Green Allotments "Win an Allotment Site Competition"
Green Allotments has launched a competition with an unusual prize: the opportunity to win two new allotment sites.
Our charitable mission is to create new not-for-profit private allotment sites. Waiting lists for allotments are sky high, council rents are rising all the time, and for many people an allotment is years away and out of their price range. So we are creating new allotment sites in areas where people want allotments.
This page has the Terms & Conditions, Entry Form, and all the information you need to enter the competition including Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
Please read all of the information on this page before you enter the competition.
There is some legal detail on this page that you may not be familiar with, please check out our FAQs section (below) which explain these in everyday language.
Terms & Conditions
Terms and Conditions for Green Allotments “Win an Allotment Site Competition”
1.By participating in the competition, you are agreeing to these competition Terms and Conditions (T&Cs). The competition is being promoted by Green Allotments Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registered in England and Wales with the Charity Commission (registration number 1200535) (“The Promoter” – see 8.).
- Eligibility
Entrants must form a constituted non-profit organisation (at a minimum of Incorporated Society) by the time of prize being awarded.
The competition is open to permanent residents in England and Wales only.
Entrants must be over the age of 18 years at the time of entry.
- Entry
The competition is free to enter.
There are two stages to the competition:
- Expression of Interest (“Stage 1 Expression of Interest”).
- Full Application, after passing the Expression of Interest stage (“Stage 2 Full Application”).
Entries must be made on the Expression of Interest Form, downloadable from www.greenallotments.org.uk/competition
The “alternative route” is: email [email protected] and request a copy of the Expression of Interest form.
Entrants who pass the Stage 1 Expression of Interest will be invited to submit a Full Application and will be provided with a “Stage 2 Full Application Form”. After submitting a Stage 2 Full Application Form, entrants will be required to participate in an online interview with Green Allotments CIO at a mutually convenient time/date during March 2025.
Entrants must form a constituted non-profit organisation (at a minimum of Incorporated Society) by the time of prize being awarded.
Incomplete or illegible entry forms will not be considered.
The start date for the competition is 12th August 2024
The closing date for the competition is:
Midnight 30th November 2024 for Stage 1 Expression of Interest
Midnight 28th February 2025 for Stage 2 Full Application.
- Prize Details
The prize is the opportunity of a 30 year Peppercorn Lease with Green Allotments CIO (Registered Charity, No 1200535) for privately provided allotment gardens as defined in the Allotment Act (1925). The prize includes access to the knowledge, skills, training and support of Green Allotments CIO in the area of the devolved management of allotment gardens. The prize includes Green Allotments CIO purchasing and owning the land for the new allotment sites created via the competition, which will then be leased to each of the two winning groups via the opportunity of a 30 year Peppercorn Lease.
There are two such prizes available.
The prize is non-exchangeable, non-transferable, and there is no cash alternative.
The competition does not include a Prize Draw or Lottery.
Entrants are required to exercise skill, judgement or knowledge in order to win a prize.
Green Allotments CIO will award prizes without delay, subject to external forces e.g. land sales process and conveyancing.
- Judging Criteria
Entrants must be able to demonstrate the following:
- Evidence of having identified suitable land for allotment gardens.
- Current evidence of demand for allotment gardens in the vicinity of the land identified.
- Evidence of having formed (or in the process of forming) a non-profit organisation to manage the allotment site (minimum of Incorporated Society organisational status).
- Willingness and capacity to participate in training and mentoring in managing the allotment site on a voluntary (unpaid) democratic basis.
Judging will be made by Green Allotments CIO and an independent evaluator.
The judges’ decision is final.
- Correspondence
No personal communication will be entered into.
Any questions asked by members of the public about the competition, and which are not already covered on the Green Allotments CIO website, will be answered only on the Green Allotments website (via an updated FAQs section), so that all members of the public may have access to answers to questions received by Green Allotments CIO about the competition; the Green Allotments Privacy Notice applies (see 10).
- Publicity
Winners will be required to participate in publicity.
