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Most of the site has been derelict for many years, due to
a combination of vandalism and past infestation by rabbits.
There are around eighty plots on the site, but by the summer
of 1998 the number of plotholders had dwindled to less than
a dozen - although the plots still in cultivation were as
good as any in Dartford. Now the plotholders on the site
have formed the Tredegar Allotments Club, and plans are
being made by the Club to bring more of the land into proper
use:
- Vacant plots have been strimmed ready for new
plotholders
- Repairs have been made to the fencing around the site
- A mobile building has been obtained from the Red
Cross to act as our site hut.
- Arrangements are being made for one - and possibly
two - horticultural therapy groups to take plots on the
site
- Vacant plots have been set aside for a biodiversity
project, which will include a wildlife pond funded by
QED, and which will serve as an educational resource for
local schools
- Wilmot Road Allotments have
agreed to provide advice on setting up an allotments
association and organising a suitable form of devolved
management for the site
- Dartford Road Allotments have
offered an overspill agreement
to help generate new plotholders for Tredegar Allotments
- The Kent Beekeepers Association (Dartford Branch)
have placed hives in the south-eastern corner of the
site, and have started a teaching apiary
- The QED Waste Management
Group will supply pallets for the construction of
sheds and compost bins
- Arrears in payments on an easement on the access
bridge have been cleared using a grant authorised by the
QED Steering Group
Advice on management issues has also been provided by the
Contracts Section of Environmental Services, Dartford
Borough Council, which retains responsibility for drawing up
tenancy agreements and other legal aspects of site
administration.
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Update for Spring 2001:
In April 2001 Tredegar Allotments Club became
one of the first groups in the country to receive
grant aid (of £2500) from the Co-operative
Society's Community Dividend Scheme for the
specific purpose of regenerating allotments for
community use.
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If you would like to get involved with Tredegar
Allotments - as a plotholder, by helping out with
restoration works, or if you have any ideas that could help
the plotholders to reclaim the site as Dartford's "Green
Gateway" - please contact Malcolm Still at 01322-401971.
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