AGM Minutes

Details

Published: Wednesday, 16 March 2016 16:14

AGM minutes page

Park Ward Allotments, AGM, 13 th February 2022

Present: Jill (Chair), Nina (Treasurer), Tess (Secretary), Malcolm, Jenny, Zephyrine, Sue,
Simon, Des (Committee), Claire Redhouse, Meilyn Michoux, Alan Harold, Helen Zylko, Gwen
Meyers.
1. Apologies: Fiona, Yvonne.
2. Minutes of last meeting, and matters arising. Jill reminded people of the item on
hedges and trees, which should not be higher than 1.5 metres. Other matters arising
were covered by the agenda of this meeting. The minutes were approved.
3. Election of Officers. Jill said she was standing down as Chair. Malcolm was proposed
for Chair by Jenny, and seconded by Sue. He was unanimously elected. Nina
announced that she was only going to serve for one more year. She was proposed as
Treasurer by Sue, seconded by Tess. She was unanimously re-elected. Tess was
proposed as Secretary by Jill, seconded by Des, and she was unanimously re-elected.
4. Vote of Thanks for retiring Chair. Jill was thanked for her excellent and conscientious
work as Chair, and the vote was unanimously carried.
5. Call for new Committee members. Jill said the Committee needed new blood. Tess
suggested sending round an email and putting up a notice asking for new members.
Des pointed out that if people were unsure about joining the Committee, they could
come along to any meeting and see what it was like. They could also be on a
subcommittee without having to attend the main meetings. Tess to publicise these
ideas.
6. Chair’s report: As you know, we were unable to hold an AGM in 2021 due to Covid
restrictions. We felt that a zoomed AGM would be too difficult for us to manage and
might exclude those allotment holders without internet access. So there is quite a lot
to report from the past 2 years. The committee had its last face to face meeting in
March 2020 and did not resume meetings until May 2021. During this time, issues
were mainly dealt with by the committee officers as they arose with communication
by email. Key issues were:
a. Access along the back lane As reported at our last AGM, the new owners of
Highfield Farm and Castle View have bought the lane from Mr Metcalfe and now
own the whole lane from Quernmore Road to the far end of the lane. While they
have generally been quite approachable, they have become increasingly irritated by
parking on the lane and have since put up their own notice at the Quernmore Road
end to say that access along this private lane is restricted to Highfield Farm and
Castle View, and no parking or turning is permitted. Our response has been to
contact Lancaster City Council who own the allotment site for confirmation that
allotment holders have the legal right of access, both on foot and vehicular, along
the lane to the allotments, as the title deeds of the 2 properties show. They have
confirmed this and their legal department is currently looking further into the
restrictive covenants, referred to in the title deeds, which go back decades. To avoid
any confusion for our allotment holders and deliveries, we have put up our own
notice on the Lancaster Moor side of the lane to indicate that there is also access
along the lane to Park Ward allotments. (We will come back to what more we need
to do about access and parking under item 10.)
b. Community Plot (35b)

