CVS Training Course

The role of your local councillor

Local councillors are elected to represent the interests and needs of the people and communities they serve. It is their role to develop links with the community and represent that community’s interests in the council.

This short workshop will help learners gain an understanding of who their local councillors are, their role in representing the different areas of Bolton and how community organisations can make positive links with their councillor in order to champion the needs of people they support.

This short workshop will be delivered by Councillor Ebrahim Adia from Rumworth ward, Bolton

15th November 2017, 10:00 till 11:00

For more information: https://www.boltoncvs.org.uk/civicrm/event/info?id=411&reset=1

 

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For more information on upcoming Training Courses and to book onto a course please visit: http://www.boltoncvs.org.uk/training

If your group is a full member of Bolton CVS with an income below £25,000 you may be eligible for one of our Big Bolton Fund Training Grants which cover up to 80% of the cost of our non-accredited courses. To apply for one of our training grants please visit: http://www.boltoncvs.org.uk/big-bolton-fund-training-grants

OCTOBER MINUTES

MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER MEETING OF ABAS

9^th October 2017

Present: 27 members from 12 societies

Previous Minutes

The Minutes of the September Meeting having been posted on the Association Blog-site and there being no corrections etc. raised, the minutes were approved by the meeting.

Matters Outstanding

Abas future strategy

27 questionnaires had been distributed and as of 08/10/2017 we had received 13 replies, all from member OMA sites

A preliminary analysis has been done

The questionnaire results indicate that members are (to varying degrees):

(Actual %s have been withheld until conversations (see below) with the Council are completed)

·         dissatisfied with the Council’s response to the Monthly Reports which are submitted by Site Societies under the terms of the OMAs

·         dissatisfied with the Council’s performance in notifying Site Secretaries when plots fall vacant and may be re-let

·         dissatisfied with the Council’s performance in regularly supplying Site Secretaries with updated Waiting Lists (under OMAs it is the Site Secretary’s responsibility to contact the next person on the waiting list when a plot becomes vacant)

·         dissatisfied with the Council’s performance in processing Breaches of Tenancy (particularly persistent mal-cultivation) reported by Site Secretaries

·         dissatisfied with the Council’s performance in respect of repairs and maintenance (including Health and Safety concerns) on sites

Action So Far

An Email giving a summary of the questionnaire results was sent to Cllrs Peel, Burrows and Watters on 21/09/2017 – a copy was also presented to Malcolm Russell (Head of Neighbourhood Services)

A Follow-up email was sent to ALL Councillors sent 28/09/2017

A reply Email was received from Cllr Nick Peel on 28/09/2017. He was “awaiting officer availability” and hoped to get back to us soon

Replies have been received from 9 of the 60 Councillors contacted. 5 of those 9 stated that they had contacted Cllr Peel. We are grateful for their interest, time and support.

A meeting has been arranged for 12.00 p.m. Tuesday 10th October with Cllr Peel, Kellie Hopkins (Asst. Director Environmental Services) and Malcolm Russell at the Town Hall.

(A separate note on that meeting will be released following our Committee meeting on Monday October 16^th.)

Future Actions

There then followed a discussion as to what members hoped for / expected from the above meeting.

·         Members discussed what line the Executive should take.

·         Members discussed what might constitute a satisfactory outcome?

·         Members discussed what further actions they might wish us to take, dependent on the results of the meeting.

The Committee will continue to try to find out more about what is happening on non-OMA sites.

The Secretary repeated that abas is ready to help any site form a society and if it desires move towards an OMA. (Model Constitutions etc. are available and NWCAA has announced some possible grants to help in Society formation (see below))

NWCAA

Jeff and Terry continue to be our liaison with the NWCAA

Minutes of NWCAA meetings are available on the NWCAA website

The NWCAA also issue a monthly news-letter

The next NWCAA Forum is on 29/10/2017

Freedom of Information Request

This issue is still under consideration

GMSF

Andy Burnham’s office continue to issue interpretations of the last consultancy exercise.

These are regularly covered in the Bolton News and on the GM Mayor’s web-site

Grants and Funding Opportunities

NWCAA have small grants available to assist sites wishing to form new societies and / or organise events which promote NWCAA and /or the NAS

AVIVA have community grants available http://community.fund.aviva.co.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 now due and ideally should be paid by the AGM in November.

Any Other Business

The Council has now introduced a new system EGRESS which they intend to use to distribute sensitive information such as names and addresses on waiting lists. Some secretaries have found this easy to access, others are having problems. Abas has not been given access to the system.

ABAS remains concerned about non-OMA sites. About 1/3^rd of the plots in Bolton are on non-OMA sites. The overwhelming majority of such sites have no site Society and no affiliation either to ABAS or to the NAS.

Given current Council resources such sites may only receive a Council visit once every four years or so. Identifying uncultivated and abandoned plots is ‘ad hoc’ to say the least. Re-letting vacant plots is not systematic.

ABAS has identified this as a priority issue once the current “communications” issues between Site Secretaries and the Council have been addressed.

Meeting Dates

Our next Meeting is our AGM on Monday November 13th starting at 8pm at the Astley Bridge Cricket Club

SEPTEMBER MINUTES

MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 2017 MEETING OF ABAS

11^th 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 2017
Second 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 NWCAA
Minutes 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

RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS

APOLOGIES FOR THE QUALITY OF THIS POST BUT THE LAST MICROSOFT UPDATE STOPPED MY PDF TRANSLATION SOFTWARE FROM WORKING - I'M STILL TRYING TO CONTACT MY SOFTWARE SUPPLIERS TO REMEDY IT - DAVE

Bark and Mulch

Haslam Park has reported a potential source of free bark chippings etc.

"Danny" on 07805 629352

Correction to MInutes

In the minutes of the August meeting we used a number of figures (to calculate the ratios of plot provision to population in Bolton)  which have since been updated / revised.

Using data from the bolton.gov.uk website
Our current estimate of the 2015 population is 281,436

The number of dwellings in Bolton in 2015 is estimated at 119,867

Hence number of persons per dwelling is (approx.) 2.35

(the Bolton website suggests that average household size in new dwellings is falling)

Hence given that Bolton had 959 plots in 2015 and a (full-sized) plot is approx. 250 sq metres

Bolton has (959 x 250) / (119.876) sq metres per 1000 dwellings or approx. 2,000 sq metres per 1000 dwellings.

The NAS target is 5,000 sq metres per 1000 dwellings (for new developments)

Hence Bolton is about 40 % of target.

There are a number of issues with these figures e.g. -

1. Can we assume all plots are 250 sq metres - is there a better figure available for an average plot?

2. Is household size in new dwellings the same as household size in existing properties?

3. Can we therefore use the NAS target as a guide to assessing the adequacy of existing provision? - we also have waiting list data which suggests a large and growing demand for plots

Etc.

But we're working with what we have - and we're continuing to search for comparison data across Greater Manchester

Funding Workshop

Little Funds for Big Ideas 

Farnworth UCAN Centre, 84 Campbell Street, Farnworth, Bolton. BL4 7HH

8th September 9.30am - 11.30am

Are you looking for a small amount of funding to deliver some community activities? Maybe you're a new group with some great ideas but need some start-up funds.

This interactive workshop is suitable for any voluntary and community groups interested in finding out about small pots of money that may be available to support their work. John Aitken, one of our Group Development Officers will be on hand to tell you about small grant funding opportunities, both local and national.

Come along to hear about useful hints and tips to make your applications as strong as they can be.

Click here to book your place.

For other training opportunities at Bolton CVS, please click here