AGM 2024
Lewisham Self-Managed Allotments Association
Annual General Meeting 2024
Monday 26th February 2024, 7pm- 8pm
Committee Room 3, Civic Suite Catford SE6 4RU
Minutes of meeting
Attendees
John Denton (Chair) JD
Chinbrook Meadows
Katherine Blair (Secretary) KB
Trewsbury Road
Denny Senner DS
Knapmill Way
Dean Hughes
Knapmill Way
Daniel Warren
Trewsbury Road
Andy Smith
Guest
Debbie Edwards
Slaithwaite Road
Alan Marsh
Meadow Close
Patricia Gelthooft
Meadow Close
Araceli Ferrero
Meadow Close
Tracy Matthews
Meadow Close
Gloria Matthews
Firhill South
Sally Paterson
Priestfield Road
Bernie Hutchinson
Taylors Lane
Jane Offerman
Royal Naval Place & Stanley Street
Jason Williams
Romborough Gardens
Paulette Walker
Broadmead
Tracie Bishop
Chinbrook Meadows
Rob Tomlinson
Chinbrook Meadows
Stephanie Brooks
Hurstbourne Road Allotments
Nigel Lord
Longton Nursery
Anna Smyth
Longton Nursery
Rita Hooks
Hazelbank Road
Su Colfer
Hazelbank Road
Emelia Lorusso
Barmeston Road
Nikki Seal
Barmeston Road
Peter Maynard PM
London Borough of Lewisham
1. Apologies
Jill Jordan
Firhill South
Geoff Richardson
Goldsmiths Gardens, Castillion Road
Dave Gibbins
Jim Hurren Allotments
2. Minutes of the previous meeting held on 30 January 2023
Minutes of previous meeting agreed as a true record.
3. Any matters arising not covered elsewhere on the agenda.
None raised.
4. Secretary’s Report – Katherine Blair
Competition and awards event
Apologies were given for the cancellation of the competition in 2023. Not long enough was given to recruit enough participants in time for the competition to run. It was agreed that the competition will run this year if 50 per cent of sites agree to participate.
This year things will start earlier and members are encouraged to take part as competitors and judges. Any plot-holder can volunteer to be a judge so please encourage those on your site to take part. A session will be held to explain the judging process and for judges to ask any questions about it.
The competition has three categories:
• Best plot on site,
• Best new plot-holder on site - for those who have had their plot for less than 12 months,
• Best site overall, who will win the Jane Cobbold Cup.
In addition, there are awards for the best plot and best newcomer in Lewisham overall.
Plots are assessed by volunteer judges from other sites using the same judging framework. The criteria include, variety of produce, weed control, neatness, planning, layout and sustainability.
Sites are assessed against presentation and condition of site, produce, sustainability and community effort.
LSMAA levy
As no awards event was held and therefore no expenditure, there will be no levy charge for 2024. The levy charge for 2023 will be used for 2024 costs.
Updated survey findings
High level analysis of the site survey was presented. The report distributed at the AGM is attached and a fuller report will follow. If you have any particular requests to be included, please let KB know on KatherineTRAS@gmail.com.
The survey was to collect sites’ opinions on the supply of names to fill vacant plots on their sites. The methodology and key findings from the attached report are as follows:
• A Survey Monkey questionnaire was issued to all LSMAA sites in February 2024 as a follow up to the survey from summer 2023,
• 13 responses were received from 12 sites from 25 sites invited – a site response rate of 48 per cent,
• 10 sites did not respond to either wave of the survey,
• Multiple responses from the same site were weighted to give each site the same value irrespective of the number of responses or the number of plots on the site,
• The sample has a potential bias that respondents from sites who are particularly unhappy with the current process are more likely to respond to the survey,
• The second wave being run in February rather than the summer may have affected the responses as vacancy rates vary throughout the year,
• The average vacancy rate at the time of the survey was 4 per cent compared to 7 per cent in the first wave,
• Waiting times of more than six months have reduced slightly while those of less than six months have increased slightly,
• 17 per cent of sites think the process for assigning names has got a bit or a lot worse in the past 12 months compared to 62 per cent in the first wave,
• 33 per cent of sites think the process has got better compared to 18 per cent in the first wave,
• 67 per cent are dissatisfied with the current process compared to 73 per cent in the first wave,
• 17 per cent are satisfied with the current process compared to 9 per cent in the first wave.
It was suggested that the 52 per cent of sites who did not respond to the survey are happy with the status quo. While this may be true it should not be assumed and sites are encouraged to take part in future surveys to give a more robust data and analysis.
