Allotment holders have been told their number is up if they fail to mark their plots correctly.

Fed up with not being able to find various plots, Brighton and Hove City Council has issued a warning letter to those holders who have not clearly numbered their allocated area.

As a deterrent, officials have said they will “haphazardly daub” electric lime green paint on sheds and posts in any plot which is not properly labelled or numbered.

Site representatives have backed the move, claiming it will make it easier when issues, such as water leaks and fly-tipping, have been identified.

In recent days, a reminder sent out to all allotment holders alongside the annual rent bills said: “Tenants who continue to leave their plots unnumbered run the risk of having their plot numbers painted on the side of any upright object by our maintenance |team.

“We have sourced several pots of paint in a particularly unpleasant shade of electric lime green and plan to begin haphazardly daubing large plot numbers on to unnumbered plots in the New Year.”

The Argus:

The issue was first raised earlier this year.

Allotment holders have been told that they must make sure the number is “clearly visible from the haulage path or road”.

Steve Miller, a site representative at Eastbrook Farm allotments in Portslade, said he felt it was a good idea.

He said: “On some of the larger sites it can be quite difficult to locate various plots.

“If the officers got it wrong on their inspections and sent a notice to the wrong person, then they would probably get quite annoyed.”

Among the numbers that have been set up at the Weald allotments in Hove include a “plot 101” road sign and a bead ensignia on a rotten tree trunk nailed up, pictured.

A statement on the allotment’s blog said: “This is part of a council-wide policy to try and ensure that allotment officers and site volunteers can easily identify each plot, as it makes it easier for them to then report any problems.

“Our allotment-holders are resourceful, imaginative and thrifty, and the ways they are finding to meet the council’s requirements range from the quite simple, to the simply beautiful.”

A council spokesman said: “Numbering plots is a requirement of the allotment holder’s tenancy agreement and a simple but practical measure to help identify the location of problems such as water leaks and fly-tipping.

“It also removes the problem of inspection notices being issued in error and helps other tenants, co-workers and visitors to navigate the site.”