Bishopsclyst Parish Council – Allotment Report

The Parish Allotment Site in Church Lane, Clyst St Mary consists of 21 half size plots @ £15, one full size plot @ £30, potentially bringing an income of £345 pa. From memory these prices were slightly increased at the last precept meeting but I am not sure to what. During the year 2016-17 all but one half plot was let. The council is going through the letting process for the current year which has resulted in 3 half plots not producing any income for the year due to the slow take up and the resulting poor condition. 2 have now been let but at nil charge for the current year to allow for clearing the plot.

In addition to providing the plots there is an area for parking, a recreational orchard, compost bins and a communal shed provided. The council provides a contracted out cutting service for the external boundary hedges, the recreational area, the area around the compost bins and the main access routes through the plots. There is a metered water supply to 3 outlets on site, with the council paying the bills then recovering the outlay from the tenants. In the year 2016-17 the council arranged for a trailer load of manure to be delivered for use by the tenants at a cost of £40.

The former council chair was the responsible person for the allotments immediately prior to leaving and during March a handover meeting was held with him at the site. At that time there were 2 half plots (Plot 9) not taken up and 2 others (Plots 6 and 1) which appeared not to have been worked for some time, but the others were in various stages of development given the time of year. Currently only Plot 6 remains to be let.Generally the site was in need of the grass being trimmed as per our contract. The boundary paths between the plots are the responsibility of the tenants to cut and maintain and they were in general good order.

The main outstanding issue at the point of handover was the compost bins. It was advised that the existing bins had been misused with inappropriate items, including inappropriate weed and plastic, being disposed of in them. This resulted in the bins being closed to further use in the autumn. The proposal was to re-site them in a more appropriate space with the current site then becoming available as an extra smaller plot. It would seem that a grant of £250 sits in the council accounts to help in achieving this and that a quote had been sought from PLandscape to carry out the work. In the event the quote later received was rejected by the council.More recently having made further enquiries into the situation it would seem that the position was not quite as reported to our former chair. It would seem that the material in the bins would be usable so the bins are being brought back into use, on the proviso that they are self managed by the tenants.

The other outstanding issue at handover was the need to repair the roof on the community shed. This has now been completed at considerably less cost than quoted by our main contractor, 10% of their quote in fact.

There has been some longstanding dissatisfaction from some tenants with the service provided by our maintenance contractors around the standard of grass cutting over the last 2 years and the number of cuts, allegedly only 4 out of 10 contracted cuts completed as at 29th August 2017. I have met with some tenants and there would seem to be some credence to their concerns in that the cutting appears to be the very minimum that can be got away with rather than thorough which seems to have been the practice in the recent past, times of 11 to 15mins were quoted to complete the cuts this year. A further cut took place on Friday, 1stSeptember I visitedthat evening and it general I found the cut satisfactory apart from the area around the compost bins. Our Clerk is requesting that our contractors return to revisit this area.

A meeting with one of the PLandscape managers was held on 24th August 2017 to obtain quotes for some additional works and to confirm the areas they thought they were contracted to be cut. We were in agreement about the general areas but unfortunately the manager present was not the one who supervises our site so could not confirm specific details and had no idea about the number of cuts. He took my questions away in order to get some answers, those are still awaited.

The quotes requested relate to the cutting of the internal hedge at the roadside boundary and the hedge abutting the orchard on the northern boundary. The internal roadside hedge is full of brambles and weeds which in places now extend 3 – 4 feet into the orchard and would add to the difficulties of using a machine to cut the orchard. There is a ditch at the bottom of this hedge and the orchard grass formerly was cut back to this ditch which in turn helped to keep the hedge under control by stopping weeds from growing up. This ditch is now invisible due to excess growth. Were the growth to be cut back, cutting the ground to the ditch edge could be resumed. The northern boundary to the orchard is a hedge topped with trees. The branches of these trees have now grown to such an extent that they are overtaking the orchard trees, extending to the centre of the closest ones and to an extent overshadowing them again preventing the grass being cut. Both these hedges need attention this autumn and if done October/Nov ember would avoid the nesting season.

The quote for the internal roadside hedge is £78.50 + VAT and for the northern hedge £38.50 + VAT- a total of £140.40 including VAT.

The difficulty with our current contract is that it is very open in that it only states 10 cuts pa without any specifics about areas or timing, leaving interpretation open to the contractors. Hopefully our proposed contract for next year will address this.

Generally the site appears in good order with the let plots all being worked. The vacant plot will need some work doing to clear it if not let soon as it sets a poor example to tenants and makes it more difficult to let. If left until next year it would mean another year without income as any letting would need to be at no charge to allow for clearing expenses and time. A issue which may develop at some point is that of bunny incursions. There is evidence of rabbits visiting inside the northern boundary fence and some comments about rabbits from tenants further down. It can mark time for the moment but if they have started to find their way in no doubt the issue will grow.

During August the lock on the Pedestrian Gate became a problem and after several attempts at maintenance it finally gave up the ghost. It was replaced at a cost of around £20.

Finally, on Saturday 8th September at 3pm I have arranged to meet with tenants on site to discuss with them any issues they wish to raise, also feed back to them council policy and their responsibilities. It is intended to raise the idea of self support and management in respect of minor on site jobs and potentially forming an Association to liaise with the council and others in respect of the site. The council have approved in principle provision of a site noticeboard for use by tenants and I requested our clerk obtain quotes for provision. Each tenant I have spoken with has been enthusiastic about this as they feel it would aid the creation of a community amongst tenants. Our clerk advise that the estimates are in the range £500/£600 for a freestanding, weatherproof noticeboard to be site inside the vehicle gate. An alternative would be a plain board inside the community shed, but there would be considerable less use and viewing here.

One area which will come up in discussion at the meeting is rental costs. Tenants have got wind that there will potentially be an increase in rent in the next financial year and have asked how this can be justified. It is no problem give a corporate answer to this but it would be helpful if some solid figures about our costs could be available as evidence saves a lot of argument, dissatisfaction and suspicion.

Colin Trudgeon

Councillor and Allotment Lead