Hoole Allotments’ Gardeners’ Association.
Annual General Meeting February 9th 2016.
Chairman’s Report
Introduction
2015-16
The high point of the allotment colony’s year was the tremendously successful open day held on Sunday 12th July 2015 11.a.m. to 3.p.m.
My thanks for all the collective work and effort that went into its success: the subcommittee, donators and helpers on the day..a great collective spirit and effort, which extended into the evening and a very enjoyable BBQ with a curry. We had a lot of visitors, of all ages, who left after a good walk around with lots to look at and to join in. We have said that we will hold an open day in 2016. Waitrose may be prepared to offer the same kind and level of support.
There have been echoes of the fundraising success of the day with recent confirmation that our donation of £500 to The Hospice of the Good Shepherd has been match funded through the Lloyds Bank scheme.
The low point of the year was the first weekend in February, just before the last AGM,when the Association was the victim of a nasty burglary which caused a lot of damage to our quirky but much loved ‘trading hut’ and its contents. Fortunately we were able to recover the costs of the gratuitous damage on our insurance policy, minus £100 excess. The company loss adjuster was very efficient and helpful, and the experience of making the claim gave me confidence in using these insurers for more complex insurances in the future, should they be required.
The ‘garage gardening project’, supported by the Sainsbury Family Trust group of charities, in partnership with the Sanctuary Housing Trust,is reaching the end of its final year of charitable funding.
Essentially it created growing spaces to give adults of all ages and needs and children opportunities for growing from seed to cropping. Weston Grove site in Upton, and at the Queens Road site in Vicars Cross, both established, have been joined by Linden Grove in Hoole and the Lache.
From April there will be opportunities for anyone who has an interest in helping new growers to get started and growing on a small scale, to help out and be involved at any of the sites. Linden Grove is just around the corner from Hoole Allotments and we have members who live near to Queens Road in Vicars Cross. The schemes try to involve children and families in a convenient space which takes account of their needs.
The NSALG/Kings Seed Order was quite well supported, as last year. Members are spending less. I look forward to new tenants and more tenants using the scheme this year. Good quality seeds and plants are supplied at a very competitive price, and the scheme raises income for the Association.
My impression of the uptake of membership at the start of 2016 is that it is slow, but we let plots late last year and we had a very good uptake from new tenants. This year we are waiting for a big allocation of tenancies on March 10th.
Members of the Committee have continued to help out with monitoring the cultivation and care of plots, clearing, footpaths, spraying.
This will be a big responsibility to tenants, and third, the need for much help from those tenants who can, and will be able to give some practical help and time. Along the lines of ‘Many hands make light work’ we are looking for any support members can give, if it is to happen.
Please help with numbering of plots. We have some ideas for numbering plots that have not yet been marked out and numbered.
Also, paths between and around plots are shared responsibility of tenants.
The days of this being maintained by the Councilhave passed, and this is a way that we can all help to improve the colony from within. Some rougher areas of land and overgrown areas still need settling fully and some clearing.
There has been a push to get more plots available for letting.
The dated Council administrative systems are being updated by Andy James, the current ‘allotments officer’. He wears Dave Chapman’s old hat, inside a much larger one because he has a wider-ranging post as an Environmental Officer for the authority.
In the process, we have had to help Andy James with Cheshire West and Chester’s Council’s list of tenancies and plot records: we have helped with the development of an accurate plan of the plots on the site, which has to be matched to the idiosyncratic numbering system that we have. The Hoole list will be accurate very soon.The plan will be accurate, if idiosyncratic, soon.
Council Policy and ‘self-management’
During 2014-15, reported at the last AGM,Cheshire West & Chester sent a letter to all the tenants on the Hoole List at the time, announcing its change of policy concerning its allotment colonies.
Cheshire West & Chester Council’s policy objectiveremains that Hoole Allotment colony should become a self-managing site, in line with its policy for allotments overall.
The Council’s strategy in 2015, was that the Council would makean ‘offer’, a scheme for managing and administering acolony, to its association. The association would then take on the management of the site with, and on behalf of, all its tenants.
This process began in the period when Dave Chapman, the allotments officer charged with negotiating and implementing the changes.
In a time of great uncertainty, no money, and disintegrating local authority structures, H.A.G.A. took practical approach to the emerging self-management agenda.
Wecontinue to be positive, seeing it as an opportunity for improving the allotments from inside. There is great experience and a wide range of skills amongst the tenants, members, committee members, across the colony.
West Cheshire Allotment Federation, helped some allotment sites to access self-management with Cheshire West and Chester during 2014 and 2015.
We have been able to see how they are progressing and whether they were able to get a fair settlement in their agreements with the Council.
Mervyn Gardner, Bill Trinder, Noel Frith, Chris Caroe, Dave Taylor, David Moulton and Jeanne Smith have met as a sub-committee, each contributing to the drawing up of papers: We have a complete set of draft papers with the Council in readiness for self-management, when and if it comes.
There is a list /programme of improvement work to be completed before signing up, and a Schedule of Responsibilities acceptable specifically to Hoole Allotments’ & Gardeners Association, which still needs some adjustment. This is the division of responsibilities between the Council and H.A.G.A.
The sub-committee has also determined what will be required for good governance, improvements to the constitution of Hoole Allotments’ and Gardeners’ Associationto be adopted prior to any introduction of self-management, insurances, management and administration, should a Council offer prove adequate.
The sub-committee attended three meetings with Dave Chapman, Allotments’ Officer: At the heart of what we discussed was ‘the offer’ and the improvements Cheshire West and Chester was prepared to have done in order to prepare Hoole Allotments’ site for self-management.
The first explored the Schedule of Responsibilities. The focus was on what duties and responsibilities the Council would retain, should the allotment colony site be leased to the association, and set up its management and day-to-day running.
Improvement work to make good deficiencies in the site started unexpectedly, without a proper specification drawn up and without a plan, at the end of week commencing May 12th.
The ‘schedule’ of water and road/path works was to be completed before he left his post, and before the end of last financial year. This did not happen.
We await the installation of a dedicated water meter, completion of snags on the piping and taps, and authorisation foressential additional work. Agreement on paying for a programme of work on roads and hardstanding will be sought. There is a lot of unfinished business.
Dave Taylor joined the sub-committee to help assess the suitability and affordability of ‘My Colony’ web-based software package for the administration of Hoole Allotments under self-management. Because the Council will not fund any support, the suitability of other options is being explored, including a home-grown package.
The Association remains positive, awaiting developments from the Council, whilst holding it to its good intentions, and getting everything in writing.
Andy James has drawn up a draft management plan, which, because the Council has not yet provided information on which to plan a draft budget from projected income, includes a facility for the Council to indemnify H.A.G.A. against excessive costs incurred from water bills and ground maintenance charges. This area requires a lot more detailed exploration.
The subcommittee has drawn up a management team plan for self-management, which Bill Trinder will explain. This fits into the Constitution to be adopted by an extraordinary general meeting of the Association should the Association agree terms to self-manage the colony after all improvements and contracts have been agreed, and the moneys made available.
Looking ahead, if negotiations with the Council go according to plan and result in a firm offer in detail as well as general, then the Council will write to all the tenants on HooleAllotments explaining the changes.
We can only then consult all tenants and our neighbours once this stage is arrived at.
This continues into 2016 and March 10th will be a key date: it is when a large number of plots are being re-let.
Linda Webb