Meeting of the
Association of Bolton Allotment Societies
12th March
2018 at Astley Bridge Cricket Club
The meeting
began at 8.00 p.m.
There were
26 members from 14 sites.
Apologies
were received from Dorothy Kay (Tonge Fold)
The Chair
welcomed members and asked them to remember our blogsite at http://abas2014.blogspot.co.uk
Minutes of the 2017 AGM
The Minutes
having been posted on the Association Blog-site for an appropriate period and
no comments or objections having been received the meeting accepted the minutes
as correct.
Matters Arising
The
Committee will in 2018 seek to actively promote membership of ABAS. In
particular we shall seek to contact and recruit some of our non-OMA sites
Since the
November meeting Mr Phil Warren had
indicated that he no longer wished to serve on the ABAS Committee. The
Committee would like to thank Phil for all his support since ABAS was first
mooted and express our regrets that he feels he can no longer be on the
Committee.
THE ABAS VISION STATEMENT
Abas exists
to achieve fair treatment for all plot-holders on allotments sites within the
Bolton Borough boundaries. It seeks to achieve this through effective
representation of plot-holders and societies to the Council and the provision
of support to individuals and societies.
In the light
of subsequent discussion we would like to remind members that one of abas’
primary functions is to act as a channel of communication between the Council
(essentially the Allotments section) and Site Secretaries / Societies.
Communication is two-way – Council to Society and Society to Council. Quite a lot of what we do at meetings is to
broadcast information on Council policy, budgets etc. and its implications for
Societies and their members.
ABAS Membership
A number of
societies have still not yet paid their annual subscriptions to the
Association.
Current
membership stands at 399 plot-holders, although the total number of plots
covered by member societies exceeds this number.
The
Secretary stated that it is vital that, if we are to retain credibility as a
negotiating / liaison body on behalf of the allotment community with Bolton
Council, we keep membership in excess of 500.
We urge all
societies who have not yet re-joined to do so.
KEY PROBLEM AREAS
Outstanding
Issues can be divided into two areas
#1 those
relating to the provision of services and facilities at sites
#2 those
relating to the management / administration systems shared between society
officers and the Allotments Team
Whilst
Issues in #1 can be addressed by societies through fundraising initiatives and
grants, issues in #2 require a decision by the authority to increase
expenditure (budget) since they deal with internal staffing, systems etc.
Members were
reminded of the suggestion in November that an increase in the “allotment
budget” might be funded by discontinuing the “Over-60s” rent rebates which was
not favourably received by the Association’s membership. The meeting again
repeated its suspicions that the funds created by such a move would not actually
be spent on allotment administration and/or have any major impact on the poor
performance of the Council with respect to administration (as referred to in abas questionnaire results).
PROGRESS MEETING(S) WITH BOLTON MBC
The latest
meeting was held on Thursday 15th
February 2018
An initial
report from that meeting was circulated to Society Secretaries on 17th February
2018.
The
principal subject of the meeting was the
revised OMA Agreement intended to be applied from 01/04/2018. The key
changes to the draft etc. were spelled out in the abas circular of 17/02/2018
Following the Progress meeting an amended
text of the OMA was received from MR on 5/3/2018 and circulated to Society
Secretaries for consideration. There were no major objections raised at the12.03 meeting to the amended text.
Other matters included
Effects of new Data Protection Regulations
(GDPR Data Protection Regulation which comes into force on May 2018) on Waiting
List information (society secretaries who are provided with this information may
be required to sign to say they will safeguard that information and not pass it
to any other body).
Request for Secretaries to supply updated
information on new tenants, probationers, those leaving sites etc.
It had been
suggested that societies conduct informal
Site Inspections during March 2018 – to be followed up where needed by formal inspections in April leading
to possible issue of BoT2s (and subsequent BoT3s)
The Council
had suggested that where applicants
repeatedly refuse offers of plots – that after 3 offers they should be
excluded from the waiting list. Secretaries should always note any refusals on
the Monthly Report.
When making contact with persons on the waiting
list to make a plot offer, it was suggested that Societies if, following an
initial email or letter and a follow-up phone call (if possible) and then a
final email, receive no response from the applicant then this should be noted
on the Monthly report and the secretary should move to the next name on the
list.
Keys and Locks – there is a Council
proposal that responsibility for buying new locks and keys should pass from the
Council to the Society. The Council will provide an initial supply of standard
locks and keys and a list of sources for replacements. Societies could then move
to a system whereby on the issue of a key to a tenant that tenant pays a charge
and/or deposit. The level of such charges should be set so that the provision
of locks and keys is not a drain on the society’s funds.
The
Committee reported on a proposal for a joint push to replace the portable chemical toilets, which are available on
some sites for 26 weeks each year, with
permanent composting toilets.
Such a
project would be ‘grant-based’ – some ‘central’ base to create standard bids
with Council support over planning matters might be a solution and the
Committee will follow up Cllr Peel’s suggestion that we work with a Bolton
Council Grants Advisor to set this up. Other initiatives relating to water
saving etc. will be investigated during 2018
Following
further discussions within the Committee, we will be requesting a copy of the
2018/2019 Allotments Budget – suitably itemised
Bolton Allotments Competition 2018
The
Fairhurst, Greenhalgh, New Tenant and Rosebowl Competitions will again be run
by ABAS in 2018
Judging will
take place in June and July
Judging
Criteria, entry forms etc. will be available at the next meeting
ABAS ONION, LEEK AND VEGETABLE SHOW
The Annual
Vegetable Show will be held on Saturday 4th August at Trinity Church, Tonge Fold
There will
be 25 Vegetable Classes and lists and schedules will be available. Copies of
the list of classes were distributed at the meeting.
