BIODIVERSITY AND ALLOTMENTS COMMITTEE MINUTES, 6 FEBRUARY 2024

BIODIVERSITY AND ALLOTMENTS COMMITTEE MINUTES, 6 FEBRUARY 2024

Minutes of the Biodiversity & Allotment Committee held at Bryntirion Community Centre on 6 February 2024 commencing at 6.30pm.

Present: Cllr’s D Harrison, C Webster and P Rabone, S Snelling and J Hughes

In attendance:  K Thomas and H Coburn

1. To appoint a chair for the meeting

Cllr C Webster agreed to chair the meeting

2. To receive apologies for absence.  Cllr’s I Spiller, P King, C Smith and J Cook

3. Representation from members of the public.  None.

4.   To receive Declarations of Interest (if any) of Members in respect of the business to be transacted.  None.

5.    To receive minutes of previous meeting held on 21/11/2023 and consider matters arising from the minutes but not included in the agenda

Item 8 – National Allotments Association fee. Members queried which budget had been used for the membership fee of £55 and agreed that the LCC general budget should be used not the allotment budget.

6.  To consider the request of plot 7A erecting a 7 x 5 polytunnel

K Thomas provided clarification from the National Allotments Society which states that permission is not required in this instance.

Resolved: Going forward, plot holders do not need to seek permission to erect a polytunnel

7.  To discuss and agree to the installation of a blue street water sign for allotment water outlet.

Resolved: Blue water sign to be purchased, cost effective options available on Amazon or Ebay

8.    To consider the reported crack in the boundary wall to the rear of plot 11A

Members agreed the wall affected appears to belong to the neighboring property.

Resolved: Matter to be brought to attention of the property owner in writing, including photos taken from allotment side of wall

9.   To receive an update regarding advice received from the National Allotment Society relating to the erection of the shed on plot 32

K Thomas provided an update regarding the erection of a ‘community shed’ on the RV32 site, which stated that erecting a shed on community council land is a community councils decision, provided the shed is no larger than 200 cubic meters in size and no higher than 4 metres.

K Thomas also informed the committee that LCC have been approached by a local school who are keen to use the shed for a small number of pupils in adverse weather conditions as part of their ‘Green Flag’ programme and that other groups using the allotments would also be welcome to use the space should the need arise

Resolved: Advisory document received from National Allotment Society to me made available to allotment holders for transparency

10.   To provide clarification to a plot holders query, relating to point 1e) Allocation of allotment plots

Resolved: If the plot holder has signed the tenancy agreement (clerk to clarify) then the terms and conditions of the agreement must be adhered to.

11. To consider investigating costings for allotment software and ascertain whether its use would reduce and /or streamline allotment processes and administration

Resolved: Clerk / Assistant clerk to investigate the ‘Scribe’ systems ‘allotments’ software add-on as means of managing allotment administration processes

12. To agree on the annual administrative process for allotment agreements and payments

Resolved:

  • This year – Plot holders who haven’t returned their tenancy agreements are to be written to with a hard copy of the agreement and a further 28 days to sign or hand back their plot.
  • This year – Plot holders to receive written acknowledgement that their agreement and payment have been received.
  • Next year – Tenancy agreements to be sent out by hard copy in the post.

13. To receive an arboricultural assessment report for Laleston allotments and orchard in broadlands

The reports were received by the committee. Concern was raised over a damaged tree, however as the report stated that there is no immediate risk, then no further action is to be taken at this time.

14. To agree to progress with biodiversity specialist Mr Andrew King for urgent initial maintenance of the orchard and a long term management plan and to explore a community asset transfer of the orchard from Bridgend County Borough Council

Due to the urgency of this matter this item will be addressed at the next full council meeting.

15. To receive any recommendations from any other Committees or Council.

It was noted that at the last LCC meeting that the council would investigate the purchase of the wildflower meadow in Broadlands and the remaining biodiversity budget would be used to pay the nominal purchase fee.

16. To review the Committee’s Meeting dates and consider any matters relevant to the Committee for discussion at the next meeting

  • Discuss inviting ‘Pondlife / Froglife’ group to deliver a talk on how they can assist / support the development of the wildflower meadow and orchard.
  • Discuss possible plans for ‘National Allotments Week’.
  • Discuss allotment insurance details and policies.

Next meeting to take place on Tuesday, 7 May 2024.

There being no further business, the meeting ended at 8:03pm.

Comments are closed.
Skip to content