Covid restrictions and the work pressures of sub-committee members have also
meant that the ambitious plans for the plot have had to be delayed – notably the
removal of the collapsed shed and replacement with a larger shed and patio for
communal gatherings. However, progress has been made on the rest of the plot with
the establishment of boxed beds for letting out as starter plots for people on the
waiting list and the planting of 2 dwarf apple trees. Many thanks go to Sue, Gina,
Tom and Meilyn for their work on the raised beds – and to all who helped with the
barrowing of the mushroom compost. Many thanks go to Fiona for getting and
planting the apple trees. Further plans are to place 2 benches on one side of the plot
with views over the bay, and to create woodchip paths between the beds. The poly-
tunnel will be kept to rent out to allotment holders without a greenhouse on their
plot, and, once the new shed is in place, the whole of the poly-tunnel will be used for
this.
Communal space on the plot will continue to be used for meetings, talks, workshops,
social gatherings and plant swaps etc. A budget for the new shed and patio is
available and we hope the work will go ahead in the coming year.
Thanks to Yvonne for organising an apple press day in the autumn and for the use of
her own press and apple grater, and thanks to all those who have continued to leave
offerings for the plant swap.
c. Rats
In response to reports from concerned allotment holders that rats were regularly
seen on their plots, particularly around bird feeders, we advised that bird feeders
should not be used at present. We also contacted Lancaster City Council’s Pest
Control team who advised that, while rats were a perennial problem on allotments,
the nuisance could be reduced by keeping compost heaps and kitchen waste bins
securely covered, and by the use of rat traps. We were reluctant to use rat poison,
but Des Myers invited “rat catchers” from Claver Hill allotments to visit with their
dogs and place rat traps on a number of plots where the dogs smelled rats. They
then revisited a couple of times with their dogs to “dispose” of the rats caught. (We
paid them £80 which they used to buy more traps.) Many thanks to Des for
arranging this. Maybe we could use them again in the future.
d. Break-ins
The allotment site was broken into twice in late December with several sheds broken
into and power tools and other equipment stolen. The police have been informed
who advised that each targeted allotment holder should contact the police
separately to get their own individual crime number if they wished to make an
insurance claim. They also offered “victim support”! Otherwise, they suggested we
should not keep valuable items in the sheds. Albert was reimbursed for the loss of
his power tools which he uses for general maintenance around the allotment site.
We have decided to improve the security of the site, such as installing metal security
gates at the entrance off Derwent Road. (See agenda item 10 for further discussion).
Finally, while we decided not to inspect the plots during the main lockdown of 2020,
it was great to see that many allotment holders spent a lot of time on their plots
which generally were well maintained. I feel that we were very lucky to have had this
safe outdoor space to enjoy during this time of relative isolation. Inspections were
resumed in mid-2021.

Sue reported having met the ratcatchers, and watched them at work. She
emphasized that they and the dogs were not treating ratcatching as a sport, and
killing the rats was done very quickly. Des explained that the ratcatchers had a key to
the plot, and their work was on-going. They had some problems informing tenants
that there were traps on their plots, as plots were not always clearly numbered. Jill
thanked the Committee for supporting her while Chair. About the break-ins,
Malcolm said that it was a good idea to keep any valuables in sheds out of sight. Sue
said that people could add valuable items to their house insurance.
7. Treasurer’s Report. Nina presented two sets of figures – the year’s report for
2020/21, and an interim report for 2021/22. In 2020/21 our capital was £8108.95,
our expenditure £777.55, income £2264.15 (rent and deposits), and restricted funds
(returnable deposits) £1275.00, leaving us with £9595.55. Expenditures had been
£405.13 on water, £68.78 on sundries, £120 on mushroom compost, £10 on domain
fees, £90.00 on hedge cutting, and £83.64 on insurance. In 2021/22 so far, we had
£9472.86, but more rents were still to come. We spent £1415.49: £426 on the new
gate, £417.85 on water, £83.64 on insurance, £250.00 on tools to replace the ones
that were stolen from Albert, £210.00 on the skip, and £28.00 on sundries. Income
from rents and deposits was £1292.80, and restricted funds were £1735.00. Nina
pointed out that last year rents were in very early, and also that we had not hired a
skip, which helped to explain the lower figures for this present year. Last year
(2020/21) we had paid for two mushroom compost deliveries, but she thought this
hadn’t worked very well, as some tenants had taken more than their share early on,
leaving others disgruntled. We had ordered a second load, but it still wasn’t fairly
shared. She was against ordering more this year. Tenants were ordering their own,
and sharing loads between two or three people. Sue said it cost £70 a load now. The
AGM accepted the accounts. Meilyn asked what was involved in being Treasurer.
Nina explained it involved emptying the black box, going to the Bank once a week,
getting joint signatures on cheques, switching the water on and off, and keeping the
accounts. Meilyn was interested in shadowing Nina this year, and taking on the role
if her new job wasn’t too demanding.
8. Secretary’s Report. After the last AGM, in February 2020, we had one more
Committee Meeting, in March, and then meetings were suspended because of the
pandemic, until May 2021. After that we have met regularly every two months, and
there was a plot inspection last summer. Important Items on the meeting agendas
have included a new gate, the community plot, and access on the top lane. Since the
last AGM we have gained ten new tenants, and the waiting list is down to 16, so I’d
like to open it again.
9. Rule change, proposed by Malcolm and seconded by Jill. Rule 13 states: ‘All officers
shall hold office until their successors are appointed’. We’d like to change this to: ‘All
officers shall notify the committee of their intention to step down in good time to
enable a successor to be identified by the committee and nominated at the next
AGM’ The point of this is that as the rules stand, someone could be made to hold
office indefinitely, if a successor couldn’t be found, and it also implies that it’s up to
them, not the committee, to find a successor. People may be unwilling to take these
jobs on if that’s so. The proposal was carried unanimously.
10. Rule change, proposed by Tess, seconded by Jill. Additional Rule 5 states: ‘Tenants
may put up one shed and no more than 2 greenhouses (including poly-tunnels) on

