MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 2017 MEETING OF
ABAS
11th
September – 2017 – at Astley Bridge Cricket Club – the meeting commenced at
8.00 p.m.
Present: 20 members representing 11 sites
Minutes of the August Meeting
The August
Minutes having been posted on the Association Blog-site during August the
minutes were accepted by the membership as being correct.
Outstanding Matters
It was
reported that two questions had been put to the Head of Neighbourhood Services
(Malcolm Russell)
Qn: Do Council Officers have to give a
tenant 24 hours’ notice of their intention to enter onto a plot?
Ans: Strictly speaking yes, it’s in the tenancy agreement. However this is
rarely an issue as the tenant is usually absent when they have cause to do so
Qn: What if a Society cannot carry out
an inspection on a particular plot.
Ans: In such cases the neighbours will usually raise a complaint about the
plot and the Society should submit these complaints on the Monthly Report. This
will then be taken as evidence of a need for action and the Council will take
appropriate action as and when resources permit.
Previous Backlog
We had been
informed by e-mail that a concerted effort had been made within the Allotments
Section and that the backlog of administrative matters (BoTs, Replied to
Monthly Reports, and Tenancy Agreements) as it stood on 28/07/2017 had been
processed.
Subsequent
communications from Site Secretaries suggested that this was not the case (Abas
had pursued at least one issue and will
pursue others as they are raised with us by Site Secretaries).
The meeting instructed the Secretary to
follow up one particular Health and Safety case and to email Malcolm Russell
expressing our concerns. It was also argued that contact should be made with
the Ward Councillors.
Some sites
reported that BoTs had been processed.
The Secretary asked that sites keep him informed when actions result from the
submission of Monthly Reports etc. in order that Abas may have a balanced
picture of the Council’s performance.
Abas future strategy
27
questionnaires have been distributed (we have multiple contact points for some
sites and none for others) and as of 08/08/2017 we had received 11 replies (Two
further replies are expected imminently).
Reminders
have been sent
A
preliminary analysis has been done and shared with Committee members. This
shows a high degree of dissatisfaction with the reliability and speed of
Council responses to site needs. There was a strong feeling that the Council is
failing to meet its side of the OMA agreements.
Members felt
that the OMA Agreements had offered a possibility of a more productive
partnership between the Council and the allotment societies, but that the
Council had not shown sufficient initiative or commitment to the idea to make
it work as we had all hoped.
Members
present recognised that the Council has severe resource problems but feel the
constant placing of allotments at “the bottom of the pile” when it comes to
dealing with matters is not acceptable.
Members therefore instructed the Committee
to seek (as a matter of urgency) a meeting with the relevant Cabinet and
Executive members and also the Head of Neighbourhood Services.
Members also instructed the Committee to
contact all elected members to inform them of the feelings of the allotments
community.
Site Secretaries were also encouraged to
contact their own Ward Councillors to start a dialogue. IT was pointed out
that a problem is that while a site may be in one Ward, the plot-holders may be
drawn from several. Abas has had similar
difficulties in the past contacting MPs about cross-Borough matters, MPs demand
a reply address within their own constituencies.
Freedom of Information Request
Unfortunately
due to a range of domestic and other commitments the Committee had not had time
to analyse the information received from the 2 FoI requests. We will try to get
on with this as soon as time permits
Risk Assessments
Tonge Moor
Road Allotments Society had drawn up some Risk Assessment documents – which
cover Health and Safety requirements etc.
With Tonge Moor’s agreement these will now
be placed on the blog site.
GM Spatial Plan
The position
on the GMSF is
A Lead team
has been established to re-write the Plan. This team will be lead by Paul Dennett – Salford City Mayor
Initial
Results of 1st Consultation (based on 27,000 responses) will be published in
Sept 2017Second draft of GMSP to be developed from Jan onwards
Publication of 2nd Draft – June 2018
Followed by a 12-week consultation period
Members were
urged to keep up to date with developments via http://greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk
which is Andy Burnham’s mayoral website.
Abas is
trying (with the assistance of NWCAA and others) to obtain data on existing
allotment provision in Greater Manchester. So far 4 authorities have responded.
Whilst this initiative has some connections to the GM response (lead by Don
Booth – Salford) it is also needed to support pressure for new / improved
provision in Bolton itself. Preliminary results suggest Bolton is ‘middling’ in
terms of provision in Greater Manchester.
NWCAA
Jeff and
Terry continue to be our liaison with the NWCAAMinutes of NWCAA meetings are available on the NWCAA website
The NWCAA also issue a monthly news-letter
Grants and Funding Opportunities
We have
identified no new opportunities since the July meeting We would however continue to urge Societies to use Bolton CVS and GMCVO portals to look for opportunities.
The National Allotment Gardens Trust is also a possibility
The CVS have re-opened the ‘Big Bolton Fund’ for applications – see CVS website
Age Concern may be able to help identify sources of funding for e.g. disabled access – yasminholgeth@ageuk.org.uk
Abas Membership 2017 18
If we are to
continue to be regarded by the Council as the primary spokes-body for allotment
plot-holders in Bolton we need to maintain (and hopefully increase) our
membership numbers – both in terms of sites and plot-holders.
Abas subs
(£1 per Society member) are due at the October Meeting and ideally paid by the
AGM in November.
Any Other Business
Supplies of Chipped Bark / mulch etc.Haslam Park passed on a contact who may be able to supply quantities of chipped bark etc. “Danny” on 078056 29352
Poly-tunnels
There was an enquiry about poly-tunnels and a number of sites confirmed that they had such.
First Tunnels and Northern Poly-tunnels were suggested as possible suppliers.
Meeting Dates
Our next
Meeting is on Monday October 9th
Then Monday
November 13th which is our AGM
Please note that the AGM will see elections
for officers and committee. If you are interested in standing please come
forward.
All meetings
start at 8pm at the Astley Bridge Cricket Club
