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QED ALLOTMENTS: THIRD ANNUAL REPORT
Active participants in the QED Allotments Group over the
past year have included the allotment associations at Bean,
Dartford Road, Marcet Road, Tredegar and Wilmot Road
Allotments and the West Dartford Allotment and Garden
Society, plus individual allotment gardeners from other
sites. Achievements since the previous Annual Report
(published in Newsletter
No. 4) include the following:
- The annual Dartford Festival Allotments Competition
was reorganised to bring the judging criteria into line
with sustainable development objectives. A display
featuring the winning plots was mounted at the 1999
Dartford Festival and subsequently in the Foyer at
Dartford Civic Centre.
- A leaflet has been drafted advertising allotments in
Dartford to new residents of the borough, and assistance
has been provided to Tredegar Allotments to further their
regeneration.
- In partnership with the QED Waste and Pollution
Group, supplies of used plastics drums (for water butts),
commercially unrecyclable pallets (for compost bins,
sheds and raised beds) and old carpets (for weed
suppression and land reclamation) have been obtained from
local businesses and distributed to plotholders at
Dartford Road, Hawley, Tredegar and Wilmot Road
Allotments. Plotholders at Tredegar Allotments also
participated in the Tidy Britain Group's "National Spring
Clean", by removing a skipload of accumulated rubbish
from the allotment site and its environs. In partnership
with the QED Waste and Pollution Group, Kent Property
Services and the Uplands Allotments Association, the QED
Allotments Group has helped to organise the "Great
Dartford Pumpkin Competition" for local schools,
including the preparation of printed and videotaped
materials and distribution of FCF&CG's "Compost Box"
education packs, plus seeds from Uplands' exclusive
"Seedsaluv" range and the NSALG (in support of the
"Children in Need" appeal). Recipes for pumpkin
delicacies will be supplied directly to participating
schools this autumn (see
Newsletter No. 5).
- In partnership with the QED Biodiversity Group and
Woking's Local Agenda 21, a leaflet has been prepared and
distributed on the principles of ecological gardening,
entitled "Gardening for Life". The QED Allotments and
Biodiversity Groups were also co-organisers of a coach
trip to the Brogdale Trust in October 1998 as part of the
national "Apple Day" celebrations. The trip also
attracted participants from allotment groups in
Birmingham and Bromley, and culminated in a visit to the
picturesque Stonebridge Pond allotment site in the heart
of Faversham.
- In partnership with the QED Health Group, further
efforts have been made to encourage the therapeutic use
of allotments. A formal handover ceremony for tools
donated by B&Q's Dartford Store for use by students
from the Supported Learning Division of North West Kent
College and others was held at Dartford Road Allotments
and attended by the Mayor of Dartford. Articles on the
horticultural therapy project at Dartford Road have
appeared in national publications. QED has been an active
participant in Thrive's networking initiative, and a talk
on allotments and mental health was given at Thames
Gateway NHS Trust's Conference of Mental Health Promotion
in February 1999. The QED Health Group has also been
active in promoted healthy eating, a theme reflected in
the Vegetarian Barbecue held at Dartford Road Allotments
in June with support from the Vegetarian Society and
Gardening Which? magazine.
- Talks have been given by members of the QED
Allotments Group to the Annual Conference of the National
Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners (Plymouth),
CityHarvest Feasibility Study Launch Event
(Bromley-by-Bow), Reigate & Banstead Environmental
Forum, Southwark Environmental Forum, and Tunbridge Wells
Local Agenda 21, and a visit to local allotments was
organised for members of Maidstone Borough Council.
(cont.)
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GET DIGGING AT TREDEGAR ALLOTMENTS
If you would like an allotment in West Dartford
why not try the Tredegar site? Plots are available
now, as a very reasonable rent, and you can have a
go at building your own shed and compost bins -
with materials supplied free of charge by the QED
Waste and Pollution Group. Call Malcolm Still for
more information at 01322-401971.
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- More than fifty articles have appeared in the local
and national press on the QED Allotment Group's
activities, in publications such as the Dartford
Times, News Shopper, Bromley News Link, Network 21,
Allotment and Leisure Gardener, Urban Environment Today,
Growing Organically (Henry Doubleday Research
Association), Interactive (Shell Better Britain
Campaign), Growth Point (Thrive), Holistic
Health, The Growing Heap (Federation of City Farms
and Community Gardens), Garden News, Amateur Gardening
and Gardening Which? Items on the Group's activities
have also featured on BBC Radio Kent's Allotment
Watch.
