Page 61 - ALG Issue 4 2018

Win an individual subscription
to the magazine for one year!
(worth £10 to members, £15 to non-members)
Plus £25 worth of
gardening related book/s!
All you need to do is write a small article for the magazine.
This maybe something for the regional section or just some general tips that you have found useful and you would like to share. Don’t worry that it has to be a lengthy article and we will edit and proofread if necessary.
For further details regarding magazine submissions please see page 3 or call Jayne at Crest on 01536 317000.
Email your article to natsoc@nsalg.org.uk with the subject line:
My article – NASSUBS
61
How Council
owned allotments
have changed
I suspect many of you can remember the good old days when
the running of Council Allotments was managed by the Councils Allotment Officer and Assistant. They were responsible for letting, inspection of plots, maintenance of fences and roads to name but a few. There was a reasonable budget which would be available to carry out the running of the sites. With changing times and serious financial cutbacks, I would suggest that Parks and Allotments have been hit hard along with several other services.
Over the last several years many councils have approached their allotment societies with a proposal of devolved management. This offer has been taken up by many societies and in particular here in my hometown of Swansea. In Swansea there are 13 allotment sites, and six sites took the opportunity to be devolved from the control of the Council, the remaining sites opted to stay under Council control. The site, where my plot is very successful, did what was necessary to become a devolved managed site by forming a small management committee, which was responsible firstly to listen to the concerns of the membership along with collection of rents, plot inspections etc. I could certainly see that, after the first few years, great improvements to the development of the site were apparent.
Last year Swansea Council contacted the 13 societies with their proposals for the management of their allotments for a period of 25 years. What this amounted to was the Council would hand over all control of the various sites to management committees. To be
In Swansea there are 13 allotment sites, and six sites took the opportunity to be devolved from the control of the Council
frank this was a take it or leave it offer! There was no real choice given and that, like many other councils across the country, they
just did not have the staff to run them. The six devolved managed sites were in many ways used to running themselves; the seven sites under the control of the council were not. My role as Wales Mentor was to respond to requests for assistance from groups that needed support to make the transition to devolved management. Along
with the council’s proposals, all rent collected would be retained by the various sites. Each management committee would set their own yearly rents; this, however, must be agreed by the majority of its members, which is very important along with all other decisions made.
Both myself and Judith Hill, the Wales Regional Rep, met with the officer from the Estates Dept to discuss how this transition would work and how the National Allotment Society would play its part. The agreement to date is that the Council will ask the NAS to draw up 25-year leases for each society. The Council also carried out an audit of each site. Swansea Council also requires that each allotment site joins the NAS.
I have to say that the City and County of Swansea Council has really gone the extra mile in as much as handing over the total running of their sites and doing everything to make this transition run smoothly to all plotholders. Over the coming months both myself and Judith will be on hand to offer help and advice. So, all in all here in Swansea it’s an exciting future for the allotment movement.
Happy Gardening.
Peter Ryan Wales Mentor
WIN!