A SHAKE-UP of the way the city’s allotments are run looks certain amid increasing charges and a drop in the number of tenants waiting.

Andy Allen, the chairman of Worcester’s allotment forum, an unpaid voluntary position, has decided not to run again as chairman but no other city site representative is willing to take on the role, leaving the group without a figurehead.

The vice-chairman and secretary have also announced they would not be standing in the positions again.

All three have made the decisions for differing personal reasons, unconnected with the row over recently introduced charges.

A meeting has now been called at the Guildhall on Wednesday when a new chairman will be picked.

The forum’s role is to liaise between tenants and Worcester City Council, which owns the sites.

But if no new chairman is selected, the forum will effectively become defunct until someone steps up to the role.

It comes after the introduction of one-off charges by Worcester City Council, which owns the city’s plots, which have provedcontroversial.

Council allotment chief Ian Yates revealed the number of people waiting for an allotment had now fallen from 400 to 170 in the last three months.

Mr Yates, parks and cemeteries manager, said there were now vacant plots in the city because would-be tenants were being selective about what plot they move to.

He said it was down to the site representatives how they wanted to sort out their own affairs.

“The ball is in their court as to how they represent the views of tenants,” he said.

“The city council will continue to liaise with tenants whatever happens.”

Dan Robb, the Perdiswell allotment site representative, was at the forum meeting when Mr Allen stepped down.

He said: “Nobody wants to do the job – there was 14 of us there and we all said no.”

The resignation comes following a huge shake-up of the city’s allotment system in recent years, which has led to rent rises (up to £45 per person per year, rising to £50 in October) and new charges for polytunnels, greenhouses and sheds.

The charges are the last straw for Linda Smith, who is quitting her plot after seven years.

She says the city council does not do enough for tenants.

“They sit behind their desks thinking, ‘We can get some money out of them, let’s put these charges on greenhouses and sheds’,” she said.

“We had floods, and had no help. Then the snow flattened the tunnels, and we got no help."

Mr Yates said the city council employed a staff member and “forked out” for utilities and repairs and maintenance benefiting all the allotments’ tenants.

Mr Allen, out-going forum chairman, said the best way to solve any issues was to talk about them.

He has decided not to stand chairman again to focus on continuing his agricultural course at Pershore College.