- Advice on the role of allotments in sustainable
development strategies and related issues has been given
to local authorities including Bridgend, Brighton and
Hove, Elmbridge, Leicester and Newham, allotment
associations in Bolton, Gateshead, Harlow, High Wycombe,
Huddersfield, Ilford, Liverpool, Maidstone, Milton
Keynes, Roehampton, Starcross (Devon) and Wednesbury, Wye
College (University of London), and several national
television companies.
- Additions to the QED Virtual Potting Shed website
include the Capel Manor Horticultural and Environmental
Centre (North London), Elder Stubbs Allotments and
Gardening Group (Oxford), Olveston Parish Allotments and
Gardens Association (Gloucestershire), Spa Hill Organic
Gardening Group (Croydon) and Sturminster Road Allotments
Association (Bristol). The QED Virtual Potting Shed can
be found at:
http://www.btinternet.com/~richard.wiltshire/potshed1.htm
- The QED Allotments Group participated in the
deliberations of the Local Government Association's
working group on a "best practice" regime for allotments,
which was convened in the follow-up to the 1998
Parliamentary Inquiry into "The Future for Allotments".
Briefing papers were prepared for the LGA's working group
by QED on "Devolved Management for Allotments" and
"Allotments in Local Agenda 21", two themes which are
expected to feature in the LGA's "Advocacy Document" on
allotments expected later this year.
- Members of the QED Allotments Group have made
contributions to a number of projects and organisations
concerned with the promotion of allotments and related
issues. The Secretary of Dartford Road Allotments
Association has joined the South East Regional Committee
of the National Society of Allotment and Leisure
Gardeners, and the QED Allotment Group's Research Officer
has been elected to the Board of Management of the
Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens. The Chair
of the QED Allotments Group has provided information on
the role of allotments in Local Agenda 21 to the
Allotments Coalition Trust. QED has contributed to
Sustain's CityHarvest Working Party, which oversaw
production of the CityHarvest Feasibility Study
(see box), Sustain's workshop on the Food Measures
Toolkit, and a "think tank" on future trends in the
gardening industry organised by Gardening Which?
magazine.
- Comments on appropriate policies for allotments have
been submitted by the QED Allotments Group to the DETR in
response to the Consultation Draft of the revised
Planning Policy Guidance Note 3 (Housing) and the Final
Report of the Urban Task Force (Towards an Urban
Renaissance), and to SERPLAN on the Sustainable
Development Strategy for the South East.
- Following last year's Parliamentary Early Day Motion
1598 on Allotments in Local Agenda 21 sponsored by
Dartford's MP (Dr Howard Stoate), which attracted
sixty-eight signatures from all major political parties,
the QED Allotments Group has mounted a campaign in
cooperation with the Bolton Allotments Council in support
of EDM 631, which calls for better allotment laws.
Activities planned for the coming year include:
- Promotion of composting, in partnership with the QED
Waste and Pollution Group.
- Promotion of allotment gardening as a healthy
recreation for the active elderly, in partnership with
the QED Health Group, through the forthcoming revision of
Planning Policy Guidance Note 17 (Sport and Recreation)
and local activities.
- Support for the provision of raised beds at Dartford
Road Allotments.
- Visits to horticultural therapy projects in Reading
and Maidstone and HDRA's organic gardening centre at
Ryton, and participation in the "Gardens for People"
conference in September 1999. Also hosting visits by
other gardening groups, including the Mie Women's Centre
(Japan).
- Continuing support for allotment and community
gardeners locally and nationally through active
participation in Local Agenda 21.
SOMETHING FOR RAINY DAYS
The Allotment: Its Landscape and Culture by David
Crouch is now in its third edition, price £10.99 + 10%
p&p (ISBN 0 907123 91 0) from Five Leaves, PO Box 81,
Nottingham NG5 4ER. Also available from the same publisher:
One Woman's Plot by Geraldine Kilbride, price
£6.00 (ISBN 0 907123 86 4). Sustain's CityHarvest
Feasibility Study, authored by Tara Garnett, is
available from Sustain at 94 White Lion Street, London N1
9PF, price £30.00 (ISBN 1 903060 01 X: The QED
Allotments Group has a copy available for inspection on
request).
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