Cultivating Communities
This issue we have two reports from Allotment
site secretaries who have been
involved in forming Associations and saving their sites. Good
advice and
enthusiasm from Newburgh in Fife and Richmond place in East Renfrewshire.
SAGS has been busy over the winter with members
of the Committee helping
FEDAGA (Federation Edinburgh District Allotments and Gardens
Association) write a strategy for allotments in Edinburgh that
we hope will be adopted by the City Council. It was a time-consuming
but exciting time as we teased out our vision for allotments.
"Allotments
are an asset. In the modern urban setting they represent a
resource
that is unique in its capacity to benefit all groups in the community.
Allotment
gardening provides the opportunity for a year-round healthy
lifestyle
which is active, socially inclusive and which reflects the modern
ideals of
sustainability and well-being. It is unparalleled by any other
"leisure" activity,
providing not only exercise, mental relaxation and lifelong learning
opportunities,
but yielding in addition a positive outlook; the fresh fruit and
vegetables
that are the essence of a balanced diet. Allotment gardening,
fundamentally,
is about primary food production. Allotments are multi-
dimensional,
places where leisure meets culture meets creativity and
resourcefulness.
They typify some of the key indicators of successful urban development,
where quality of life and the availability of 'alternative'
activities increases
the city's sense of vibrancy and attractiveness"
Long may they flourish.
Judy Wilkinson Secretary SAGS
NEWBURGH ORCHARD GARDENS ASSOCIATION
A brief history
There has been an allotment site
in use at Newburgh since 1936, At that time
there was a large Linoleum factory in the town which employed
most of the
townsfolk and many who were "lured-in" from Dundee and
Perth. The factory
owner had housing built for staff at York Place, which is the
allotments site area,
garages were also built for staff and the allotment land was given
to them.
1978.
The firm went into receivership
and the factory was closed, the houses were sold,
(mainly to the staff). Fife Council bought the land and left it
to revert to wilderness.
However the allotments were and still are in use, gardeners have
come and gone in
that time.
Summer of 2000.
Rumours started regarding the
imminent sale of the "Old factory land" which
includes the allotments site. This was confirmed in the local
press a few days later.
Two days later an article about the decline in allotments nationally
appeared in the
same newspaper. I traced the author - Judy Wilkinson, (SAGS) and
she advised
on the steps I should take to save the allotments site.
I spoke to some of the people working the "plots" and
initially was met with "well
what can we do about it" and "ahm ower auld tae fecht
them noo." (in fairness he
was 84). I thought, if its only me, we've nae chance.
Hope.
About a week later I was approached
by two lady gardeners who felt we should
at least try to save the allotments.
Plan of Action.
I took Judy's advice and contacted
Harry Gunn and Ray Nixon. For their help
we will always be grateful, and for whatever reason my contact
with Harry
increased.
Steps.
Fife Council.
Fife Council stated that the plan
was to sell-off the land and that they had not
been aware of the allotments in use all there years. They also said
that Newburgh
was not only in need of more housing but also Leisure facilities.
At last I agreed
with the Council, - he (the Council Rep.) was pleased we agreed
until I asked
him why, if we are short of Leisure facilities, do they want to
sell-off an allotment
site which is up and running at no cost to them, provides 9 members
of the
community with a leisure pursuit suitable for male and female, young
and not so
young, and their families benefit.?
It is healthy and environmentally friendly ad infinitum.
Outcome.
After much deliberating, Fife Council
decided that we could lease the site over a
ten year period.
Things we found helpful.
(i) Liaise with people who
have been over the course.
(ii) Deal in facts.
(iii) No need to fight-brawl-shout. (no-one
listens to that)
(iv) Accept that not all will be for you
(even though they say they are)
(v) Listen to others (Even if you
disagree)
Again thanks to S. A. G. S. Members
for all their sound advice and support.
Danny McGinley Newburgh
SAGS VISITS TO SITES
Over the next few months we will
be visiting allotment sites in Glasgow in order
to discover more about your needs as a group. We will also be promoting
the work
of SAGS, the organisation working for the benefit of allotment holders
in Scotland.
Our visit will be a fact finding mission helping us to more effectively
serve the wider community.
