Saintbridge Allotment Gardens Association AGM 20 August 2018 pre-reading materials Introduction The Saintbridge Allotment Gardens Association (SAGA) is a constituted association without charitable status founded in 2009 and our mission is to ensure the Saintbridge allotments are made available to local residents who wish to follow the recreation of gardening to benefit their health and wellbeing. We are a totally voluntary organisation and all plotholders are members. There are no subscription fees to pay as we fund raise from sales of surplus veg, green manure seeds and horse manure to cover annual operating costs. Liaising with Gloucester City Council, the association keeps an updated database of all plotholders, and shows the vacant plots to prospective tenants. When plots are left abandoned and uncultivated, the Association informs the City Council who then contacts the tenant to seek a resolution of the situation, or if necessary, terminate the tenancy. Gloucester City Council are responsible for the overall management of the site and issue the tenancy agreements, collect the rent and manage the waiting list of prospective tenants. Where vacant plots are badly infested with perennial weeds or have large amounts of rubbish on them, the association clears the plots and carries out weed control to make them ready to be re let. We carry out routine maintenance on the site such as, hedge cutting, repairs to fencing and removing rubbish. We also prepare proposals for grant funding from various donors for improvements and development work implemented on the site. These activities are outlined in the five-year development plan which is available on the Association s web site www.saintbridge.org.uk. Activities carried out in 2017/18 During the year we held working parties to carry out a number of unplanned activities. This extra work, together with the extreme weather conditions delayed progress implementing the five-year plan. No working parties were held during the spring and summer as it was felt plotholders would be too busy working their plots and keeping up with watering. Unplanned activities Responding to events we carried out the following unplanned works. Road repairs We secured a donation of 10 tons of road scalpings from Gloucester City Council to repair potholes. Half the stone was laid on the track from Cheney Close to Birch Avenue. We hope to lay the other half on the main entrance track to the balancing pond side of the site in the autumn during cooler weather. Hedge planting We applied to the Woodland Trust for a donation of whips to plant 30 meters of mixed native species hedgerow. The hedgerow was planted on the northern perimeter of the balancing pond side of the site. This is because children were climbing over the fence on this section of the site. Once established this hedgerow will improve security and also provide habitat for wildlife and overwintering sites for beneficial insects such as ladybirds. Badger buffer zone After disturbance to the badger sett on the Cheney Close side of the site by a plotholder, who was subsequently arrested by the police and removed from the site by the City Council, we altered the boundaries of five plots to
create a buffer zone between allotment plots and the badger sett. This entailed moving two sheds and clearing the area of a large amount of rubbish. Plotholders have asked if the signage around the sett could be improved. Progress against the five year development plan The following reports on progress made during the third year of implementing the five-year plan. We welcome your views and feedback to progress development work further. Community gardens The users of the community garden currently consist of a diverse mix of adults with special needs from the community group GloActive, disadvantaged children from the Aston project, run by Gloucestershire Constabulary and a small group of children from The Coney Hill Primary School. In 2017 the Association received grant funding of 5,400 from the Barnwood Trust for a composting toilet with disabled access, hand washing facilities, a shelter, polytunnel, raised planter for wheel chair users, an outdoor pizza oven, and hand tools. The composting toilet, polytunnel, hand washing facilities and shelter are now installed and work on the other components of this project is ongoing. We secured a donation of 350.00 from the GL4 together community show to complete the hard landscaping components of a sensory garden. Construction was carried out during working parties held by SAGA and by local youths from the Aston project. We were also successful in securing 500.00 grant funding from the Gloucester lottery for a patio area. This patio will link the composting toilet, shelter, ploytunnel and sensory garden allowing wheelchair users unaided access to all the facilities. The patio will also allow wheelchair users to grow and tend crops in a table top planter and provide a venue for community gatherings on the allotments. Installation of water troughs Two water troughs were installed in August 2017. The water troughs with ball valves make it possible to fill watering cans even when a hose pipe is attached to the tap. As a matter of priority, we hope to complete this project and install the last three troughs in the autumn. Planting native flowers for a shady hedgerow This activity is pending awaiting a project proposal and funding. Bulb Planting in the hazel coppice This activity was completed in January 2016. Plot markers More plot markers were installed on plots as and when they became vacant. This activity will be continued this year. Bulk buying scheme for green manure seeds Many plotholders see the benefits of mustard as a weed supressing crop sown in the autumn. We will continue this scheme with seeds available for sale in August. Hedgerow maintenance This is a routine activity carried out each year in the autumn and winter. The hedgerows were planted by SAGA to improve security and provide habitat for wildlife.
