Allotments
Machew1711-PGO
Posts: 1 ✭✭
I've come across a few allotments being nominated for wayspots. Given the laws which apply to allotments, I assumed these would be immediate rejections on the basis of them being private farmland but, having checked the forums, I'm a bit confused as the majority seem to view these as eligible wayspots. Now most people are comparing these to community gardens but, again, due to legislation/ byelaws, allotments are quite different:
They are rented from the local authority and each land tenant has exclusive rights of use and access to their own allotment.
Allotments are fenced off to prevent intruders. Anyone who is not a land tenant and enters the allotment grounds is trespassing. All land tenants can call the Police on anyone entering the allotments and report them for trespass. The same rules apply as any other privatey owned or rented land/ property.
Because of the above, they seem like awful places to meet up, socialise, exercise and the rest of it because there's a good chance you'll be escorted away by Police and a 100% chance you'll be committing a criminal offence. Unless you have the express permission of the land tenant and ONLY walk in areas permitted for use by the land tenant who granted permission.
Again, it seems allotments are obvious candidates for immediate rejection. Is there anything I'm missing that would somehow make these sites eligible?
Answers
They're not really private residential property/farms though. They're public spaces where community members can gather to socialise whilst pursuing a hobby, and gardening is sometimes also a great form of exercise. Yes, you may have to rent a plot, but that factor alone doesn't exclude allotments from being a valid submission, and there are plenty of communal areas within allotment plots (otherwise it would be impossible to walk to any individual plots).
When I walk past allotments, I always see multiple different plot holders there, and they'll be happily chatting away to each other between whatever digging/planting/harvesting they're doing. And there's nothing legally preventing anyone who isn't a plot holder from standing at the entrance to the allotments, so therefore there's no real issue with trespassing either (though even if there was, Niantic expects players to use common sense when they're navigating their surroundings).
And it's even been clarified that allotments do not need signs to be a valid submission, so long as there's proof they exist, which is useful because a lot of them often don't have signs or have poor signage.
I would hope you've not been voting to reject them? You've probably been missing out on agreements if you have.
An allotment site is no different from any other place, if you take it back to basics.
They have controlled access as do many social spaces.
Niantic have been clear that simply because access to a place is controlled/limited it does not count against it in terms of acceptability.
They are places to socialise - all those on the allotments help maintain the space. They often run community events. Several local ones have glut boxes open to anyone that needs it. And gardening is definitely exercise.
So they should be accepted.
In my area allotments have social places available to anyone, like public playgrounds for children, educational signs about birds and plants, sport fields, grill areas or even a public building where allotment gardens management organizes various events for children and their parents (for example, St. Nicholas' Day, carnival ball). So it definetly is great place to be social, it is acceptable to be a POI.
I think about it similar to multi-family buildings - many families live in them in they private apartments, but mural painted on apartment building wall or playground between apartment buildings is not considered a part of private apartment, it's public place that meet criteria to become a POI.
Allotments = Community Gardens etc. They usually have a sign at the entrance, use this as the pin for the Waypoint. My allotment is restricted to "allotment holders only", but anybody can walk up to the gate along a pedestrian path, so it's valid.