Brackley & District Allotment Association & Garden Holders Association Ltd
“ALLOTMENT NEWS”
Issue 1 November 2013
While none of your committee professes to be budding editors, this is our first attempt at producing an Allotment Association Newsletter. The aim is to keep members informed about what is going on within our Association and any suggestions or comments for improving future editions would be welcome. These can be sent to our email address:
or in writing to: Mike Cook at 13 Octavian Way, NN13 7HX.
Chairman’s Comments: It is now 18 months since I took over as your Chairman and although there have been a few changes in personalities on the committee during that time, I believe we now have a hard working and very competent management team who are putting in a lot of effort behind the scenes to improve the Association and bring it into the 21st Century. All members now have formal tenancy agreements and their own personal set of rules. The Secretary is able to communicate with more than 70 of our 107 members via email and we hope this number will increase. We also have a website which is slowly being developed and now we have this newsletter. In addition, I have seen more information notices put on site notice boards in the last year than I had in the previous 8 years. While the committee cannot do everything overnight, I believe that we are moving in the right direction.
Secretary’s Comments: It is almost 5 months since I took over as your secretary and I have been building and hopefully improving on the good work that Mark Burgess started last year. More of our records are now computerised which makes the administration far easier. I have also established our own dedicated email address which allows both existing and potentially new members to communicate with me. It also enables me to send out information or reminders quickly to the majority of you and we don’t incur expensive postage costs. I would ask all those who haven’t given their email address to do so (email addresses will not be broadcast) but no pressure if you don’t want to and likewise no pressure on anyone who does not have an email account.
Our website continues to develop and now all AGM and Committee Meeting agendas and minutes, together with notices, equipment sales and general information can be seen there. The address is: www.brackleyallotments.btck.co.uk
The decision to introduce tenancy agreements last year was a sound concept and I have been able to build on that. Instead of having an annual agreement, I have changed it to an open ended one for use this year and once this is signed, you should not need to sign another. In addition we will reintroduce the membership cards this year and they will be all that you require in future years.
Treasurer’s Comments: I am pleased to report that the Association's finances are very healthy thanks in no small part to my predecessor Mike Pattinson's sterling work. Inevitably, the funds have diminished slightly since the last Accounts were produced but the finances generally are still in good order. They will be in even better shape when all our rents are in!
It should be borne in mind, however, that we have have some necessary expenditure coming up in the form of site rents to the Council, tree surgery, laying on of two more taps and fencing at Egerton and accountancy fees. It is recommended that any work that can be done by members, should be done by them to keep costs down.
All in all, your Association remains in a sound financial position.
Rent Day: Most of you will be receiving this newsletter when you visit the Town Hall to pay your annual rent and we hope you feel that by collecting rent in a Town Centre location, it is better than have to visit someone’s home with parking issues and having to queue. By combining it with a coffee morning, the committee feel that this will hopefully pay for the cost of the hire of the hall and at the same time make it a more sociable event whereby plot holders can have a cup of coffee and a chat with their fellow plot holders. Please let us know what you think and if we can improve on the arrangements for next year.
NSALG & Cheap Seeds: As the vast majority of the 40 members, who attended this year’s AGM in June, voted in favour of us affiliating to the NSALG, we did so in July. Members are now starting to see the benefits of this decision, one of which is that you will have all received a comprehensive seed catalogue and are now able to order their seeds through the Association at a considerable discount compared to the price in Garden Centres.
An added bonus is that the Association funds also benefit from your seed orders at no extra cost to yourselves i.e. More orders = More funds.
At the time of the AGM we informed members that the NSALG annual subscription was £2 per year. Unfortunately from the 1 January 2014, this will increase to £2.25p apparently the first increase in 7 years and that is the reason why you have been asked to pay the increased amount on rent day. It will also mean that you have had free membership from July to December 2013. Anyone ordering seeds through the scheme will quickly recoup their annual subscription. In addition, NSALG quarterly magazines are in circulation, although we are experiencing a few teething problems as some members are not passing them on. Unfortunately we are only entitled to 10 copies for our number of members without incurring addition costs and therefore these have to be shared. Furthermore, your committee can now call on the expertise of the NSALG as the management of allotments is becoming more complicated with frequently changing legislation and other legal issues.
