Hi guys,
Here is a link to a petition set up by a lady who has a plot on a site where half of the site was taken over by a neighbouring golf course! I'd like to see it as the petition with the most signatures by it's deadline, which is 20th May.
Perhaps you could make this a 'sticky' till then admin? And maybe move it to the 'News' section.
Hope you will all take a look and put your names to it:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/allotments/
Lois
PETITION to the PM for MORE allotments
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter, Chief Spud, KG magazine, KG Emma
The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the
same level of thinking we were at when we created them
Albert Einstein
same level of thinking we were at when we created them
Albert Einstein
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carlseawolf
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I THINK THIS SHOULD BE LEFT AS A STICKY ATLEAST UNTIL THE DEADLINE FOR THE PETITION ENDS FOR ALL OUR SAKES.
IN MY HOME TOWN WE HAVE HAD THE BACK OF THE OLD VICARAGE TAKEN BACK BY THE COUNCIL IT WAS MAYBE 4 PLOTS ,ANOTHER CUT IN HALF TO PUT A BACK ENTRANCE IN THE LOCAL JUNIOR SCHOOL WHICH THEY NOW LOCK AT END OF SCHOOL DUE TO VANDALISUM SO KNOW ONE USES IT AT THE END OF THE DAY TO LEAVE SCHOOL.
OUR CURRENT WAITING LIST IS OVER 50 AND THERE IS ONLY 65 PLOTS IN TOTAL ( I'VE HAD TO WAIT 17 MONTHS FOR MY PLOT ).
IN THIS TIME OF OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE AND FAT KIDS GOOD OLD FASHION GARDENING IS A NO COST WAY FOR A GOVERMENT TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF BAD HEALTH AND CUTTING THE BURDEN ON THE NHS.
IN MY HOME TOWN WE HAVE HAD THE BACK OF THE OLD VICARAGE TAKEN BACK BY THE COUNCIL IT WAS MAYBE 4 PLOTS ,ANOTHER CUT IN HALF TO PUT A BACK ENTRANCE IN THE LOCAL JUNIOR SCHOOL WHICH THEY NOW LOCK AT END OF SCHOOL DUE TO VANDALISUM SO KNOW ONE USES IT AT THE END OF THE DAY TO LEAVE SCHOOL.
OUR CURRENT WAITING LIST IS OVER 50 AND THERE IS ONLY 65 PLOTS IN TOTAL ( I'VE HAD TO WAIT 17 MONTHS FOR MY PLOT ).
IN THIS TIME OF OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE AND FAT KIDS GOOD OLD FASHION GARDENING IS A NO COST WAY FOR A GOVERMENT TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF BAD HEALTH AND CUTTING THE BURDEN ON THE NHS.
A seed planted today will make a meal tomorrow
www.freewebs.com/carlseawolf
www.freewebs.com/carlseawolf
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peter
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I'll sign it. 
But Tangent if you really believe that our Beloved Leader and his cronies will pay a petition any attention you are deluded.
The East of England Regional Planning Assembly rejected a development for 25,000 homes called "Harlow North" on a long disused WW-II airfield and a number of farms and that nice Mrs Kelly has promptly and arbitarily overruled the semi-democratic decision. 
See http://www.stopharlownorth.com/ for the sordid anti-democratice anti-environmental details.
But Tangent if you really believe that our Beloved Leader and his cronies will pay a petition any attention you are deluded.
The East of England Regional Planning Assembly rejected a development for 25,000 homes called "Harlow North" on a long disused WW-II airfield and a number of farms and that nice Mrs Kelly has promptly and arbitarily overruled the semi-democratic decision.
See http://www.stopharlownorth.com/ for the sordid anti-democratice anti-environmental details.
Do not put off thanking people when they have helped you, as they may not be there to thank later.
I support http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
I support http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
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Mr Potato Head
Try to be hopeful 
Even if an individual petition doesn't result in an alteration in policy, it can often contribute to a general groundswell of similar positions that may effect a sea change...
However, and I may be completely wrong about this, isn't the allotting of allotments done by local government?
Perhaps more effective to petition them!
Even if an individual petition doesn't result in an alteration in policy, it can often contribute to a general groundswell of similar positions that may effect a sea change...
However, and I may be completely wrong about this, isn't the allotting of allotments done by local government?
Perhaps more effective to petition them!
Hi Mr PH.