- Promoter
The promoter of this competition is Green Allotments Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Charity Commission Registration Number (England and Wales) 1200535. Registered Address 29 Burbage Road, London, SE24 9HB.
- Winner Announcement
- Winners of the Stage 1 Expression of Interest (EOI) Stage will be notified by phone and email on 15th January 2025. Winners of the EOI stage will have 14 days to accept moving on to the Stage 2 Full Application Stage.
Winners of the EOI Stage who do not respond within 14 days will forfeit their right to the Stage 2 Full Application Stage; Green Allotments reserves the right to notify a new winner.
Unsuccessful entrants will not be notified.
- Winners of the Stage 2 Full Application Stage will be notified by phone and email on 31st March 2025. Winners of the Full Application Stage will have 14 days to accept.
Winners of the Full Application Stage who do not respond within 14 days will forfeit their right to a prize; Green Allotments CIO reserves the right to notify a new winner.
The two winners of the Full Application Stage will be announced on the Green Allotments website www.greenallotments.org.uk
- Privacy and Data Handling
The Green Allotments Privacy Notice tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information. This can be read on the Green Allotments website www.greenallotments.org.uk or a printed copy can be obtained by writing to the Promoter’s registered address (see 8).
- Limitation of Liability
Green Allotments CIO accepts no liability for any loss, damage, injury or disappointment, as a result of participating in this competition or being selected for a prize.
- General
Green Allotments CIO reserves the right, at any time and without prior notice, to cancel the competition or amend these Terms and Conditions.
The prizes
There are two prizes to be won. Both prizes are the same: the opportunity of a 30 year Peppercorn Lease with Green Allotments for allotment gardens. The prize includes Green Allotments CIO purchasing the land so that you do not have to, which will then be leased to the winners. The prize includes access to the knowledge, skills, training and support of Green Allotments CIO in the area of the devolved management of allotment gardens.
Winners will need to sign a legal document called a Peppercorn Lease to take on the prize of the opportunity of a new allotment site. The land will be owned by Green Allotments, the winning groups will lease the land for free with no money being charged by Green Allotments – this is called a Peppercorn Lease. The lease period will be 30 years, Green Allotments intends to renew the lease at the end of the 30 year period.
What’s a Peppercorn Lease? Please go to our FAQs section for more info.
What is the devolved management of allotment gardens? Please go to our FAQs section for more info.
Who can enter the competition
The following information provides a short summary of who can enter the competition.
Terms and Conditions apply to the Win an Allotment Site Compeititon – please read these in full before deciding to enter.
You must meet all of the following criteria to enter the competition:
(1) The competition is only open to non-profit voluntary groups (established, new or in the process of forming) willing to manage the new allotment site on a voluntary (unpaid) basis.
AND
(2) The competition is only open to permanent residents in England or Wales who are over the age of 18 years.
This means entrants need to be, or willing to become, a non-profit voluntary group to win a prizes. For example, you might be:
- group of friends or colleagues
- people connected to each other in another way
OR
- you might already be a non-profit voluntary group, e.g. interested in allotments, healthy living, food growing, or community development.
Your non-profit group must be willing to manage the new allotment site on a voluntary (unpaid) basis:
- This is called the devolved management of allotments – you can read more about devolved management in our FAQs section.
- Your non-profit group needs to have a positive attitude and willingness about learning to manage the allotment site. Training, help and support is provided by Green Allotments as part of the prize.
- Your non-profit group is expected to form an allotment society so that you can participate in devolved management – the winners will be provided with help and support on becoming an allotment society. You can learn more about what an allotment society is in our FAQs section.
Many allotment sites are managed in this way and Green Allotments has experienced people here to help you get going, we have knowledge skills and expertise in this area. This is an exciting opportunity to get new allotments for your area, Green Allotments will help and support you to achieve a thriving allotment site with a resilient community of allotment gardeners.
The Land
Your non-profit voluntary group will need to have a piece of land in mind when you enter the competition. We ask you on the entry form for information about the land – please ensure you have this information to hand before you complete the entry form.
