Minute of the Meeting of the Paignton Home Garden & Allotment Society held at the ROAB Club Paignton on Monday 1st July 2024

Present:  Steve Blair, Greg Beal, Phil Moore, Andy Bibbings, Christine Guiver, Gary Buckingham, Pat Marriott, Adrian Beal, Joe Wallis, Brian Coles.

Apologies: Lorraine Montgomery, Jodi White, Jacqui Green, Alan Smith.

1.    Minutes of the previous meeting 4th April 2024 noted and agreed.

2.    Matters arising from the minutes:

• Tree at Oakleigh
  • Torbay need map, photographs and concise description of the issue before they will process. Oakleigh site reps to provide this for the secretary to populate the online Tree contact form on Council website.

3.    Correspondence:

• Busy - there have been 8 new requests to join the waiting list since the last meeting and 5 requests for updates on position on the waiting list, which remains approximately 130.
• There has been some correspondence regarding boundaries at Oakleigh, see notes in any other business.
• Ongoing management of plots requiring letters and emails to plot holders.

4.    Chairman’s Report

• The main growing season is now upon us, but with a colder than usual June, I have noticed that some plants have been slow in growing, but now warmer weather is with us they are beginning to catch up. We have had some good results from the autumn planting items –the broad beans are probably the best ever crop that I have experienced. Likewise the onions are doing well, and our strawberry yield is among the best we have had.
• At Oakleigh there have been some “observations and requests” from neighbouring houses about overgrowth of trees, briar etc causing problems. I would request that all site reps check their boundaries to ensure that we are not upsetting owners of neighbouring properties, and encourage plot holders to trim back any excess growth.

5.    Vice Chairman’s Report

• Not present

6.    Treasurer’s Report (provided after the meeting)

• Paid Out
  • Bank Charges - £19.80
  • Water LP’s - £30.72
  • Fruit Trees - £170.00
  • Repairs/ Maintenance LP’s Loo - £212.20
  • Total - £432.82
• Paid In
  • Subs - £940.50
  • Shop sales - £15.00
  • Total - £955.50
• Closing Balance - £7,389.53

7.    Site Reports

• Derrell Road
  • DR remains fully occupied and mostly well cultivated.
  • A plotholder suggested that people were bringing domestic waste to the bonfire site and the ashes of a recent fire contained asbestos residue. We inspected the ashes and concluded it was more likely to be fibre glass. Either way we would like to remind everyone that this facility is provided solely for disposal of combustable, non contaminated allotment material.
  • Another plotholder recently found a full dog poo bag on the main path. We chose not to ascertain if it was dog, cat, badger or fox faeces but again, would like to remind those who bring dogs to the site to act responsibly.
  • The lawn mower is defective. Adrian and I tried to resolve the issue but failed so it is now at a local garden machinery workshop who gave us an estimated repair cost below £50. This compares favourably to the alternative options. A new one costs £375. Cheaper versions are available from £190 and DGM wanted £125 plus parts for a service.
• Oakleigh
  • We have managed to let 4 vacant half plots this spring and early summer, and it appears that the new plot holders have got off to a good start, with Obaida on plot 7B having made remarkable progress, bearing in mind that this was a problem plot with a lot of rubbish dumped on it. We have a couple of plots that have recently become vacant to let after the end of this month.
  • Whilst Adrian and Gary manage to keep many of the communal areas trimmed back, we would like to remind plot holders that it is their responsibility to keep the paths between the plots clear so that access for other plot holders is not impeded.
  • Regular site inspections are now in progress, and hopefully many of the problems that we have encountered are going to be a thing of the past.
• Lower Penns
  • We are fully occupied and majority of plots are being well managed. A handful of plots are being monitored by site reps where concerns have previously been raised and progress is slow or more intermittent than needed.

8.    AOB

• Coastal compost deliveries
  • Coastal have brought in a delivery charge £171.00 which is a lot. Steve Blair had reported that York Road allotments were charged £60. This was investigated by Lorraine, Coastal said they were trying to share delivery costs for splitting loads for a trial but have now confirmed the £171 as the charge. The delivery cost would appear to be the same regardless of the size of load.
  • This was thought to be expensive for the quality and it also would introduce the need to make sure it was distributed very fairly if the society was paying for it. This would be too difficult.
  • Lorraine suggested if groups of plot holders are happy to pay this directly between them they could then manage the ‘pile’ themselves for their own use recognising the committee would need some involvement to make sure an issue with access or neighbours was not created.
  • After a discussion, the committee decided not to continue with the deliveries of the compost, but if individual plot holders wanted to manage a delivery on their own account and pay direct, then the committee would have no objection. However it was pointed out that they must clear up after the delivery is cleared.
• Allotment Society Website
  • Steve Blair notified Lorraine that there was a  need to update information on the website. Lorraine had tracked down the Webmaster Leigh Burns, (son-in-law of John O’Neil on Oakleigh). Leigh has kindly offered to continue to update the website. Lorraine has given Leigh the updated committee members and corrected the number of plots on each site. Leigh has also posted the latest minutes.
  • It was suggested that if committee members could find time to look through the website and note down any mistakes and amendments needed, and pass them to Lorraine for updating.
• Site Boundaries 
  • A couple of requests have been received about boundary issues at Oakleigh, mainly to do with overgrowth, so all site reps were requested to inspect the boundaries and encourage plot holders to keep the boundaries tidy so that our neighbours are not inconvenienced.
• Frequency of meetings
  • With modern methods of communication, the consensus of opinion from committee members was that monthly meetings were not necessary going forward. So this year it was proposed that our next meeting is September, with the AGM in November, with a follow up meeting in December to implement any items that arose from the AGM.
  • Then for 2025 quarterly meetings were quite adequate, with the AGM moved back to October, with the follow up meeting in November 2025.
• Cashing cheques
  • Joe Wallis raised the fact that he passed over his rental cheque in April and to date it has still not been cashed. Is there a problem with banking cheques nowadays? – bearing in mind the fact that many bank branches are closing. Should we be looking at a standard payment method i.e. bank transfers? Perhaps this will need further discussion when the treasurer is present.
• Finances
  • It was suggested that at the AGM a full breakdown of income and expenditure is presented. Again the feasibility of this should be discussed at the September meeting when the treasurer is present.
• Equipment inventory
  • A request was made for an inventory of equipment owned by the Society and the response was as follows:
    • Derrel Road – 1 Mountfield ST55 Lawnmower &  1 Honda 4 stroke strimmer
    • Lower Penns – 1 Honda 4 stroke strimmer
    • Oakleigh – 1 Einhel 2 stroke strimmer, 1 JCB rotavator, 1 4 stroke 240V generator and 1 4 stroke petrol powered jet wash with the hose missing.

9.    Date of the next Committee Meeting

• To be held on Monday September 2nd 2024 at 7.30pm.

Meeting closed at 8.15pm.