Page 58 - ALG Issue 3 2014

Eastern
One Year On...
The year has been different from what I expected, and different in unexpected ways. However, the Eastern Region retains essentially the same structure it had when Colin Nickerson was Regional Representative, and remains as it was in Karen Kenny’s time as Regional Representative. The May 2014 make-up is:-
Regional Panel Chairman: John Bray (Beds, Bucks & Herts) Regional Panel Secretary: Sheila Pullin (Essex)
Regional Panel Treasurer: Peter Fowler (Essex)
NAS President: Colin Nickerson
The financial pressures on all councils since 2008 is a fact of life, and most plot holders are aware that little capital expenditure has come their way for a lot longer than that - the amount that has been provided may have come from money obtained from the sale of other sites or parts of sites. That, too, has limited life expectancy
as waiting lists have grown, and as such there are fewer and fewer
Regional Representative: Jeff Barber (Essex)
East of England ADI Mentor: Carol Andrew (Beds, Bucks & Herts)
Isobel Exell (Barnet Federation)
Grant Smith (London ADI Mentor)
Andy Ibbotson (Cambridgeshire)
Mick Camp (Beds, Bucks & Herts)
Karen Kenny (Suffolk)
Ray Bedwell (Suffolk)
The financial pressures on all councils since 2008 is a fact of life
sites to target for sale. This doesn’t necessarily stop some of the local authorities from trying: Watford Council’s wish to sell off Farm Terrace even after two submissions by Watford, one turned down by the Secretary of State, the second approved but
still subject to legal process, remains the Eastern Region’s cause célèbre. There seems to be very few flag bearers for district councils out there amongst the members. Tensions between district councils and the town or parish councils in the tier below are not uncommon. They are seldom confrontational and more often reflect inadequate commitment.
It is perhaps worth noting (positively) that all but three of that list are relatively recent newcomers to the Regional Panel, and the three that have served longest on the panel now have different roles than the ones they started in. If a panel member cannot attend, a stand-in can come along in their place - this helps to counter the ‘closed shop’ view of these bodies.
We meet four times a year in Cambridge, which is about as central a location as you can find for the Eastern Region as a whole. From the constituent groups we heard the good, the bad and the ugly regarding practices and opinions, and the Management Committee and Corby discussed the flow of information and decisions to
spread through the membership. From that mixture, issues emerged focusing the concerns of allotment holders across the region.
At its base the past year brought straightforward information requests - most commonly by phone or email. Requests relating
to water supply and water use were perhaps the most frequent,
with types of supply, costs, and the impact of usage regulations
for allotments being the key issues. This was closely followed by enquiries relating to all the variations of tenancy agreements and site rules. The National Society templates formed a sound starting point for most of these issues. Outside of London, we have continued searching for land suitable for allotments, and the outcomes of approaching local authorities about accessing any available land
and have ranged from being totally positive to responses where the councils have seemed merely to be talking the talk, leading to a great deal of frustration.
Some local authorities have updated aspects of their tenancies and rules, and if they have not contacted me the responsibility has fallen to one of their plot holding members to check through the alterations and possible reasons for changes. Local authorities are often keen to promote devolved management of their allotments, but it only makes sense to do so if they can manage the transition, rather than just expect it to happen because they favour it. Without mutual support, both plot holders and allotment authorities can struggle.
The primary level of local authority – the parishes below the district council level - represents my steepest learning curve of the past year. The best of them do a fine job for the whole of their communities in difficult circumstances, but they are usually the ones I do not hear too much about as they are delivering the best service they can.
It is my growing view that the democratic skin in some parishes is very thin indeed. The Electoral Reform Society attempts to highlight the problem at the time of each local election. In so many cases candidates are returned unopposed – as high as 23 per cent, as was the case for one authority in Essex. The electorates cannot vote as they have no choice to make. From a broad democratic view it can get worse with parish councillors co-opted. I do need to repeat that the best of the councillors work tirelessly and well on behalf of their communities and have no political affiliation, but there is a risk that some - specifically those who are less socially committed - might aim to further their personal agenda. Getting a public right of way footpath re-located from the land owned by a parish councillor to
the parish owned land adjacent, which just happens to be used for allotments, might just be one example. In all of the examples above the need for an informed view is necessary. Through its network of county bodies and federations as well as membership of the National Allotment Society enables that.
I have no wish to finish like the end of Mahler’s Symphony no. 6, but the dark side of disputes – between individuals on sites, within associations, and on multiple sites belonging to the same association – come freighted with varying despairs. There have not been too many of them but they do claim time. Some have been festering for years (actually decades in the most striking regional example) and almost all have not been managed and/or addressed. But there
are ways through; a paper or photographic trail - ideally on both sides – or the assistance of “trusted persons” on or outside the site. Differences there will always be; they do not have to develop into corrosive disputes.
Jeff Barber
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