Green Allotments does not do ‘mega sites’ so please only tell us about land sized between 3-5 acres. This size of land can accommodate sufficient allotment plots of various sizes to provide enough volunteers to run an active allotment society.
The land you identify can be for sale or not. It might be for sale by auction or for sale by private treaty or not for sale at all. Sometimes landowners will sell by private treaty even when their land is not for sale on the open market, so it is still worth your group contacting a landowner privately to assess their interest in selling even if the land is not currently for sale on the open market.
Some of the information we ask about the land may take a while for your group to gather. This is why there is a three month period from the launch of the competition to the closing date of 30th Novement 2024. All applications will be considered at the same time after the closing date, not on a first come first served basis. This is to allow all entrants sufficient time to gather information about land.
How to enter the competition
The competition is free to enter.
There are two stages to the competition:
- Expression of Interest (“Stage 1 Expression of Interest”).
- Full Application, after passing the Expression of Interest stage (“Stage 2 Full Application”).
To enter Stage 1 Expression of Interest:
- Download the entry form at the bottom of this webpage.
- Complete the entry form. Incomplete forms will not be accepted, so please check you have answered all of the questions and provided the information asked for.
- Email your completed entry form to [email protected] by midnight 30th November 2024. Please note due to the anticipated high level of interest in this competition, only those entrants who pass this stage will be notified. We will not notify unsuccessful applicants.
Entrants who pass the Stage 1 Expression of Interest will be invited to submit a Full Application and will be provided with a “Stage 2 Full Application Form” at that time. After submitting a Stage 2 Full Application, entrants will be required to participate in an online interview with Green Allotments CIO at a mutually convenient time/date during March 2025.
Entrants must form a constituted non-profit organisation (at a minimum of Incorporated Society) by the time of prize being awarded.
Closing Date
The closing date for Stage 1 Expression of Interest is midnight 30th November 2024.
Entrants who are selected to go on to Stage 2 will have a closing date of midnight 28th February 2025, with online interviews taking place in March 2025.
Winners notification
The competition is in two stages. Entrants who have passed Stage 1 will be notified by phone and email on 15th January 2025 and invited to complete a Stage 2 application form. Unsuccessful entrants will not be notified.
Final winners will be notified and announced on the Green Allotments website in Spring 2025.
FAQs
There are two prizes to be won. Both prizes are the same: The opportunity of a 30 year Peppercorn Lease with Green Allotments for allotment gardens. The prize includes Green Allotments CIO purchasing the land, so that you do not have to, which will then be leased to the winners. The prize includes access to the knowledge, skills, training and support of Green Allotments CIO in the area of the devolved management of allotment gardens.
There are two prizes available to win. Both prizes are the same (i.e. the opportunity of a 30 year “Peppercorn Lease” for a new allotment site). You can learn more about Peppercorn Leases in this FAQs section.
(1) The competition is only open to non-profit voluntary groups (established, new or in the process of forming) willing to manage the new allotment site on a voluntary (unpaid) basis.
AND
(2) The competition is only open to permanent residents in England or Wales who are over the age of 18 years.
This means entrants need to be, or willing to become, a non-profit voluntary group to win a prizes. For example, you might be:
- group of friends or colleagues
- people connected to each other in another way
OR
- you might already be a non-profit voluntary group, e.g. interested in allotments, healthy living, food growing, or community development.
Complete the Stage 1 Expression of Interest Form.
You can download this form from this web page (scroll to bottom of page).
Please read the form carefully before you complete it and ensure you submit by the closing date of midnight 30th November 2024.
All entries must be submitted by email to [email protected]
(Entrants who pass the Stage 1 Expression of Interest stage will be asked to complete a Stage 2 Full Application and take part in an online interview with Green Allotments. The winners of the Stage 2 Full Application will be announced in Spring 2025).
The application form is at the bottom of this page (please scroll down). Please read the Competition Terms and Conditions and all of the information on this page before completing and submitting an entry form.
The “alternative route” is: email [email protected] and request a copy of the Expression of Interest form.
Midnight on 30th November 2024 for Stage 1 entries. Only those groups who pass Stage 1 will be invited to the next and final stage.
