February 2011 emails from CHAS committee

The fight against unreasonable rent rises

Many thanks to all of you have signed the online petition protesting about the proposed rent increases. If you intend to sign it, but have not yet round to it, please do so by Sunday evening, since it is to be sent to Barnet early next week.

You can get to it via the Federation website http://www.barnetallotments.org.uk/ or you can go direct to it at http://www.gopetition.com/petition/42281.html .

The next stage will be forthcoming council meetings, in relation to which we have recently received the following message from the Federation

"We urgently need the services of someone who could take shorthand verbatim notes of any discussion about allotment rents at the Council's Cabinet meeting on 14th February which will agree fees and charges and at the full Council on 1st March which will adopt the over all budget. Both meetings are at 7pm in Hendon Town Hall, The Burroughs, NW4.

What the Councillors and officials say about their proposals on allotment rents could be critical in fighting the increases if the Council goes ahead and agrees them in spite of all our pressure."

If any of you could help in this way, please let us know and we will pass your details on to the Federation.

Thanks!
CHAS committee
(email dated 04/02/11)

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Allotment rent decisions - forthcoming cabinet and council meetings

Barnet Council will decide very soon on the allotment rents to be charged from April 2012. It will be a two stage process. The first is a meeting of the council cabinet on February 14th, at which it will be asked to approve the fees and charges increases for 2011/12.

The second is a meeting of the full council on March 1st when it will be asked to agree formally to the the cabinet's recommendations.

Both meetings start at 7pm at Hendon Town Hall, The Burroughs, Hendon NW4 4B. Anyone may attend. Please do so, if you can.

Despite representations from the Federation, allotment societies, some councillors and individual plotholders, there have been no changes to what had previously been proposed. The cabinet will be asked to approve a rent of £17 per pole for Barnet residents and £34 per pole for non-residents, to come into effect in April 2012. It is stated that this is to reflect the cost of the service, though no evidence has been provided to support this assertion.

Prior to the meeting, the cabinet will be sent the results of the on-line and paper petitions. The former has over 700 signatures and a further 45 of our plotholders have signed the paper petition. Thanks to all of you who signed one or other of them.

The Federation has arranged to put down questions to the cabinet on

The papers for the cabinet meeting may be found by clicking on the complete.pdf link at
http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/
meetings/executivemeetingdetail.asp?MeetingID=6151
The agenda item relating to the rents is 5D Environment & Operations Fees
and Charges, which starts on page 187.


CHAS Committee
(email dated 10/02/2011)

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Allotment Rent Increases and Devolved Management

As we feared would happen, on Monday February 14th the Cabinet of Barnet Council agreed to the proposed allotment rent increases. The full council will be asked to give its formal agreement to this at its meeting on March 1st.

So, as things stand, from April 2012 the rent to be paid by Barnet residents will be £17 per pole and that by non-residents will be £34 per pole. There has been no mention of any change to the 50% reduction on the rent paid by the over-60s for their first 10 poles, so it is assumed that it will continue to be applied.

At a meeting of the Barnet Federation this week it was agreed unanimously that ways of challenging and reversing the decision should be investigated as a matter of urgency. One way might be the mounting of a legal challenge in the form of an application to the courts for a judicial review, and lawyers are already being consulted about the possibility of doing this. We shall keep you informed of developments.

Of course, if management of the site has been devolved to the Child's Hill Allotment Society by April 2012, the society will be able to decide on the level of rents. Along with most, and possibly all, of the allotment societies in the borough, we have informed Barnet that we want the Federation to represent us in negotiations with them. In that way, it is hoped that the experience of the Federation's officers together with the specialist expertise of individuals from various sites will result in an agreed workable model for self-management that we can recommend to the CHAS membership.

If you are interested, articles relating to the cabinet meeting and its decisions can be found at

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8854068.
Parking_fees_to_increase_despite_heated_opposition/

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8856016.
Opposition_brands_cabinet__St_Valentine_s_Day_massacre_/

CHAS Committee
(email dated 22/02/2011)

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Storage of gas and fuel in sheds

Yesterday we received the following message from Jakki Redmond, the Greenspaces support manager at Barnet council.

"Over the past couple of weeks, over a dozen allotment sheds on several sites have been burnt out by vandals - many of these cases were planned and deliberate arson and they are on the increase. The police and fire brigade are worried that nearby sheds contained gas cylinder and containers of petrol etc. If a gas cylinder exploded in a shed fire, it could cause serious injury or even death to anyone nearby and could cause extensive damage to nearby properties. The Council is therefore banning the storage of gas cylinders and fuel containers in allotment sheds."

We asked for clarification and were told

"The only gas I will consider on the site is a small camping gaz type to use to heat a kettle of water. With regard to fuel, I would expect any fuel needed for machinery to be brought in and off site as required, and not stored in the shed."

We are passing this message on to you as we are obliged to and we ask that you take note of it. We realise that it is a pain but if it is based on advice given to Barnet by the emergency services, and if there were to be a fire and explosion in your shed which caused death or injury to anyone, it is possible that you would be held to be legally responsible.

If you have any enquiries about this, please direct them to
Jakki Redmond
tel: 020 8359 7829 
email: jakki.redmond@barnet.gov.uk"

CHAS Committee
(email dated 24/02/2011)

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