Dear Allotment Gardeners.
Welcome to the first ‘Allotment Newsletter’
Newsletters will be issued May, July and October. Please feel free to send me any news, tips successes, photos of your gardens you would like to showcase and any tips you may want to share, all of which will be published in the newsletter and shared to all the five sites in Gainsborough and also added to Gainsborough Town Council Website.
Firstly, I would like to give a huge thanks to the gardeners who nominated themselves to be 2024-2025 Site Secretary, your support to the Council and your fellow gardeners is invaluable. Rachael Love Lane. Lynda Showfield, Jonny, and Paul Foxby Hill and Nathan North Warren. Thank you for all that you have done so far, you are valued and appreciated.
Over the course of the last few weeks, I have received several complaints / concerns in relation to gardens that are under the ownership of Gainsborough Town Council and those that appear to not have tenants in situ.
Because of this I have decided to email you all, this allotment update as a way to reach as many of you as I can and also to offer some reassurance into the steps the Council are taking.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate the many of you who have battled through the weather, I think you would all agree, the rain fall in the UK over this last year has been exceptionally bad. I thank the many of you who have persevered through this, resulting in some already very impressive gardens, despite the weather difficulties you have faced.
In relation to gardens that appear not be worked who have tenants in situ. In January 2024, the Council adopted the ‘Tenancy Breach Policy’. A notification email advising of this was sent out on the 17th January 2024 and also notices displayed on the notice boards.
The ‘Tenancy Breach Policy’ is now fully operational; If you wish to read the ‘Tenancy Breach Policy’ you can access it on the Gainsborough Town Council’s website, alternatively you can ask your site secretaries as they have a site copy The policy does give careful consideration to Tenants whose individual circumstances prevents them from adhering to their Allotment Tenancy Agreement such as, but not limited to, illness, injury and or death of an immediate family member.
In relation to gardens that have no tenants in site. The waiting list for each site is regularly worked, most sites seeing many newcomers. Over the course of 2023 to date over 100 gardens have been allocated. However, there are some gardens that are simply not suitable to be let out. A solution to address this is currently in talks.
The Council currently have a Grounds team, consisting of a Team Leader who is very operational on the ground and four other members. The team are responsible for the following,
Gainsborough Town Council Parks, Richmond Park, Danes Road, St Georges, Mayflower and Aisby Walk. Levellings Sports Field, and Marshalls Sports Field, their duties here are Health and Safety Inspections, grass cutting marking out of pitches for football, bowls and cricket.
The team are also responsible for the General Cemetery, North Warren Cemetery, their responsibilities here are grass cutting, tree works, burials and grave maintenance.
The teams extended responsibilities includes general site maintenance, grass cutting of the access paths on the allotment sites and ensuring the security of each site under the responsibility of the Town Council.
It is fair to say that given the weather conditions, as stated above, that the small team of ground workers are also battling the elements and conditions the wet weather has created such as grass and weeds growing at exceptionally fast rates.
With this in mind please remain patient. The Council are always seeking ways on how to improve things. Discussions are under way of how to ‘make things easier and better’ for the Grounds team and members of the public such as yourselves who access Council services such as the allotments. I will update you all on future developments.
I am still very enthusiastic about seeing improvements on the allotment sites; however, these do take time.
On a plus, the Site Secretaries and I discussed holding summer gatherings, potentially in August, on each site. The theme would be lightheaded rather than serious, competitions such as ‘the best wonky veg’ ‘best scarecrow’ best newcomer’ best garden etc, I would like to invite past timer gardeners to be the judges.
Alongside the competitions it was also suggested to have a BBQ, where you would be responsible for bringing your own food and cooking it, and eating in a communal space, where we can share stories of your growing trials and tribulations and of course your successes.
Please do feel free to contact me to discuss the contents of this email, with any positive suggestions you may have in improving the allotment sites. Also, if you feel the summer gathering is something you would like to see, please do let me know or speak to your Site Secretary.
Best Wishes,
Amanda
Allotment Officer
If you’re interested in having an allotment, you can apply by clicking here.
Alternatively, if you want to apply for any allotment permissions, view our current allotment policies or generally find out more about Gainsborough Town Council allotments, please see more here:
Allotments – Gainsborough Town Council (gainsborough-tc.gov.uk)
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