It was suggested that site visits be made to review the condition of sites and identify any long-standing issues that might be affecting plot uptake. It was noted that this could be seen as over-bearing and that sites are being “checked up on”. Sites will be contacted individually to find out if they would like to take part. It would give the opportunity to log things with LSMAA as well as with PM for discussion at our 4-weekly catch-up meetings. (See below for more on this).
Tracking spreadsheet and 4-weekly meetings
Since the 2023 AGM, PM and the LSMAA committee (KB and JD) have been holding 4-weekly update meetings. So far, the focus has been on name allocation waiting times. To address this a tracker spreadsheet has been developed which records the dates vacancies are reported on the portal and the dates PM begins to address them and provide names. This will be reported on and the update meetings and individual sites can receive a report of their current status.
It was agreed to set a target of 3 months for names to be provided to sites and there will be a formal review after six months (in August 2024) to check progress along with another survey wave to assess sites’ opinions.
These meetings can also be used to raise and monitor site issues through LSMAA and LBL. If you have anything you’d like to cover email KatherineTRAS@gmail.com and we will put it on a future agenda. You can attend to discuss it directly or brief us in advance.
5. Treasurer’s Report – John Denton in absence of appointed treasurer
The current account balance is £1,672.26. There have been no outgoings this year,
As noted in the secretary’s report, there will be no LSMAA levy in 2024. An estimate of £1,210 has been made for the costs of the 2024 awards event which will be covered by the existing balance.
6. Chair’s Report – John Denton
Thanks to all for attending the meeting and to all committees for their continuing work supporting their sites and the LSMAA.
JD noted that he feels there have been fewer complaints to him over the past year.
There was discussion about boundary fences. Responsibility for maintenance of these can be difficult to ascertain between sites and their neighbours. PM can be contacted for clarification and help resolving these issues. The representative of Slaithwaite Road will email PM about their particular problem.
There was discussion about large trees requiring maintenance. PM noted that it is the council’s responsibility to maintain large trees on allotment sites. They should be reported here https://lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/environment/trees/report-tree-problems. PM can follow up if required.
7. Election of Officers
I. Chair: John Denton re-elected as chair
II. Treasurer: Julie Fitton stood down as Treasurer at the 2023 AGM but no nominations were made for the post either at that meeting or since. Julie has kindly been looking after the bank account in the interim. No nominations were made at this meeting but nominations for the role are sought from members. Sites are requested to canvass their plot holders for nominees who do not need to be a committee member on their own site. The role involves:
• Collecting levies from sites,
• Arranging the booking and payments for the costs of the awards event,
• Paying the postage costs for any materials sent by post to sites,
• Overseeing the online banking.
III. Secretary: Katherine Blair re-elected
8. Lewisham’s Perspective – Peter Maynard, Green Scene
At the time of the meeting there were 3,561 people on the Lewisham allotments waiting list. This is an increase of 100 since last July though there have been 200 new applicants.
Waiting times for a plot vary by site but the current average is 6.3 years down from 7.5 years at the 2023 AGM.
There are 70 more plots than last year, mainly due to division of existing plots but still only 0.4% of Lewisham’s population have an allotment.
A temporary member of staff provided additional resource for allotment business. While this has improved things this is not an ongoing role. The test of changes made since last year will be in March when plot-holders receive their invoices for the year which leads to a bump in plot vacancies.
Plots can remain empty for long periods when nominees are offered a choice of more than one and they most likely choose the one that has been empty for less time and therefore in a better condition. PM proposed that where feasible, sites offer the empty plots in strict order of vacancy rather than allowing a choice of several in significantly different states of neglect.
PM emphasised the importance of notifying on the portal when plots are accepted or declined. This is essential for our tracking of delays to be accurate and saves wasted effort in contacting people who have already got a plot that hasn’t been notified.
Invoices are not sent out until all sites have returned their annual documentation. PM will soon be sending out a request for documentation so please return it promptly to allow all sites to get their invoices. Returns should sent in spreadsheet format (a template file will be sent with the rent letter as usual) and the declaration form should be fully completed, signed and scanned or good quality photo as this speeds up the collation of information.
A survey will be issued soon to find out how sites manage their GDPR responsibilities regarding managing data. Each site needs a data sharing agreement that PM will advise on depending on the results of the survey and in consultation with the Lewisham Data Protection Officer.
PM will notify sites when applications open for The Greening Fund for things such as compost toilets, benches and trees.
A councillors’ Task and Finish group mentioned at last year’s AGM have recommended a community food growing role being created at LBL. (The LSMAA committee were consulted by this group). The responsibilities of the role are being worked up for recruitment soon.