Newsletters Due to time constraints no newsletters were produced this year. Is there a need for a newsletter? If so, what sort of information should be in it? Are there any volunteers who would like to take this activity on? Clearing plots and bare fallowing Only plots that are badly infested with perennial weeds or have large amounts of rubbish on them are made ready for re-let by SAGA. Four plots were cleared, sown to mustard and the paths reinstated last autumn. These plots have now been let to new plotholders. A further two plots are being bare fallowed and made ready to let this autumn. We also removed large amounts of rubbish and dismantled dilapidated sheds from three plots to make them ready for re-let. Coppicing bean poles Implementation of this income generating activity was delayed due to bad weather conditions. We now plan to start coppicing the hazel and selling bean poles this winter 2018/19. We would like to discuss and agree an appropriate price at the AGM. Replacing dilapidated chain link fencing This activity is pending as the existing fence is still serviceable. Improved maintenance of grass paths The Association now has container storage and two mowers and a strimmer. Plans to make this equipment available to plotholders through a hire scheme have yet to be fully realised. This is due to a lack of volunteers available to run the scheme. Remove rubbish and plant 30m of perimeter hedge This activity involves removing soil and rubbish piled against the back wall of a block of garages on the Cheney Close side of the site. To carry out this work hire of a digger and skip is required. Implementation is pending awaiting a project proposal and funding. Maintenance of wildflower margins This is a routine activity to cut and remove the vegetation once a year. This year the wild flower meadow strip will be cut in August. Plot lettings A total of 24 new tenants took on allotment plots since the last AGM giving an 8.6 % turnover of plots at the site. We have 5 vacant plots out of a total of 278 half plots, or subdivisions thereof. This gives an occupancy level of 98.2 %. Of the vacant plots, two are being bare fallowed to control perennial weeds and will be made ready to let once the grass paths are reinstated this autumn. There are a further 10 tenanted plots that have not been worked at all this year, representing 3.5% of the total plots. We started collecting data on plot lettings in 2015 and this information is presented in the table below. Occupancy % Plots let % turnover Tenanted Plots not worked % 2015 93% 58 24% No data 2016 95% 47 16% 9 3.2% 2017 96.5% 32 11% 10 3.5% 2018 98.2% 24 8.6% 10 3.5%
The table shows a steady increase in the occupancy level over the last four years with the % turnover of plots diminishing. This indicates more people are keeping their plots longer. The percentage of plots tenanted but not worked remains around 3.5%. Other issues Wood chippings From time to time Friends of Sainbridge Pond (FOSP) receive deliveries of wood chippings tipped on the carpark by the shipping containers. These are for use by FOSP with their activities around the balancing pond and not intended for plotholders. To avoid confusion, any future deliveries of wood chippings for plotholders will be tipped at other locations, not this carpark. Relocation of bee hives The bee keeper informed us that the hazel coppice is no longer a suitable location for bee hives. It is too cold and shaded making it very difficult for the bee colonies to survive the winter. We identified plot 19D as a suitable alternative location. This is a warm sunny corner plot and the neighbouring plotholders have no objections to keeping bees there. The bee keeper would like to rent this plot. Parking on grass There are two grass overflow carparks and grass road ways on the site. Vehicles can use these areas in dry conditions. Please do not drive on the grassed areas in wet conditions as this will cause ruts and you could get stuck. Actions from the 2017 AGM First aid kit SAGA should hold a fist aid kit on site, best place to store it would be in the composting toilet unit as it is so secure. First aid kit now stored in the composting toilet unit. Action closed Trial weekday working parties This was implemented and will be continued where possible in the future. Speeding on the road between the pond and allotments Speed limit signs put by Gloucester city Council. Action closed Lower the hedgerow by the main gate this has been done, improving visibility for drivers. Action closed Gardening club An email was sent to plotholders to see if they would like to set this up, using the community plots as a base. Only two people responded so this action was not pursued further. Electric fences this action is with the City Council to consider. Investigate the cost of enclosing whole site in palisade fencing it would cost 58 per metre, with around 900 metres required. Quick sums show this would cost 52,400 which is unachievable, Action closed Lockable boxes over taps this was raised following damage to one tap, but there have been no further incidences. Costs involved outweigh the risks. Action closed