The responsibility of the day to day running of council owned Allotments rests with the local council it is very true but the whole thing is governed but an act of Parliament. It would need an amendment to that Act to direct councils to set aside more land for allotments rather than reduce it to the bare minimum under the present law as they are doing at this moment in time.
I am not an allotmenteer but I do see the need for more allotments and I feel that if everybody could vote for this it can only increase the amount of vegetable growers. It would be of particular benefit of those who live in modern houses with pitifully small gardens and nowhere to really grow properly .
I have voted and I urge others to do so.
JB.
The responsibility of the day to day running of council owned Allotments rests with the local council it is very true but the whole thing is governed but an act of Parliament. It would need an amendment to that Act to direct councils to set aside more land for allotments rather than reduce it to the bare minimum under the present law as they are doing at this moment in time.
I am not an allotmenteer but I do see the need for more allotments and I feel that if everybody could vote for this it can only increase the amount of vegetable growers. It would be of particular benefit of those who live in modern houses with pitifully small gardens and nowhere to really grow properly .
I have voted and I urge others to do so.
JB.
I've signed it and sent it to others to ask them to sign. I'm fascinated that it appears on a Number 10 website!
I remember going round a Welsh valley in 1999 and seeing huge 1930s-council-house gardens with nothing in them bar weedy grass, while practically all the family in the house was unemployed. Probably that garden would have been completely full of veg in WW2, yet no-one nowadays had the wish or - quite likely - the knowledge to grow veg, even though they had so much time to do it and only a very small benefits income, which could have gone so much further if much of the food were grown by themselves. Not to mention a huge increase in health (a) because of exercise (b) because of increased veg eating and home cooking.
Somehow we need to get everyone interested in growing food again. A new Dig For Victory, only this time a Victory over ill-health rather than Hitler.
Alison
I remember going round a Welsh valley in 1999 and seeing huge 1930s-council-house gardens with nothing in them bar weedy grass, while practically all the family in the house was unemployed. Probably that garden would have been completely full of veg in WW2, yet no-one nowadays had the wish or - quite likely - the knowledge to grow veg, even though they had so much time to do it and only a very small benefits income, which could have gone so much further if much of the food were grown by themselves. Not to mention a huge increase in health (a) because of exercise (b) because of increased veg eating and home cooking.
Somehow we need to get everyone interested in growing food again. A new Dig For Victory, only this time a Victory over ill-health rather than Hitler.
Alison
Cardiff in particular but many other areas of Britain also have a massive problem with young people not being unemployed but claimimg incapacity benefit and therefore not being able to work.
Do you really think they are going to jeopardise their state hand outs by gardening and making like they can work.
Please wake up to reality, its called swinging the system and too many people are good at it because politicians are shit scared of tackling the real issues and losing votes which may cost them their gold lined snout hole in the trough.
Do you really think they are going to jeopardise their state hand outs by gardening and making like they can work.
Please wake up to reality, its called swinging the system and too many people are good at it because politicians are shit scared of tackling the real issues and losing votes which may cost them their gold lined snout hole in the trough.
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Cider Boys
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Piglet I do share your sentiments.
I’m afraid our Tony feels obliged to stand shoulder to shoulder with America on the world stage but has not the stomach to implement any of the internal policies that America have introduced with great effect.
Tony should try Work Fare where claimants only get paid for real community work and many soon found they were better off by gaining meaningful employment.
Tony should try Zero Tolerance where the Police hounded the mindless criminals until they found life easier when they stopped violating people’s lives.
Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime – what a FARCE!!!
What sort of shower thinks by letting Binge Drunkards drink for longer it will turn them into continental café type drinkers?
Still I am pleased to have signed the petition.
Barney
I’m afraid our Tony feels obliged to stand shoulder to shoulder with America on the world stage but has not the stomach to implement any of the internal policies that America have introduced with great effect.
Tony should try Work Fare where claimants only get paid for real community work and many soon found they were better off by gaining meaningful employment.
Tony should try Zero Tolerance where the Police hounded the mindless criminals until they found life easier when they stopped violating people’s lives.
Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime – what a FARCE!!!
What sort of shower thinks by letting Binge Drunkards drink for longer it will turn them into continental café type drinkers?
Still I am pleased to have signed the petition.
