The need to sort out the legal position in a way that is clear and unequivocal with regard to the current overlap of association membership with the entitlement to plot tenancy.
2. The requirement of a clear statement of those functions which are being retained by the local authority as well as those that are being delegated to associations  – including issues such as boundary maintenance.
3. The need to reach an agreement on the disciplinary procedures that are to be practised across all the Glasgow allotment sites for both cultivation and behavioural issues.
4. Clarification of financial delegation i.e. the collection of rents and signed missives, and the link between rental fees and services.

When is it happening?

Our discussion was scheduled for a few days after the planned release of the Council’s draft scheme of delegation.

The timetable we were given by Glasgow City Council was originally:

• Drafting documents will be completed by January 7th
• Associations will have until January 21st to consider these drafts.
• Re-drafts will then go out for public consultation from January 28th until March 11th
• Final versions of the rules and regulations and the scheme of delegation will be published on March 25th.

Update: As of the 11th January we are awaiting the release of the council’s draft documents, and we will update the timeline above after this event on 12th January, at which a council representative will be present.

What should I do?

Come along to the discussion, then use the Council’s consultation time to respond with others on behalf of your allotment site (before 21st Jan) or as an individual member of the public (on redrafted documents from 28th Jan to 11th March).

---

Optional background reading

A working group of GAF members have already drawn up a draft framework for a scheme of delegation (and a draft set of rules and regulations for a modern allotment site) which was circulated to our members for comment and amendment in 2021.