Three months' free rent for allotments

Holders of council allotments in Cannock are to get three months rent-free. The move comes after a budget problem was found and cash was freed up.

Costs for an ongoing legal dispute over land at the former Newman Grove allotments in Rugeley which Cannock Council owned had been wrongly attributed to the allotments budget.

This meant the allotment fees were set higher to cover the cost of the dispute. Now the costs have been removed from that budget and transferred to the Housing Revenue Account.

The allocation of the costs to the budget meant the allotment fees were set higher to cover the cost of the dispute.

Now the cash has been freed up, and instead of issuing cheques, the council has awarded every allotment holder three rent-free months instead.

The three free months will be January, February and March next year.

This also enables the Council to change the financial arrangements for the allotments account.

Instead of being invoiced in December for the next calendar year, allotment holders will now receive their bills in March, with the 12 months running from April to March – the same as the financial year for other council fees and charges.

The council will be writing to all allotment holders to inform them of the rent-free period.

Declan Hoare, the council's director for service improvement, said: "Three months rent-free is a great deal for allotment holders and also allows us to bring the allotments account into line with the financial year."

A probe by Labour councillor Clive Morgan found the problem in the accounts, which was made by officers after the council sold the former allotments site to make way for housing.

The council was involved in a legal dispute with Brereton and Ravenhill Parish Council over its right to sell the land.