Yes. You can read the full Terms and Conditions on this webpage.
Please ensure your group can comply with the Terms and Conditions before entering the competition.
Along with the opportunity of a 30 year Peppercorn Lease for a new allotment site, winners will receive initial training, with ongoing guidance and support from Green Allotments. For example, Green Allotments has an easy-to-read Starter Pack, which is broken down into manageable chunks with learning outcomes. We can provide on-site and on-line training and coaching for the new allotment society. Our team is made up of experts with many years of experience in managing allotments, who are here to help you on your way to a successful allotment site – we want to see our allotment sites thrive and providing winners with initial training and ongoing support is a big part of ensuring this happens.
No. The land will be purchased and owned by Green Allotments CIO and leased to your group under a Peppercorn Lease for 30 years. It is our intention to renew the Peppercorn Lease after 30 years. Keeping the land in the charity’s name will help to protect the allotment site in perpetuity. You can read more about this under What is devolved management of allotments? And What is a Peppercorn Lease? below.
No. With Peppercorn Leases there is no rent to pay to Green Allotments.
When your non-profit group manages the new allotment site you can charge a rent to the allotment plotholders. This is called annual plot rent. Your group can use this income, with the agreement of the majority of your plotholders, to do things like maintain the site, hold social events, and plan new projects for the site. You can read more about this under What is devolved management of allotments? And What is a Peppercorn Lease? below.
Our allotment sites are overseen by the devolved management of allotments.
This is all about putting the gardeners in charge. This is better than the allotment site being run directly by a council or distant landowner, because it means local people manage local green spaces for the good of their community.
Benefits: Vacant plots get re-let more quickly. Maintenance has a swifter turnaround. There is a feel good factor of “We did it ourselves!” and a strong community is formed.
Many of the best allotment sites in the UK operate in this way and are a source of pride in their local community.
How it works: We ask our plotholders to form an allotment society for their site. A legal document called a peppercorn lease is then signed. This means the allotment society and Green Allotments have an agreement on how the new allotment site is managed by the community of gardeners.
This is called the devolved management of allotment sites, although you will often hear talk of ‘self-management’ – don’t worry about that, people mean the same thing!
Green Allotments is fortunate to have experts in devolvement management on our team – bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to our training and support for our allotment societies. This all helps get new allotment societies started and not feel isolated. We are also members of The National Allotment Society. And we have the services of a pro bono lawyer. All of this expertise helps keep our sites operating within the law.
This all helps Green Allotments to build thriving resilient allotment communities for nature, community and society.
Our allotment societies get a free allotment site.
We do it differently to councils, who charge a land rent to the allotment society. The allotment society pays the council from the rent payments they receive from plotholders. Unfortunately, this means there is not much money left in the allotment society kitty to pay for things like site maintenance, social events and to start new projects.
Here at Green Allotments we think this is a shame: all that hard work and effort (and kindness) from the allotment community is lost in a payout to the council.
We work differently, instead, Green Allotments creates a ‘peppercorn lease’.
The opportunity of a peppercorn lease is a special thing to be treasured. Instead of the allotment society paying land rent to Green Allotments, we ask our allotment society to “pay” us with a single peppercorn, as a symbolic gesture. Before you rush into the kitchen to find your pepper mill, no peppercorns actually change hands!
What this means: The allotment society rents the land FREE OF CHARGE from Green Allotments. For allotment societies, the benefit of our system means more options on how to spend plot rent income, e.g. the choice of setting lower plot rents, more of the rental income can be used to maintain the site, hold social events, plan new projects.
We believe this will lead to more economically sustainable allotment sites and thriving resilient allotment communities for now and into the future.
Paying a peppercorn for rent goes back hundreds of years, to a time when peppercorns were expensive. Today, a peppercorn rent is purely a symbolic gesture. Peppercorn rent means no payment is made and a legal document is in place and agreed by both parties. In our case that means us (Green Allotments) and our allotment societies. Very few allotment sites currently run on Peppercorn Leases, only a handful in the UK and usually only for historical reasons.
Our intention is to renew the lease so that the land remains as allotments.
