Well here is hoping the rainy cold weather has gone for good and we are heading towards a long warm summer. Obviously the water is back on now so please keep your eyes open for leaks and drips. Big thanks to Steve Yorke and Steve Williams for fixing a leak that occured when the water was switched on. Please remember to disconnect all hoses and double check you have turned the taps off. Please see the water policy for further details. Also we still have some compost for sale please contact the Steves or me if you want some, we will order more when stocks are depleted. Prices at the moment are as last year.
Thank you to those who turned up for the first community work day and thank you too to those who apologised for not being available and to those who have since taken on individual responsibility for areas of our land. I would like to remind you all that you are all responsible for the area directly outside your allotment. Leading from that with reference to the councils intent to put direct let site rents up I have been in touch with the council and have been invited to meet with them to look at how our rent will be set in the future and finalising our new lease which maybe used as a blueprint for other associations or direct let sites that may choose to become associations or CIC’s. It is more than likely that any future rent charged or charges we are asked to pay the council will be dependant on the quality of our site and how it is managed both administratively and environmentally. It is therefore important that we get used to looking after it ourselves….and i mean here all of us not just a few of us. The next community day is Sunday 20th May. The front boundary needs to be cut and weeded and there may be work to be done on the community hut as we look towards turning it into a more user friendly room.
We have been asking for over 18 months now for barbed wire to be removed from gates and fences. This has come from the council inspections not us as a committee. This is the last ask. Those who have not removed barbed wire within the next couple of weeks will get a written request with a formal warning for non compliance.
There is a lot happening politically at the moment so we are asking for a couple of things, your support and co-operation and your vigilance either by following the web site or reading the notice board. Part of this is the requirement that we comply with the new Data Protection laws which basically require us to get permission to contact you and by what means. We also need a Privacy statement and a policy I am waiting for confirmation from the council to see if they are doing anything on an inclusive basis or not but basically we will be contacting you within the next couple of weeks about your preferences. You will after that be asked to give communication preferences when the rent bills come out in late August this will then be a yearly exercise. It is vitally important that you cooperate with any communication you receive.
Part of work done to comply with the councils management policy was writing a complaints policy but there is a long standing convention via the constitution and which is still in force is that complaints should be put into writing and given to the Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer, so they can be answered fairly. It is extremely disappointing and personally upsetting to be told by the allotment officer of the council that one of our tenants has complained about us to the City Council and to their MP without formally complaining to us first in writing. Although we have the full backing and confidence of the council I am not allowed to know exactly what that complaint is and have not therefore been given the opportunity to answer those complaints. Many hours of voluntary work are put in by a few of us to protect and run these gardens for the benefit of all.
From a personal point of view, due to the political climate over the last 5 years it has taken far more of my time than I envisaged being secretary of these allotments and having been in touch with the council over rents this last month, it is going to get even more complicated.
If anyone else therefore has a legitimate question on what is happening or why we are doing something please just ask. The AGM gives people the chance to raise concerns or ask for information and you are always invited to it and asked if you wish to submit an agenda item. It has a set date on the 3rd Sunday in March yet only a very small number of you, the tenants attended this year. You are annually invited to become committee members and can be co-opted onto the committee at anytime during the rest of the year. So for us to learn that someone complains about us for being non constitutional (non specific) without following procedure or even attending that meeting is very disappointing to say the least.
If anyone thinks they would like to become a member of the committee or indeed take on my role as Secretary feel free to join us.
Jackie
Old Park Farm Garden Holders Association 