Overview

Parish Online provides a flexible mapping solution for managing parish allotment plots and associated information.

Two collaborative layers have been created to help you get started. These ready-to-use layers allow you to populate your allotment data using a consistent structure defined by Parish Online, ensuring information is recorded in a standardised format.

Alternatively, if you require greater flexibility and control over how your data is structured, you can create and configure your own layers within the Parish Layers collection in Mapping.

This guide takes you through the key considerations and steps involved in creating and managing your allotment data. It also includes links to relevant Knowledge Base (KB) articles, providing detailed instructions and further guidance where needed.

Procedure 1 - Users Familiar with Parish Online Mapping (short and sweet)

Procedure 2 - New to Parish Online Mapping (more comprehensive)

1. Establish the mapping account and licences

The council should first have a ParishOnline Mapping account and ensure that its Ordnance Survey PSGA licence is associated with the account.

Town and parish councils have free access to OS products under the PSGA. This provides access to OS premium mapping and other geographic datasets for their public-sector functions.

Within Parish Online check:

Administration > My Organisation > PSGA Licence

With the PSGA licence applied, the council can access high-resolution OS base mapping, address information and other OS datasets.

The council should also obtain/confirm its APGB aerial photography entitlement.

2. Create the allotment site map

Start with the whole allotment site.

Turn on:

Ordnance Survey PSGA > OS Premium Stack (Standard) – is the default base map

and/or:

Aerial Photography (APGB) > Aerial Photography Latest

The aerial photography is particularly useful because plot boundaries, sheds, paths and cultivated areas can often be seen more clearly than on the OS map.

Create an Allotment Site polygon showing the external boundary of the council's allotment land. See page 2 for the respective Knowledge Base articles for adding and editing features to the layers.

The National Allotment Map layer is specifically for allotment-site boundaries. Use the search tool at the top of the left panel to find layers, as in the image below. Individual plots should not be put into that Allotment Boundaries layer; individual plots should instead be held in the Allotment Plots layer.

The Knowledge Base articles for adding and editing features either the allotment boundary or the individual plots can be found at the following link: Add, Edit and Delete Map Objects (Points, Lines and Polygons) -  https://support.parish-online.co.uk/portal/en/kb/articles/add-edit-and-delete-map-objects-points-lines-and-polygons

So use two levels:

National Allotment Map (Allotment Boundaries)
> overall site boundary

Council's own Allotment Plots layer (Allotment Plots)
> individual plots

3. Create the individual allotment plots

Draw each individual plot against the aerial photography/OS mapping.

For example:

Parish Online supports creation and editing of polygons, lines and points, so these can be separate layers representing different aspects of the allotment. Points = Sheds, water points and gates; Lines – access lanes. When such features are created the system will automatically generate spatial attributes such as length of lines and areas of polygons.

4. Decide what information belongs to each plot

The polygon shouldn't just be a coloured shape. Each plot should be a database record.

Attribute data is contained in Fields (columns) for each feature in the layer, such as:

To avoid possible complications with GDPR the tenant's name, address, telephone number and email address being added directly into a generally accessible map layer. A better design is to give each tenant a unique reference such as T0047, with personal information maintained in a restricted tenancy record.

That also makes it much easier to produce a public map showing available plots without inadvertently publishing personal information.

5. Map the infrastructure separately

This is where the point/line/polygon capability becomes particularly useful.

Several layers can be created, this additional layers can be created in the Parish Layers collection and are detailed in the following KB article https://support.parish-online.co.uk/portal/en/kb/articles/creating-map-layers:

Points: gates, water taps, standpipes, noticeboards, bins, compost areas, electricity points, trees, benches and other individual assets.

Lines: paths, vehicle access routes, hedges, fences, water pipes and drainage.

Polygons: individual plots, parking areas, communal growing areas, wildlife areas, buildings and storage areas.

Each mapped feature can carry its own information. Parish Online also allows documents and photographs to be attached to map features, so, for example, a shed or water point could have an inspection photograph or maintenance document attached.

This turns the allotment map into an asset-management system, not merely a drawing.

6. Use colours to show plot status

This would make the system particularly useful operationally.

For example:

Green – occupied
Red – vacant
Amber – notice given / becoming vacant
Blue – reserved / offered
Grey – unavailable
Purple – communal/community plot

Colouring (styling) the layer is detailed KB article here https://support.parish-online.co.uk/portal/en/kb/articles/styling-a-map-layer

The clerk could therefore open the map and immediately see the state of the allotment site.

Clicking a plot would bring up its full record.

7. Link the map to the tenancy administration

To reduce possible GDPR considerations separate out the spatial information from the owner information.

Mapping system

Plot 17 > polygon > T0047

and

Allotment administration

T0047 > tenant > agreement > rent > correspondence

The common field is the Plot Number/Tenant Reference.

That keeps the mapping straightforward while allowing the council's normal document or finance system to handle tenancy agreements, invoices, payments and correspondence.

8. Establish an inspection procedure

This is where mapping should make allotment management substantially easier.

When carrying out an annual or six-monthly allotment inspection, the clerk or councillor could use Parish Online on a tablet or phone, select each plot and record:

Inspection date > condition > action required > notes > photograph

Parish Online supports use on desktop, tablet and mobile, including adding attachments such as photographs to features.

For example:

Plot 17
Inspection: 15 September 2026
Status: Requires attention
Issue: Northern half appears uncultivated
Action: Contact tenant
Photograph: attached

This creates a much better audit trail than handwritten inspection notes.

9. Produce maps for council meetings

The same underlying information can therefore support both day-to-day administration and council decision-making.

10. Consider a public version

A simplified public allotment map can be created that shows (KB article https://support.parish-online.co.uk/portal/en/kb/articles/using-the-public-map) :

• allotment site location;
• plot numbers;
• vacant/occupied status;
• entrances and parking;
• accessible plots;
• water points;
• communal areas; and
• contact/application information.

It should not show tenant personal information.

The resulting system

The overall structure would therefore be:

The important thing is that the plot number becomes the common identifier throughout the system. Plot 17 on the map is Plot 17 in the tenancy records, inspection records, rent records and correspondence.