Ray Nixon
Sarah Watt
SAGS committee
FEDAGA
FEDAGA's Jubilee flower show - 50
years of allotment support in Edinburgh!
Saturday August 31st in Ballgreen Bowling Club. Stalls, Exhibits
and a marquee
of enthusiastic like minded friends.
The Queen had only been on the throne
for three months when the Lord Bishop
of Edinburgh opened the first flower show on Saturday 5th September
1953.
Allotments are as important now as they were then.
THREAT TO THE PLANNING SYSTEM.
Central Government is proposing
changes that would reduce participation in the
planning system. The possible consequences for allotment sites and
other green
spaces should be obvious:
WE COULD LOSE THE RIGHT TO PROTECT THEM.
The government has announced stunning
changes to the planning system in the
Planning Green Paper. The proposals include allowing High Tech Industrial
Units
to be built with NO planning permission, a reduction in the rights
of ordinary people
to participate in the planning system in the name of speeding up
decisions, and of
course allowing parliament rather than public enquiries to decide
major
infrastructure projects.
90% of Planning decisions will be
decided by council officers rather than the
elected councillors.
The lynch pin of the new proposals
is 'speed' ; everything is to be geared towards
the need to speed up the process.
The Green paper mentioned in the
above paragraph applies only to England but
we have been advised that both the Welsh and Scottish Parliaments
are also
preparing Papers on this matter.
While we agree that the present
system has many faults we believe that the
proposed new system would greatly curtail our ability to challenge
attempts by
councils to sell of allotment land for business use and, if the
decisions were made
by council officers, we would not be aware of the decisions before
they were
confirmed.
We suggest that all allotment
members and associations ask their local
councillor to advise them if any such action is proposed and to
assist in
ensuring that allotments are retained.
Harry Gunn, Webmaster, Scottish
Allotments and Gardens Society
Tel 01236 728890 email.
gunnharry22@hotmail.com
Committee SAGS
President: Bert Cook - Paterson Park
0141
562 6328-
Vice-President: George Duff - Hamilton
Hill
Secretary: Judy Wilkinson - Kelvinside
0141
357 0204
Treasurer: Alison Black FEDAGA
Members:
Eddie Docherty - Paterson Park
Ray Nixon - Belahouston
Harry Gunn - Cumbernauld
Liz McKinley - New Vicoria Gardens
Gilbert Clark - Co-opted member
Sarah Watt - Holmlea
Jessie Clark - Richmond Place
Richmond Allotments
The Richmond Allotments are in Rutherglen,
South Lanarkshire and they run
alongside the Railway line Glasgow to the South, They are situated
in Richmond
Court. There are 17 in total and each one measures 30yds.x 1.yds.
South
Lanarkshire Council own the land and re allocate them when they
become vacant.
To my knowledge the Allotments have been there over 50 years, and
as the ground changed ownership, under the various control of British
Rail, Burgh of Rutherglen, Glasgow City Council and finally due
to another change in the Boundry - South Lanakshire.
Until we came under the control
of South Lanarkshire the site had become an
eyesore. The Plotholders were not organised, no Constitution, no
Committee and
of course no Funds, some of them decided enough was enough.
At the end of 1999 an approach was made to South
Lanarkshire and with their
help a Constitution was raised, the Plotholders formed a Committee
and due to
this we began to move forward. The Council assisted us in getting
rid of 50 years
of rubbish (which was considerable). However a lot was still to
be done. Although
each Plotholder contributed £5.00 at every Quarterly meeting
our funds would
never cover any improvements so the idea of finding out about a
Grant sprang to
mind.
In 2001 an approach was made again to South Lanarkshire with costs
etc. to cover
laying in a water supply and paths with the manual work being done
by the
Committee. The application was successful and our request for a
Grant of £760 was accepted.
As these Grants can be requested every year we are in the process
of costing other improvements and shall apply once more this year.
In the short time we have been up
and running a lot of hard work has been done
by ourselves and with the assistance of South Lanarkshire (who inspect
the site on a regular basis) an eyesore has been changed to an area
that looks very good.
Jessie Clark
Richmond Allotments
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