Barney
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Primrose
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I shall certainly sign the petition, even though I'm fortunate enough to be able to grow my veggies in my back garden. I am so sick and tired of this government ignoring the wishes and needs or ordinary people. If we don't stand up, become vocal and fight for what we want we might as well lie down in the streets and let the tanks roll over us.
And while we're on the topic of petitions, I'm starting a new thread for anybody who wants to sign the online petition to have Council Tax reformed so that it takes into account the income and ability of the householder to pay it.
And while we're on the topic of petitions, I'm starting a new thread for anybody who wants to sign the online petition to have Council Tax reformed so that it takes into account the income and ability of the householder to pay it.
I am going to make myself SO unpopular, but here goes... 
Most politicians do NOT have their noses in any sort of trough. That is a myth peddled by tabloids to sell lots of papers, because everyone loves someone to yah-boo at and politicians are an easy target.
Of course there will be dishonest MPs, just as there will be dishonest doctors, lawyers, policemen, bus-drivers, bankers, civil servants, stockbrokers, estate agents, journalists and so on, but in each of these professions the majority of participants are honest.
An MP's salary at £67,000pa is fantastic by most people's standards, but nothing like the sort of ridiculous money that people in the city, the law or big business can earn; even GPs are now earning £100,000pa. If someone was really only interested in financial gain, they wouldn't therefore choose politics as a profession, especially as many seats are no longer safe and if an MP fails re-election it can actually be remarkably difficult for them to get a new job unless they are media-worthy, which your usual run-of-the-mill MP is not. So it is not a good career choice for those who value security.
So why do people stand? Many MPs are actually quite idealistic: shock, horror. Many stand for election because they actually want to make a difference. Many of them are deeply concerned about social inequalities, crime, housing, and all the other problems.
I would like to point out that Andrew Marr said exactly the same thing some months ago on Radio 4; he was seething over the constant denigration of MPs.
I don't think we do ourselves any favours at all if we persistently keep knocking MPs and saying that they are all crooks only in it for themselves. We actually have rather a good record in Britain on the standard of our MPs.
What MPs and Ministers clearly find difficult is deciding what to do to try to solve these massive problems. This Govt has chucked money at the NHS and schools recently but the problems still seem to intensify. The prison population is at its highest level, but crime keeps going up. The Govt's decision-making is not of the highest quality! Decisions are taken for the wrong reasons; organisations are constantly being interfered with; far too many new laws are being brought in all the time; and sometimes they seem to take their policies from the front page of the Sun. I personally think Blair is a particular problem, as he seems to think that his opinions are automatically right and doesn't bother to listen to other people - grrrh.
I think most of them do their best, but these are massive problems and no-one appears to be getting it right.
For the record, my solution would be to concentrate on getting the nation fed properly, from cradle to the grave, and IMHO we would see a huge drop in crime and health issues.
But simply saying that the problem is because our MPs are selfish and gold-digging is inaccurate, ignores the real problems and solves nothing.
Sorry for the rant.
Alison.
Most politicians do NOT have their noses in any sort of trough. That is a myth peddled by tabloids to sell lots of papers, because everyone loves someone to yah-boo at and politicians are an easy target.
Of course there will be dishonest MPs, just as there will be dishonest doctors, lawyers, policemen, bus-drivers, bankers, civil servants, stockbrokers, estate agents, journalists and so on, but in each of these professions the majority of participants are honest.
An MP's salary at £67,000pa is fantastic by most people's standards, but nothing like the sort of ridiculous money that people in the city, the law or big business can earn; even GPs are now earning £100,000pa. If someone was really only interested in financial gain, they wouldn't therefore choose politics as a profession, especially as many seats are no longer safe and if an MP fails re-election it can actually be remarkably difficult for them to get a new job unless they are media-worthy, which your usual run-of-the-mill MP is not. So it is not a good career choice for those who value security.
So why do people stand? Many MPs are actually quite idealistic: shock, horror. Many stand for election because they actually want to make a difference. Many of them are deeply concerned about social inequalities, crime, housing, and all the other problems.
I would like to point out that Andrew Marr said exactly the same thing some months ago on Radio 4; he was seething over the constant denigration of MPs.
I don't think we do ourselves any favours at all if we persistently keep knocking MPs and saying that they are all crooks only in it for themselves. We actually have rather a good record in Britain on the standard of our MPs.
