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17 November 2010
To the members of Birstall Parish Council Estates Committee,
Thank you for allowing me the time to present my thoughts about the allotments at the last Estates meeting.
I enclose a copy of the notes I read from. I’m afraid it doesn’t record the comments made by yourselves but I’m sure the Parish Clerk has. Please include them as an appendix to the notes of the meeting and make them available on your website.
I have considered your suggestion that I make some proposals about the management of the allotments in writing but on reflection I can’t see the point. I have already written numerous letters over the last 11 months and attended a lot of the council meetings, as have other allotment holders.
So far you have rejected suggestions ranging from full self management, partial self management, arbitration, service agreements through to allotment stewards. But as yet you have offered nothing in return even though it is clear that a lot of the allotment holders / council tax payers are unhappy with the current service.
A service which incidentally is far worse than in the past and continuing to deteriorate. I could give examples to support this comment but I would prefer to look to the future than dwell in the past.
Thousands of other allotment holders have input into the running of their plots ranging from full self management to allotment stewards and you have never explained why you consider that we the allotment holders of Birstall should be treated differently.
At the meeting some councilors seemed to accept that the way the allotments are managed does need updating. So I feel the onus is now on you to come up with a strategy both for the short and the long term management of the allotments including how you intend to improve the service and how you will involve the allotment holders in line with,
Big Society, which is supported by all three major political parties and, The Community Engagement strategy mentioned in my notes.
My only suggestion is that maybe you would like to start by arranging a meeting with your allotment holders to explain your plans for the future of the allotments and then at the same timer by listening to us establish how you can improve the service you provide.
Finally I would like to quote from my first letter to you dated 6 December 2009 “for the allotments in Birstall to be a success there needs to be a partnership based on mutual respect”.
Yours sincerely Julian Howe.
Cc Birstall Post, Birstall Allotment Society, oooOOOooo
Copy of the notes that were read to the members of Birstall Parish Council’s Estates Committee on the 25th October 2010 by Julian Howe.
I have had my allotment off Worcester Avenue for nearly 30 years and visit it 3 / 4 times a week
I have suffered theft, vandalism, had my shed burnt down twice and especially of late have suffered from weeds spreading from neglected allotments.
In all that time I have only ever seen councilors visit the site 2 /3 times.
At the last Estates meeting I watched as decisions were made that effect my past time without any consideration being made of the views of myself or my fellow allotment holders.
Some rents were increased by 600% with no explanation as to why and not a single councilor objected or raised any questions.
There was mention of using a plot for disabled gardeners when there is no all weather access to it and it is so overhung by trees that soon it will be impossible to grow anything on it anyway.
Ironically the same night the council voted to ban all but dwarf trees on the allotments.
The car park was discussed but no mention was made that the “survey” was so badly worded that people had difficulty understanding what it meant.
In any case no attempt was made to establish the need for a car park, how many people have cars, how often they drive down etc.
We have pages of rules, leases, revised office procedures etc but not a single word about listening to us, treating us with respect or acknowledging and following up our requests.
If you change our conditions and rents wouldn’t it be polite to ask us first as we are the ones affected?
In the past I have suggested a service agreement but my suggestion has been ignored.
I then quoted from The National Association of Local Councils guidance on Community Engagement and compared it to the total lack of communication with the allotment community.
Community engagement strategy Community engagement is about giving local people a voice and involving them in the decisions that affect them and their community. It is about the development of relationships and clear communication to deliver better services and projects. The aim of a community engagement strategy should be to engage residents and encourage their participation in decision making to secure better services and to create a more active and informed community. We would not expect your community engagement strategy to be overly complex but we would expect it to set out how your council will engage its community across a broad range of its activities and we would expect that it look at short-, medium- and long-term aims. There are a number of areas you may wish to consider when putting together your community engagement strategy (again this is for illustrative purposes);
How do you currently communicate with your community and how can you improve these lines of communication? Do you regularly consult your community? Do you know what your community wants or expects from its council? How content is your community with existing services? How well do you communicate with hard to reach groups or young people?
Posted 7 Feb 2011 |