Edinburgh Allotment Factsheet

In 2012 City of Edinburgh Council are renting out 1,037 allotment plots (and 21 raised beds).

The rent is £80 per plot (and £35 per raised bed)

Full rental income (plots x rent) = £83,695

The Council estimates its costs as £81,370.37  (up 18%  from an actual figure of £69,102.99 in 2011)

Edinburgh Council offers a 50% rent discount to tenants on state benefit or over the age of 60.

Over half Edinburgh allotment tenants (541) qualify for the discount.

The resulting shortfall on the full rental is £21,550

The shortfall in the allotment budget - the amount the Council actually pay - is  £16,745.87, nearly £5,000 less than the subsidy.

2013 Rents are being increased to £90 (£45 subsidised) yieding full rental income of £94,170

2014 rents are being increased to £100 (£50 subsidised) yielding full rental income of £104,660

Based on a projection of the 2012 figures, actual rents collected are expected to be £70,000 in 2013 and £77,700 in 2014, so the Council's annual  'top up' contribution will all but disappear, by how much will depend on how costs are kept under control. The cost of the subsidy will be £27,000 but this will be covered entirely by the higher rents paid by both the subsidised and non subsidised tenants.


When you consider that over 50% of Edinburgh allotment holders are on benefit or over 60 years old you realise that these are two groups whose income has not risen much in the last decade, yet their allotment rentals will have risen by 333% between 2005 and 2014