What MPs and Ministers clearly find difficult is deciding what to do to try to solve these massive problems. This Govt has chucked money at the NHS and schools recently but the problems still seem to intensify. The prison population is at its highest level, but crime keeps going up. The Govt's decision-making is not of the highest quality! Decisions are taken for the wrong reasons; organisations are constantly being interfered with; far too many new laws are being brought in all the time; and sometimes they seem to take their policies from the front page of the Sun. I personally think Blair is a particular problem, as he seems to think that his opinions are automatically right and doesn't bother to listen to other people - grrrh.
I think most of them do their best, but these are massive problems and no-one appears to be getting it right.
For the record, my solution would be to concentrate on getting the nation fed properly, from cradle to the grave, and IMHO we would see a huge drop in crime and health issues.
But simply saying that the problem is because our MPs are selfish and gold-digging is inaccurate, ignores the real problems and solves nothing.
Sorry for the rant.
Alison.
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Mr Potato Head
I heartily agree with Alison... for some reason most of us, rightly or wrongly, are more likely to trust newspapers than politicians.
If you think about this, it's a very sinister state of affairs, after all...
We voted for the politicians... and we buy the papers that sell us stories we want to hear.
So if you think about it, both sides are set up to tell us what we want to hear, and yet I don't hear many motions being tabled that there should be a discussion on whether Paris Hilton should wear knickers or not, or whether this years Big Brother final will be the best ever...
Basically, it's all our own fault, and we deserve everything we get
(And when I say newspapers, I pretty much mean all mainstream media...)
If you think about this, it's a very sinister state of affairs, after all...
We voted for the politicians... and we buy the papers that sell us stories we want to hear.
So if you think about it, both sides are set up to tell us what we want to hear, and yet I don't hear many motions being tabled that there should be a discussion on whether Paris Hilton should wear knickers or not, or whether this years Big Brother final will be the best ever...
Basically, it's all our own fault, and we deserve everything we get
(And when I say newspapers, I pretty much mean all mainstream media...)
Yes we have a great record regarding corruption of people in public office, Ie taking bungs. I am sure that most mps are honourable to start with, until they get a taste of power. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Just ask Tony!!!
Please do not insult my inteligence by infering that my comments are because I read a paper, my eyes are open enough to see the situation. Politics is full of the "who you know brigade", just look at who runs most of the UNELECTED quangoes that run most of our country, could it be Tony's friends by chance. Look how they get cast iron pensions while Gordon raids mine, how they get subsidised food and drink whilst my pint goes up 2 pence every budget, free travel and other nice extras. Why do I get 25 days off a year and them 25 weeks, if its not a trough what is it then.
Please dont tell me its because they want to serve the country. If they wanted to do that they would listen to us and work on our behalf instead of treating us like naughty children, telling us we cant debate problems because we would be racist, homophobic, not understanding of the issues, and any other reason you can mention.
Your right Alison, Mp's perhaps are not the whole problem but their inability to listen and the fact that they dont see the the fall out from their ill thought out policies is a large chunk of it.
Your ideal of getting people to eat proper food is laudable Alison and one I agree with wholeheartedly, however how are you going to get people who cannot be bothered to work be bothered to grow food or prepare it.
As the old adage goes
you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink.
Please do not insult my inteligence by infering that my comments are because I read a paper, my eyes are open enough to see the situation. Politics is full of the "who you know brigade", just look at who runs most of the UNELECTED quangoes that run most of our country, could it be Tony's friends by chance. Look how they get cast iron pensions while Gordon raids mine, how they get subsidised food and drink whilst my pint goes up 2 pence every budget, free travel and other nice extras. Why do I get 25 days off a year and them 25 weeks, if its not a trough what is it then.
Please dont tell me its because they want to serve the country. If they wanted to do that they would listen to us and work on our behalf instead of treating us like naughty children, telling us we cant debate problems because we would be racist, homophobic, not understanding of the issues, and any other reason you can mention.
Your right Alison, Mp's perhaps are not the whole problem but their inability to listen and the fact that they dont see the the fall out from their ill thought out policies is a large chunk of it.
Your ideal of getting people to eat proper food is laudable Alison and one I agree with wholeheartedly, however how are you going to get people who cannot be bothered to work be bothered to grow food or prepare it.
As the old adage goes
you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink.
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Mr Potato Head
Sorry Piglet, my comments were intended more generally, not at anyone in particular. Sadly though, it often seems like many people's opinions are very much based on what paper they read. 