Waiting List & New Allotments: Our current waiting list stands at about 40 and anyone wishing to join the Association currently has to wait about 4 years for a plot. Legislation clearly puts the responsibility on the Town Council to provide adequate allotment land when the demand requires. The Allotment Association has been pressuring on the Town Council for a number of years to provide addition land but without success, mainly due to their lack of ownership of suitable land. Most of the old Brackley Borough Council land was transferred to the District Council in 1974 and has now been built on. The Town Council is now working with the Association to try to identify more land and we are having bi-monthly meetings.
Some of you may be aware that when discussions first took place on the proposed Radstone Fields development, provision was included in the outline plans for additional allotments as part of this development, however the developers objected to this and the end result was that they were required to pay a sum of £120,000 to the District Council in lieu of allotments and the District Council have now got to find other suitable allotment land. The actual money will be available when the 300th house is built in about 2 years’ time and has to be spent within 5 years otherwise it is lost. We have identified some land off the Halse Road and exploring this further with the Town and District Council and hopefully will be able to report on our progress in future newsletters.
Water: It’s that time of the year when the frost are about to start and therefore your site reps will be turning off the water supply at the stop-cocks to prevent pipes and taps freezing up. They will then be turned on again in the spring. Once the water is turned off taps will be left open.
The committee are currently working on providing two addition taps on the Egerton site but unfortunately this is not quite as simple as it sounds as we have to ensure that work is done to Anglian Water specifications. Hopefully we can get the work done by the spring.
Trees: There are currently problems on all of our sites with most of which are the responsibility of the Town Council. They are aware of these but their tree problems around the Town are considerably bigger than those adjacent to our allotments and they are waiting for a consultant’s evaluation before they try to find funding to deal with them. We have recently managed to get a large Lime tree removed from the Cemetery site and it is hoped that some self-setting trees adjacent to the St Peters Mill site may be moved over the winter. As the Egerton Site sits within the conservation area it is not easy to get tree work done without approval from the District Council and this will delay work. We will continue to badger the relevant authorities until the work is done.
Hedges: It’s that time of the year when the leaves are falling and we need to do some hedge maintenance work. In accordance with our rules it is plot holders personal responsibility to keep the hedges trimmed near to their plots and so they do not exceed 2 metres in height. This has to be done before of March when the birds start nesting and therefore your site reps will soon be pestering you to get the work done as soon as possible.
We are also having problems with the conifer hedge planted by the neighbouring land owner at the Castle Site and the adverse effect it is having on adjacent plot holders. We are working on this but as the owner does not want to remove the hedge; we suspect this is going to be a long drawn out issue. We are hoping that the NSALG membership may be useful if we need some help dealing with this.
Bonfires: Over the summer months the committee has received a number of complaints from residents living near our sites about nuisance caused by bonfires. Can I just draw your attention the fact that there is no offence in having a bonfire but it is an offence to cause smoke which is a nuisance to neighbours and that the District Council has the authority to take action against the responsible individuals (not the Allotment Association) under the Environmental Protection Act. Please ensure the wind is blowing smoke away from residential properties before you start a bonfire and should the wind change, please put the bonfire out promptly.
Compost: There have been a number of articles in gardening magazines recently about poor quality commercial compost since manufactures started using composted municipal waste instead of peat. It is thought that one of the problems is that weed and moss killers is getting into the compost from treated lawn cuttings which are being put in green recycling bins. Apparently commercial growers can still purchase compost that does not contain municipal waste and is of a higher quality to those sold in garden centres and DIY shops. Your committee is therefore exploring the possibility of bulk buying such compost for members in the spring. For this project to be successful, members will need to place pre-paid orders in advance and then collect their compost on the day of delivery. Any views or comments on this proposal would be welcome. Take a look at our website for the latest news on composts and legionella.
Bees: Many plot holders commented this year on the lack of honey bees on our sites and the late arrival of bumble bees, which did most of the pollinating. The demise of the honey bee is becoming a national problem and your committee has recently discussed approaching a professional bee keeper with a view to him siting one his hives on each of our sites. We would welcome member’s views on this.
Finally: If you have any suggestions or ideas that would improve or benefit your association then please make them known. They will all be considered, especially if they come with an offer to help with whatever may be involved.
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