Terry
Farrell has offered to visit any society to show plot-holders what standards
etc. are required to show veg etc. Terry can be contacted on 0786 3933064. Members
were again reminded that this is a ‘closed’ show (Abas members only) and that
judging is to “table quality”.
NWCAA
The NWCAA
AGM will now be held on 8th April at Greenhall Sports and Social Club, Alder
Hey Rd., St Helens, WA10 4DN– Jeff and Terry will attend for ABAS if possible
Please note
the new NWCAA email address: nwcallotmentassociations@gmail.com
The NWCAA
website is www.northwestallotments.btck.co.uk
Members
should visit the website to sign up for NWCAA Newsletters
NAS INSURANCE SCHEME
On page 7 of
Allotment and Leisure Gardener, Issue 1 2018, the NAS proposed to establish an
insurance scheme to cover all members. More details of this scheme are being
announced (via the NAS website www.nsalg.org.uk and in issues of A&LG)
There was
much discussion of this initiative and it was felt that:
·
as individual members we all need to know more
of the benefits
·
as Secretaries and Treasurers we will also wish to examine to how this
scheme affects their current insurance arrangements e.g. with respect to Public
Liability etc.
A member
from Rawlyn Road with insurance expertise / knowledge is to conduct a
preliminary look at the proposals.
Information Holding
As part of
the scheme mentioned above the NAS stated that “Each Association will need to
provide details of all their plot holders…. By filling in a template provided
by NAS”. They also stated that this action complies with the May2018 GDPR Data
Protection Legislation.
We assume
that when they use the term ‘plot-holder ‘, they mean ‘a plot-holder who is
also a member of the NAS’.
A
plot-holder on a site is always a tenant of the Council and Council
restrictions on sharing data supplied by them for the purposes of waiting list
management would have to be applied (see earlier note)
A
plot-holder may be a member of the site society in which case it may be politic
to have them sign something to the effect of allowing the society to hold
contact details (e.g. for use in a case of emergency) and share them in certain
specified circumstances (e.g. if the society’s insurers require a list of
society members being covered)
A
plot-holder may (through their society) also be a member of the NAS – if so it
may be politic to have them sign that their details may be supplied to e.g. the
NAS using the template provided for the insurance scheme)
GM SPATIAL PLAN
Little to
report save that the Council anticipate Peel Holdings setting out their
intention to reclaim possession of the allotment site currently leased by them
to the Council.
This site
has been the subject of a successful planning application for housebuilding.
So far as we
know no other sites are in jeopardy.
We understand
that Bolton at Home may have sold some former ‘allotment land’ to tenants as
‘garden extensions’ (3 small patches of
land used as allotments which lay within the boundaries of “council estates”
were transferred to Bolton at Home by the Council some time ago).
We also
understand that Bolton MBC may be considering “selling off” some areas of
“surplus” woodland and also that maintenance of woodland areas has been
severely curtailed
WHAT’S ON IN 2018?
We will
continue to maintain the section of the blog site that highlights events being
organised at or by allotment groups within Bolton (and possibly further
afield).
So far we
have the Annual Veg Show on August 4th and we understand that Harpers Lane
Allotments will be having a Spring Event / Plant Sale on May 6th.
Please note
that National Allotment Week is 13th to 19th August – the theme is “Living and
Growing”
GRANTS ETC.
To improve
facilities etc. allotment sites need a financial input
Whilst
fundraising events remain vital, significant sums are most likely to come
through successfully bidding for and securing grant funding for projects
We shall be
investigating whether we can work with the Council’s “Grant Funding Navigators”
to establish some central mechanism for helping societies / sites identify funders,
make bids and carry out projects
OUTSTANDING ISSUES
So far as we
know the principal outstanding issues from 2017 have been raised with the
Council and/or covered in previous sections
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
There was
suggestion that we ask the Council to set up a system whereby there are monthly meetings with Society
representatives to iron out face to face the issues raised in each Monthly
Report. Whether this should be on an individual society basis and where
such meetings should be held was discussed.
The
Secretary reported that the Head of Neighbourhood Services had on more than one
occasion resisted making any commitment to (regular) meetings with individual
sites. The
Secretary referred to the former practice of Joint Consultative Meetings which
had been discontinued by the Council on grounds of lack of staff resources.
It was also suggested that abas could collate the monthly reports before they went to the
Council. Abas’ ability to resource this must be questioned.
There was a discussion as to the strategy
of ‘constructive engagement’ currently adopted by abas with respect to
dealings with the Council.
It was
suggested that the Association should return to the topic of a ‘subsidy’ for
allotments and consider bringing in someone with legal expertise (preferably on
voluntary basis) to reconsider the legality of Bolton’s zero budget stance.
The
Committee pointed out that this matter had previously been addressed and advice
had been sought from the NAS some years ago. The opinion had been that our
chances of a satisfactory outcome were slim.
It was
further suggested that Societies should take a more aggressive stance on
untended plots and consider simply re-letting an unused plot to “some guy
who’ll try to make a go of it”
The
Secretary pointed out that Societies are not landlords, we have no powers to
issue tenancy agreements and that any person who took on a plot in those
circumstances would effectively be a squatter and would (almost certainly) be
evicted by the Council and replaced by someone from the waiting list under
normal procedures (probably after another long delay).
The matter
rests for now….
MEETINGS SCHEDULE
The
following meetings are planned
Monday 9th
April
Monday 14th
May
Monday 11th
June
Monday 9th
July
Monday 13th
August
Monday 10th
September
Monday 8th
October
Monday 12th
November (THE AGM)
