Working with the Community
Our Constitutional objective is ‘to promote the preservation and conservation of the allotment site at Moss Row’ and promote the benefits of allotment gardening to the wider community.
Since becoming self-managed, the site has developed into a thriving community resource with 22 plots of varying sizes, wildlife area and pond, surrounded by an edible, wildlife friendly hedge.
Grants from ‘The Lottery Fund’ provided the site with boundary fencing, Township grants supported by local councillors gave the Society the means to plant hedging and develop the wildlife area and woodland.
The Society enjoy taking part in community events, welcoming annual visits by school groups, working with ‘The Green Volunteers’, planting native trees in the Moss Row woodland corridor. We have taken part in Township in Bloom 2015, 2016, 2017 top category of OUTSTANDING and THRIVING in 2018. We have hosted PETRUS People, Rochdale Photographic Society, Rochdale Artists and have forged an association with the local WI group. Events such as a Bat Night and several Open Days keep us from becoming a "closed gate community".
The Society is committed to the on-going development and improvement of the site and surrounding Moss Row corridor, and to maintain and protect the unique features of the area for the Norden Community.
Welcome to our Website
We are a small self-managed allotment society formed to develop and improve the allotments at Moss Row in the centre of Norden.
The site currently has 29 plots with many of them more manageable, half plots. The rental for a plot is set based on size of plot allocated - currently 40p/m2. ( 1/2 plots are now the norm approx 125m2)
We are always happy to make contact with anyone looking for an allotment and also welcome children's groups and other local groups or societies.
Not only is Allotmenteering a very popular activity, it keeps you fit, provides you with fruit and vegetables and helps preserve the local wildlife. You might even make some new friends. >>> FIND US
About Us
Situated alongside the cobbled Moss Row, behind Industry Street in Norden village, the allotment site has been in cultivation since the mid 1970’s. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for OLD photographs of the allotment site.
History
Moss Row Allotment site is located on land owned by the Local Authority, situated between Moss Row and Shepherd Street, Norden. Rochdale MBC first created it as an allotment site in the early 1970s and it remained as a local authority managed site until 2006.
Gradually, over this period the allotments became partly derelict, this was mainly because allotment gardening had become unpopular. It became difficult to find tenants for the plots and so there was a reluctance of the local authority to commit finance to maintain them.
The total area of the site is about 1.5 acres and by 2006 only about 20% of it was still occupied by allotment tenants; the rest was untenanted and had become overgrown with perennial weeds and brambles. This degraded area became a fly-tipped common.
It was at this time that the remaining tenants decided to approach Rochdale MBC with a proposal to form an allotment society and to take over management of the site. The Society was formed in spring 2006 and a management committee of 6 people was elected. A formal agreement with the local authority was then swiftly negotiated and approved. The Society was able therefore to take over all aspects of the management of the site in November 2006.
Initially, working in partnership with Groundwork, the Society was able to begin the clearing of the derelict areas. An “Awards for All” Lottery grant was obtained which enabled the Society to erect a perimeter fence so that secure development of the site could proceed. Further funding was obtained from Rochdale MBC and the Co-operative Community Fund and we were also helped by local businesses, such as PNS Landscapes, who donated building materials. The funding, donated materials and much hard work by the Society’s members made it possible to bring about a transformation of the site.
There are now 24 tenanted allotment plots on the site and this is about as many as the site can accommodate. Much has been achieved in the 14 years that the site has been managed by the Society and, of course, there always more to do. Just exactly what that might be depends greatly on our ability to raise the necessary finance. It is our ambition to have a more significant presence in the local community by working with local schools and other interest groups; this will be the focus of the next stage of the Society’s development.
2017 Following long negotiations and by providing a community value case to Rochdale RMBC, Moss Row Community Allotment Society finely achieved a major goal, and were granted a 30yr lease in September 2017. Previously we had a 1yr rolling lease which did not provide the security the members needed for the future. The extended lease will help us to gain funding should we require it, to ensure that the site is maintained and continues to develop. With a 1yr lease this would have been impossible.
Moss Row Site
2009
2006
2018
2019