Sites are encouraged to explore the possibility of having some space set aside for community growing. Pursuing this will be part of the Community food growing role.
A workshop to cover the core responsibilities of committee members is planned for when the weather improves. This also provides the opportunity to learn from other sites’ experiences. The workshop will cover committee processes, roles and responsibilities, conflict resolution and PM welcomes additional suggestions for topics to cover. PM will distribute proposed dates.
PM noted there is not current threat to allotment sites for redevelopment which initiated a discussion of the differences between statutory and non-statutory (also sometimes called temporary) sites. The status of each site was determined when set up and it cannot be changed. Statutory sites are protected by allotment acts meaning they cannot be disposed of with the intervention of the Secretary of State. [Post meeting note: Advice is being sought on the possibility of converting non-statutory sites as there seems to be some debate about whether it is possible].
PM has provided the following list
Name of Site
Status
Ballamore Road
Non-statutory
Barmeston Road
Statutory
Blackhorse Road
Non-statutory
9. Propositions and proposed amendments to the Constitution.
None made
10. Grow to Give
DS raised the issue of Grow to Give (see https://foodcycle.org.uk/). Meals are prepared every Wednesday and Saturday at the Irish Centre in Catford for anyone who attends. No referral is required as is the case with food banks
Food from allotments is welcomed and they request delivery before 10am on the day of the meals to allow time for cooking. Sites can donate surpluses or set up and area of their site where food is grown specifically for the scheme. They get donations from supermarkets that is very heavy on potatoes, so a wider variety is very welcome.
This is from the Food Cycle website We are FoodCycle, and our vision is to make food poverty, loneliness and food waste a thing of the past for every community. We connect communities, reducing loneliness and food poverty – working with thousands of volunteers and surplus food to help everyone who needs us. By creating welcoming spaces for people from all walks of life
Broadmead
Non-statutory
Castillon Road
Non-statutory
Chinbrook Meadows
Statutory
Clarendon Rise
Statutory
Exford Road
Statutory
Firhill Road South
Non-statutory
Hazelbank Road
Non-statutory
Hurstbourne Road
Non-statutory
Jim Hurren
Non-statutory
Kendale Road
Non-statutory
Knapmill Way
Non-statutory
Lee & District Land Club
Statutory
Longton Nursery
Statutory
Meadow Close
Statutory
Priestfield Road
Statutory
Romborough Gardens
Non-statutory
Royal Naval Pl. Stage I
Non-statutory
Royal Naval Pl. Stage II
Non-statutory
Sedgehill Road
Non-statutory
Slaithwaite Road
Non-statutory
St Mildreds Road
Non-statutory
Stanley Street
Non-statutory
Taylors Lane
Non-statutory
Trewsbury Road
Non-statutory
to meet, eat and have conversations, we are supporting people’s health and mental wellbeing. By cooking with surplus ingredients, we promote healthy, sustainable attitudes towards food and its impact on the environment, and help people to learn more about healthy food. We aim to inspire greater change by sharing the impact of our community dining spaces and the voices of our guests to encourage more people to join and support FoodCycle, so we can help more people and more communities.
This is a very valuable scheme so please support it if you can.
11. Any other competent business.
Support from LBL for resolving site disputes
Information was requested on what support is available from the council, when and how to access it. Part of PM’s role is this sort of case work so can be contacted with issues. Representatives will be invited to the LSMAA/LBL meeting to discuss the policy and processes. This will be documented and shared with other sites
Renewable energy
The meeting was asked if any sites had any renewable energy generation. None were reported apart from solar lighting on some toilets. If anyone has experience let us know and we will distribute the information. Spa Hill allotment site in Crystal Palace has this wind turbine.
Insurance
A question was raised about Employers’ Liability Insurance for site committees when plot holders undertake work for the site, for example on working parties. It was agreed that as long as a risk assessment is carried out and the person doing the work is judged to be competent, aware of any risk and consenting to do the work rather than being told to there should be no liability on the site.
Site constitution and tenancy agreements
There is an aspiration that all sites use standard site constitution and tenancy agreements. New plot-holders should be signed up with the new standard agreement. As tenancy agreements are legally for a one-year term, existing plot-holders could be updated to the new agreement if sites wish to do so. It was suggested that they could be offered along with annual rent renewal to existing plot-holders. This would involve an administrative burden, but it is good practice for all plot holders to be on the same tenancy terms.
Standard templates for site constitution and tenancy agreements are in preparation and will be forwarded to LSMAA members when complete
12. Dates of next meeting January 2025.
Exact date TBD
Attachments
2023-2024 Survey report summary
LSMAA constitution
TEMPLATE LBL Self-management agreement
Comments