1st January 2026
Ipswich Borough Council (IBC) introduced a new charging regime last year to overcome the the issues associated with waste left behind when a tenant vacates a plot or is evicted.
They will charge a minimum of £250 per plot to cover the removal of waste and clearing of the plot that has not been left in a tidy and cultivated state.
In this scenario, the tenant was evicted and had been granted extra time to remove items and vacate the plots – there were two plots adjacent to each other. The eviction was effective at midnight on 31st December 2025.
It is an example of the type of condition that Field Committees must be alert to. Plots can deteriorate over the years that a tenant has a plot but the regime of regular inspections should prevent this being too commonplace.
1st January 2026
Move on 6 months
Finally, 9 months 3 days later
A new tenant and Rule 2 adhered to in a matter of days.
What did this cost?
In terms of hours spent working to clear these plots, 30 hours Community Payback time, 30 hours Committee member time, 2 hours Arboreal team for chipping, 4 skips at £411 per skip, 1.5 tonnes of scrap metal recycled, graveyard digger and driver to fill skips and grade the plot including stump removal, plus time spent to inspect progress but what a transformation!
What of the future?
The Field Committee are committed to regular inspections of all plots and an accumulation of banned items have been removed from both fields. If a plot ever gets to this state again, then it will be because of the collective failure of the team to manage the field. Keeping on top of things is the way to go.