Child’s Hill Allotment Society
Allotment News
Email updates from the Chairman
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Newsletter (January 2011)
Future management of the site
Most of you will have heard that Barnet Council wants to hand over all aspects
of site management to local societies and groups, and April of this year was originally set for the completion of the process.
This was a political decision that was made last June with little consideration as how it might be carried out in practice.
Given the extraordinarily optimistic timescale, it had been expected that there would by now have been some real progress in discussions between Barnet and the allotment societies, but to date only one site has been formally approached. For the full story click here
Increase in allotment rents
You might be aware that Barnet is proposing to increase allotment rents by about 200%, and possibly for some by 400%.
The exact amount is not entirely clear, but it seemed originally that they wanted to charge Barnet residents £17 per pole and non-residents £34 per pole.
The 50% discount for the first 10 poles of plots of over 60s was not mentioned, so it is assumed that it will remain.
For the full story click here
For an article on the horticultural channel about barnet-allotments-rent-rise petition Click here
Shop
A reminder that the shop will be re-opening on February 6, when this year’s seed potatoes and onion sets will be on sale, alongside the usual range of seeds, fertilisers, composts, canes, etc.
Three long-standing shop helpers, Gordon Davie, Christine Guedalla and Philippa Fraser are stepping down and we thank them for the many years of help both in the shop and as members of the committee.
We are glad to say that we have recruited a number of new volunteers to take their place. For the full story click here
Help us stay in touch with you...
The quickest and most efficient and fastest way of getting information to you is by email, and much of what has been written here about recent developments has been sent in that way to those of you for whom we have email addresses.
Unfortunately we have them for only about a third of the membership. So could we ask all of you who have email addresses to tell us what they are by sending an email containing your name, address, telephone number and email address to chair@childshillallotments.org.uk with a copy to secretary@childshillallotments.org.uk
Fly tipping wood chip
Regular deliveries of wood chips are made to the site by Custom Cutters. Their staff know where they should drop the wood chips on the site, either beside the road to the north car park where it turns the corner or by the north car park itself.
The deliveries are organized by Ken Moth and the company has been given a key so that it can deliver without the need for anyone to be present to admit them.
Recently other companies have arrived at the site with wood chippings and have asked to be admitted.
For the full story click here
Skips, rubbish and scrap
In the past, Barnet council provided us with a skip whenever we asked for one, but for the last couple of years they have limited the supply to just three skips per year. A rough calculation shows that this is sufficient for each plotholder to dispose of just one bin bag of waste per year.
We have therefore decided that it is no longer practical to get skips for plotholders’ general use, but only to do so when there is a particular requirement to clear communal areas or a derelict plot. For the full story click here
Water supply
As most of you know the society has been trying without success to persuade the council to improve the water supply.
Over the years various schemes have been proposed but nothing has happened. We understand that recently Thames Water has told Barnet that if any changes were made to the system, they would require major works to install non-return valves at the points where the supply entered the site, the lagging of all standpipes and the replacement of taps by tanks with ball valves, so that only watering cans may be used.
For that reason Barnet has taken no further action, and it is virtually certain that they will do nothing until the site management issues are finalised. After that, if we are managing the site, it would be up to us to decide what to do.
For the full story click here
Download Newsletter January 2011 PDF
RHS Affiliation
Child’s Hill Site Allotment Shop
The shop is open on SUNDAYS only at the following times.
February – September 11:00 - 13.00
October - November
12:00 – 13.00
We sell a wide range
of horticultural products
How to get an allotment...
You may apply for a plot whether or not you live in the borough of Barnet. However, since the allotment site is the property of Barnet council, Barnet residents take precedence over those from outside the borough. The waiting list at present (January 2011) has 96 names on it, of which 23 are Barnet residents. Only if the backlog of Barnet applicants has been cleared will non-residents be considered. To give some idea of how long one might have to wait for a plot, in recent years about six plots have been re-let each year.
To apply to be put on
the waiting list, please contact the Lettings Officer, Jane Bell email janebell@dircon.co.uk or call in to our shop on Sunday mornings and leave your details - name, address, telephone number, email address.
There are many other allotment sites in Barnet, so it is worth enquiring as to whether any of the others have vacancies.
You can find details of them on the federation website:
The Barnet Federation
of Allotment and Horticultural Societies