A non-profit group (made up of all the gardeners on an allotment site) which manages the allotment site on a voluntary (unpaid) basis. This is commonplace in England & Wales and means that local people get to manage local assets, rather than councils or landlords. Green Allotments expects each of its allotment sites to be managed by the community of gardeners on the allotment site, operating as an allotment society. We provide help and support to help your non-profit group form an allotment society.
At the time of entering the competition, you need to be able to tell us on your application form about the piece of suitable land you have in mind for allotment gardens. You can tell us about more than one piece of land if several pieces of land are suitable in your area.
The entry period for the competition has been deliberately set as 3 months to give people sufficient time to look for suitable land and begin to form a group. The closing date is midnight 30th November 2024
Green Allotments does not do ‘mega sites’ so please limit your land search to between approximately 3-5 acres. This size of land can accommodate sufficient allotment plots of various sizes to provide enough volunteers to run an active allotment society.
The land you identify can be for sale or not. It might be for sale by auction or for sale by private treaty or not for sale at all. Sometimes landowners will sell by private treaty even when their land is not for sale on the open market, so it is still worth your group contacting a landowner privately to assess their interest in selling even if the land is not currently for sale on the open market.
No. Green Allotments is only interested in buying land, as this secures the land as allotments.
However, it might still be worth your group asking the landowner if they would be prepared to sell instead. If they are interested in selling the land you can then enter the competition.
If planning permission, or a change of land use, is required by the local council then Green Allotments will make the application as the landowner.
Green Allotments works within the law and if required planning permission etc will always be applied for in advance.
No. The land can only be used for allotment gardens rented to individuals as per the Allotment Act (1925).
The land cannot be used for other purposes such as a community farm, small park, community supported agriculture, or another type of community project.
No. Commercial activities are not permitted.
The land can only be used for allotment gardens rented to individuals as per the Allotment Act (1925).
We do not buy existing allotment sites unless there is adjacent land available which we could also consider buying to increase the number of allotment plots in the area – if this is your situation please contact us using the Contact Form on our website.
No. However if you know of people in your area who would be interested in applying please share the competition details with them.
If you know of suitable land for allotments in your council area please let us know as, separately to this competition, we are always on the lookout for suitable land to buy and create allotments.
We are always keen to hear from and work with councils who consider new allotment sites to be a positive development, we are happy to hear from you.
No, not this time. The charity is not registered in Scotland. However, if there is sufficient interest from people in Scotland we will consider charity registration in Scotland and include Scotland in future competitions – please contact us at any time to let us know about your interest if you live in Scotland, we are happy to hear from you.
No, the competition is only open to permanent residents of England and Wales. Green Allotments does not have plans to open allotment sites in Northern Ireland.
If you wish to take legal advice before entering the competition you have the following options: you can contact a solicitor and pay for legal advice (the Law Society website has a searchable list of solicitors by region/speciality), or some solicitors may provide pro bono (free) advice to not-for-profit groups, or members of The National Allotment Society may receive free initial legal advice.
We suggest contacting the following organisations in the first instance:
England: National Association for Voluntary and Community Action
Please email your question to [email protected]
If you question is not already answered on the website we will do the following: We will insert the question and answer on this FAQs page and email you to say we have done this. This is so that everyone gets the same information about the competition and at the same time and nobody is given favourable treatment. (Your details will not be included on the webpage, just the question).
We cannot enter into personal correspondence about the competition. This is stated in the competition Terms & Conditions.
Entry Form: Green Allotments "Win an Allotment Site Competition"
Entries to Stage 1 Expression of Interest can only be accepted on the official entry form.
The entry from is in pdf format and downloadable on this webpage (see below). Pdf files can be opened with Adobe Acrobat (free and installed on most computers).
You may complete the form digitally or you may print the form and complete it by hand. If you decide to print the form and complete it by hand please ensure your handwriting is legible, then scan or photograph each page so that you can email it to us.
Please put your group’s name in the file name when submitting the entry form.
All entries must be submitted by email to [email protected] by midnight 30th November 2024.