Page 65 - ALG Issue 1 2020 with print

London
London
Welcome to our new members...
1 Life Member
Horn Park
Primary School
12 Individual members
REPRESENTATIVE
Mr Jeff Barber
39 Seagry Road, London E11 2NH 07900 328797 jbarber.nas@gmail.com
MENTOR
Grant Smith
London
0845 478 6351 grantsmith.nas@gmail.com
MENTOR
Paula Owen
London
07838 344408 powen.nas@gmail.com
The links with the organising group, irrespective of its mission and its status, are crucial and need to be maintained on both sides
It could have been us... or you
on the site that go beyond their own allotments. But it is likely to happen only if there is an array of team building skills in the committee or across the site. It can be absent where there
is a rigid application of the site and association rules, but equally that absence of cohesive common purpose can occur where there are no agreed and accepted positions within the site committee. Perhaps the old Chinese proverb that anything ‘perfect is likely to have the devil in it’ applies.
Differences> Disagreements> Disputes
At the simplest level, differences can
be positive – if accepted, absorbed
and transformed into practice. Disagreements take them one more step along the road, starting with agreeing to disagree and regressing
to a position where it seems that no accommodation can be found. Once the dispute level is reached, it all becomes a lot more formal both within and outside the association and can reach into agencies external to the site, including the landlord’s or any local authority’s or federation’s procedures, the police with or without subsequent court action following the police’s involvement. Mediation at various levels can be used but has to be agreed by both sides and any mediator needs to be trusted by both sides. Mediators with greater expertise obviously come at a greater price. Local authorities do have these mechanisms but in allotment terms they are usually applied to non-cultivation issues only. A carefully prepared code of conduct signed by tenants and clearer specific clauses
in allotment tenancy agreements would assist, but they are not all that common. But they would need to be invoked and backed before the law enforcement authorities become involved to demonstrate that all other avenues for resolution had been exhausted. Whatever the structures for managing allotments, there is a gap here that affects in negative ways both landlords and allotment holders.
Jeff Barber
It may be three years ago now, but the murder of Leah Adri-Soejoko, Secretary of the Colindale Allotment Society, was above all a family tragedy and still needs to be seen as that. Despite its continuing resonance and if it is possible to stand back a bit from a tragic event like this, one consideration should be: why did it happen on an allotment, surely one of the least likely settings for such a brutal and violent act? There were two trials for this murder and in both, members of the Colindale committee were called as witnesses; for any volunteer allotment committee member, that must present a daunting challenge. Listening to it
in the Public Gallery, I found myself thinking that I could recognise so much of what was being described as likely to happen on any allotment site. I’d been there and done that with so much of
it. Was there anything really distinctive about the Colindale Association that made the final outcome so qualitatively different?
The headings below are not really in any order, but none of them is unique to Colindale Allotments. For all there are some checks and balances that can be applied to make it less likely, but not impossible, that a more dangerous progression will be set in train.
Keys
We all have them of course. Often more than one. Arguments rage to and fro over the best type of lock to have. One element of good practice is to make sure that the same key does not open more than one padlock. Keep as many different locks that you think you need to. It is also good practice to keep a signed register of who has what keys to open what sheds. Good housekeeping as much as anything else is needed
to encourage the return of keys that are no longer needed from departing officers.
Payments to Members
There are always going to be genuine out-of-pocket expenses which are far easier to accept and agree to on all sides. Each allotment group will
have its own sense of how these will impact on association finances. All
site maintenance costs should be as transparent as possible and known as widely as possible to tenants across the site. Any payment made in any way for any reason should be made clear in minutes and accounts, and the purpose of the payment itemised specifically and clearly. Anything ‘off-the-record’
in financial terms will nearly always present more difficulties down the line.
Outside Agencies
Having a group set up for whatever good purpose involved on the allotment site, can bring a range of benefits to individuals who might not otherwise be able to enjoy them and demonstrates the community commitment of the allotment site to a wider public.
There are clear ways of limiting any difficulties. Having a named and known contact from the outside agency will help head off any misapprehensions
of what allotment gardening may involve. Similarly, having a committee member specifically helping out with the misperceptions that might arise is a similarly useful induction strategy. Quite often an allotment holder will have a commitment to a specific charity where garden therapy is important. On the Colindale site Clive Critchley was
a volunteer for Freedom from Torture which seeks to re-habilitate those who have been physically tortured to a more settled and assured life. The links with the organising group, irrespective of
its mission and its status, are crucial and need to be maintained on both sides. If those links are reduced or withdrawn on either side, there are risks of a worsening situation which the allotment members may find increasingly challenging and are less well-equipped to address.
Committee Roles
On devolved managed allotment sites, the committee’s cohesion is very important. It makes sense of course to have a job description in writing
for each officer. Other committee members or other plotholders may well – and perhaps even should – wish to take part in some of the activities
LOG IN TO THE MEMBERS AREA OF THE WEBSITE FOR A LONGER VERSION OF JEFF’S ARTICLE.
Allotment and Leisure Gardener 65