their plot. . . . The maximum size of shed, greenhouse or polytunnel is 3 metres x 2
metres and 2.13 metres in height’. Can we add, ‘unless there is only one
greenhouse or polytunnel, in which case it can be double the width and length’?
There seems to be no difference between two small greenhouse and one big one.
Zephyrine suggested simplifying the wording, so the rule would read: ’ The maximum
size for sheds, greenhouses (including polytunnels) is 12 square metres, and 2.13 in
height’. This was carried unanimously. Problems related to structures were
discussed, and are to be brought to the next Committee meeting.
11. Access, security, infrastructure, planning. This was a huge item, involving a
programme of improvements, and there was not time to discuss it at this meeting.
Jill suggested we appoint a subcommittee to work on it. Members of this group
would not have to be on the main Committee, and might have more relevant
expertise. Malcolm welcomed the idea, and the meeting approved it. (The
Committee has however decided to go ahead with the idea of a metal security gate
at the bottom entrance).
12. Manure and compost. Tess had been asked by a few people whether there was
going to be a delivery of manure or compost for everyone this year. Nina’s
comments under item 7 seemed to answer the question: it is too difficult to share it
fairly, or to order enough for everyone. Tenants can order their own mushroom
compost, perhaps sharing between two or three. If they did this, and had the
compost delivered to one of the tracks, they should first put down a plastic sheet to
stop the ground getting slippery, and should move the compost off the track as
quickly as possible. Gwen asked where compost could be delivered to at the bottom
of the plot, and Jill said that Tony had no objections to it being left in front of his
garage. Meilyn asked about the notice on the metal gate saying not to use it for
manure/compost deliveries, and Jill said this was out of date, and the notice should
be removed. Sue gave details of how to order mushroom compost, from Ian
Dearden, 01524 32919 or 07764794636. A trailer load costs £70. Woodchip had
been supplied by Andy, on 07899706700. It was free for the Community Plot.
13. Community Plot and events. The progress on the Community plot had been covered
in Jill’s report. Tess had had a request for a Gardeners’ Question Time event. It was
felt that if people had ideas for events, they should organize them. Once the plot
was fully ready, ideas could be invited. Books to share could be left just inside the
polytunnel.
14. AOB The question of a composting toilet on site was raised. This had been discussed
at the last AGM, when Tom gave convincing reasons for it not being practicable. Nina
suggested that we should ask for deposits for sheds and greenhouses, to encourage
people to maintain them. Jill remembered that in the past new tenants had paid the
former tenants for any structures. Tess remembers that the Committee had
sometimes paid retiring tenants or their families for structures. The situation is
confused, and we should revisit it at the next Committee meeting. Claire had earlier
told us about her problem with having been left a collapsing structure.