AC May 2023 Minutes
Minutes of the Allotments Committee on Tuesday 23 May 2023 at 8:00pm held at the Institute.
Present: Councillors Bowell, Halls, Rose and Shinkins-Hoppe.
The Allotments Association Chair and a member of the public were present.
Assistant Clerk Louise Brown taking the Minutes.
OPEN FORUM
The Allotments Association Chair was invited to speak and he mentioned an email sent earlier in the day to Cllr Halls with three points raised:
1 The Allotments Association would like an email sending to all tenants to ask them to refrain from leaving plastic plant pots and wire or useful belongings by the shed for others, as this encourages rubbish to be left. Council also added that we could include that rubbish should not be left by the storage container either. Council will look into putting up a sign.
2 The Allotments Association wish to know who the Parish Council sent letters to after a recent allotments’ inspection, if not name, then plot number. The Allotments Association sometimes know why a plot has not been attended and can save the Council from sending unnecessary letters and also tenants tend to approach the Allotments Association about these letters.
Council cannot pass this information on due to the contract being between the Parish Council and the tenant and furthermore due to GDPR reasons. Should there be any reasons as to why a tenant has not attended a plot, the tenant should address them to Deeping St James Parish Council in the first instance. It is the tenant’s responsibility to contact the Council. The Parish Council welcome any information offered from both tenants and the Allotments Association however, the Parish Council request that the Allotments Association refer the tenants to the Parish Council directly.
Cllr Halls has suggested that a generic email is sent to all tenants asking them to contact the Parish Council if there is an illness that is likely to affect the cultivation of a plot and impact Tenancy Agreement conditions.
3 The Allotments Association wished to raise the concern regarding plots being handed out in an abandoned state and how to prevent this. A new tenant had spoken with them regarding the unexpected workload discovered, after they had taken on a plot and before they could begin work on the allotment properly.
Cllr Halls advised that tenants are met at the site and shown the plots being offered, and they are advised that they are able to refuse a plot if unhappy. The allotment plot is discussed with the tenant along with the site protocols at the time.
In this instance, it has been suggested that a working party from the Allotments Association is organised to aid the tenant. The question of providing a skip was dismissed as one skip has been agreed by the Parish Council per year, which is provided in the Autumn when there is the highest turnover in tenants. Funds are not set in place to support more than one skip per year.
Cllrs talked about introducing an eight-week probationary period, to give tenants taking on a plot time to consider if they wish to continue with their plot. It was suggested that his was added to the next allotments agenda to explore the idea.
The Allotments Chair thanked the Parish Council for fixing the tanks that had been reported to have holes in.
The Parish Council were advised that the Allotments Show is to be held on the 13th August 2023, and all Councillors are welcome to attend.
Finally, the Allotments Association Chair queried what the raise in tenancy rents would be for the 2024/25. The Allotments Committee have not discussed this yet, but the Allotments Tenant’s will have a year’s notice before this increase takes place.
01.24 To elect a new Chair.
The decision was taken at the Annual Council Meeting held on Tuesday 16th May 2023, to elect Cllr Halls as Chair of the Allotments Committee.
02.24 To receive apologies for absence.
Apologies were received from Cllr Fowler.
03.24 To receive declarations of interest, if any.
No declarations were received.
04.24 To adopt the minutes of the meeting held Tuesday 10th January 2023.
The wrong link was attached in the agenda – it has been amended here.
https://deeping-st-james.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/council-business/ac-2022-minutes/3 The Minutes were agreed as a true representative and signed.
05.24 To receive reports from the Clerk.
Plot Numbers
The Assistant Clerk has contacted Men in Sheds for an update.
Cllr Bowell requested a time limit should be put on the production of the plot numbers.
Plot 32B
The maintenance men have the removal of the raised beds situated at Plot 32B, on their list of jobs to complete and will attend to this when it is convenient in their work schedules. Cllr Halls is interested in placing new raised troughs in place, which may suit someone wishing a small Allotment Plot or someone with a disability.
The maintenance men are keen to use the soil from the allotments on the pathways at the Cemetery. The maintenance men will try to tie this in with the other project, should they be given it.
The Farmer came at the beginning of February to trim the hedges.
An email was sent to all tenants regarding an unpleasant incident of verbal abuse with one of our Councillors. Tenants were advised that this kind of behaviour would not be tolerated according to Tenancy Agreement Section 6, Clause 6.3.
An email was sent to all tenants asking them to remove any belongings being placed outside of their plots as this is blocks access to the roadway and is a hazard. This was supported by the Tenancy Agreement Section 6, Clause 13.
The Allotments Association had an AGM, and they have stated that they wish to speak to the Allotments Committee regarding waste management (see Appendix 2). Cllr Halls is happy to discuss this with them at the next Allotments Association meeting.
An Allotments Inspection was held on Tuesday 9th May. Nine letters were sent with regards to weeding/cultivating plots, with a four-week time frame to approach the Council or improve the plot.
Our maintenance men have been called to fix Tanks numbers 5 and 9 that had holes filled. Tank no. 6 has had the tap fixed.
An email was sent to all tenants requesting them to be extra vigilant with their dogs and clean up any mess that has been left after an upset tenant contacted the Council to report that dog mess had been left on the entrance to his plot. This was supported by Section 6, Clause 6.4.
06.24 To receive and discuss the reports from the Allotments Association and make any recommendations to Council.
Two reports from the Allotments Association were shared with the Councillors prior to the meeting. One point that was raised from these reports, was that the Parish Council could not agree to the painting of the storage container as it has been swapped and it may be sold on in the future.
07.24 To consider any amendments to the Tenancy Agreement.
Cllr Bowell produced a list of changes to be made to the Tenancy Agreement:
Clause 6.7 – The tenant shall permit the inspection of the plot at all reasonable times by any officer of the Council.
Change to ‘any representative of the council’.
Clause 6.15 – Invasive plant Species
It was agreed to include Common Ragwort to the list of invasive plants to look out for as it is an injurious plant and further, to add that any invasive plant species noted on the gov.org website, which are identified on a tenant’s plot should be minimised as much as possible by tenants and the Parish Council notified.
Councillors agreed that an Invasive Plant Policy should be considered on the next Allotments Agenda.
Clause 6.14 Trees. Should the Bay tree be allowed on the plot? Council did not agree to amend the agreement, so it is therefore still prohibited as a non-fruit tree.
Clause 6.10 Add ‘Tenants are expected to take their waste home or to the local LCC Household Waste Recycling Centres.’
New Clause 8.4 Records detailing breaches of Tenancy are to be held for a period of two years and any further breach of Tenancy on the same plot, with the same Tenant, within this time frame will result in the Parish Council moving directly to stage 2 of the non-compliance process, meaning Tenants will be expected to immediately resolve the matter or a Notice to Quit will be issued.
Clause 3 Councillors discussed that an addendum should be included in Clause 3 stating that any violent or abusive behaviour or any illegal actions will result in an immediate termination of Tenancy Agreement.
Clause 2 - Increase in rents and admin fee for the year 1st October 2024 – 30 September 2025 will be discussed by Councillors and sent via round robin email for approval.
08.24 To consider the quotes for Roadway 1.
£5,000 has been saved in reserves and the budget for Roadway 1 work to be completed, currently this amount does not cover the cost of having the roadway updated.
The committee requested that Cllr Fowler investigate further by going back to the contractors to request more detailed quotes, based upon more detailed specifications and bring this back to all the members of the committee via round robin email and then to Full Council for an informed decision to be made and agreement to access further finances to get the work completed.
09.24 To agree date of next meeting.
Tuesday 12th September 2023.
The meeting ended at 9:05pm.