Introduction
This document is the response of the QED Allotments Group to Dartford Borough Council's Corporate Strategy Document, and to the letter dated August 17, 1999 from the Head of Policy and Economic Development addressed to the Chair of the QED Allotments Group, which asked for comments on the following matters:
The letter also asked for comments on the Council's Environment Plan and Community Development Plan, comments which have been supplied separately (1).
The QED Allotments Group welcomes the opportunity to comment on these documents, and welcomes the exercise in clear forward thinking that these documents represent.
Values and Vision
The Council's vision for the Borough through the year 2010 is based upon its statement of values, all of which are values shared by the QED Allotments Group. To be specific:
1. Promotion of social justice and an inclusive society: Member associations of the Group have striven to ensure access to the land for all, regardless of background, and to manage their affairs in an open and accountable manner.
2. Public/private sector partnership in the development of the community: Member associations are in partnership with the local authority in making schemes for devolved management of allotments work, and have developed links with local private sector organisations (such a B&Q and National Power) in support of all members of the allotments community, and especially persons with disabilities.
3. Enabling action to empower people within the community: The Group has actively encouraged plotholders to take a more active role in the affairs of allotment sites and in wider community issues, such as health and recycling.
4. Advocacy on behalf of the community: The Group has put forward representations on behalf of the allotments community in response to local consultations such as this, and also to important national consultations, including representations to Parliament and the DETR.
5. Good quality, value for money services: Member associations with devolved management powers are striving to make allotment sites across the Borough as attractive as possible to all sections of the community, at a reasonable cost to users.
6. Environmentally sustainable development within the community: As a part of Dartford's Local Agenda 21, the QED Allotments Group is dedicated to achieving the highest possible standards of sustainability in the use of allotment sites, and to working with other QED Groups, the local authority and others in maximising the contribution of allotments to the realisation of broader sustainable development objectives.
7. Participatory democracy - community involvement in policy-making and service provision: The schemes for devolved management under which member associations have operated for close to a decade represent a successful, and democratically accountable, example of community involvement in policy-making and service provision.
8. Flexibility and modernisation in the face of political, economic and social circumstances: The acceptance of devolved management, and participation in Local Agenda 21 on their own initiative, demonstrates the forward vision and flexibility of participating associations.
9. A stimulating cultural community: Participating associations offer a range of community-based cultural activities, including shows, public lectures, social events and outings.
10. An active international outlook: The QED Allotments Group has organised visits to Dartford by representatives from horticultural organisations in KwaZulu Natal (South Africa) and Ibaraki and Mie Prefectures (Japan), and is involved with the current Great Dartford Pumpkin Competition, which uses seeds provided by Jamaican gardeners from Handsworth, Birmingham.
11. A community which values high technology and the lifetime of learning approach: The QED Allotments Group has an effective website, and member associations actively encourage local allotment gardeners to share their experience - at any age.
Given that the Borough Council and the QED Allotments Group have similar values, it is reasonable to expect that the Group should be content to support the Council's vision in those areas which overlap with the Group's legitimate areas of interest. This is indeed the case. These areas of overlap are as follows (the section numbers are as in the Corporate Strategy Document):
3.2 A sustainable approach to the development of sites in North Dartford: The QED Allotments Group believes that the new residential areas to be developed in North Dartford over coming decades should be developed in the most sustainable way possible. In its response to the Local Plan Review Main Issues Discussion Paper (2), the Group has already identified two specific steps which should be taken to achieve this goal: first, adequate provision of community composting facilities for the disposal of organic wastes as near as possible to source, and second, adequate provision of allotment or community gardening facilities in new residential areas, to afford people the opportunity to grow their own fresh organic produce, and as a means to dispose of composted organic wastes. Our opinions on these matters have informed our participation in Sustain's CityHarvest project (3) and our response to the Report of the Urban Task Force (4).
3.5 A wide range of housing types: This is likely to include substantial numbers of homes without gardens adequate in size for the production of fruits and vegetables, for people who choose this accommodation from economic necessity. It is with such people in mind that we advocate adequate provision of allotments and community gardens, preferably managed by and for local people following the models already established under the Borough's policy for the devolved management of allotments.
3.7 New community and leisure facilities: We share this vision, and see new allotments and community gardens as part of this vision.
3.10 Exceptional residential and community facilities in North Dartford, with an international reputation: Again, we share this vision, and we see the facilities we propose as a demonstration to the world of Dartford's commitment to sustainable development.
3.16 Dartford as a place with a pleasant environment - a good place to live: We share this vision, which should extend to existing residential areas as well, where "urban cramming" should not be allowed to undermine the quality of the local environment.
Expanding the Vision
The Group has observed that there is no explicit reference to allotments or community gardens in the Borough Council's vision, and we have suggested those parts of the vision in which the provision of new facilities, and protection of facilities serving existing residential areas, deserve recognition.
One factor that is only partially recognised in the vision, and that we wish to bring to the Council's attention, is the issue of soil quality. There is reference in the vision (paragraph 3.3) to areas of despoiled land and their restoration, and to the protection of countryside in the South of the Borough (paragraph 3.8), but recognition should also be given to the small, residual areas of publicly owned land in the North of the Borough which, through lack of development in the past, have maintained the original quality of their soils, and thus constitute an ideal environment for the local production of fresh fruit and vegetables by and for local people. It is important that these sites should be protected from further encroachment, given the growing interest amongst the general public in healthy eating and sustainable lifestyles.
Tackling the Challenges in Partnership
Some of the associations which participate in the QED Allotments Group have almost a decade of experience in managing community assets in partnership with the local authority under schemes of devolved management, and all are in active partnership with the Borough Council and other parties in making Dartford's Local Agenda 21 a success. We have championed partnerships with local authorities both in devolved management schemes for allotments and through the participation of allotment gardeners in sustainable development initiatives both locally and nationally, the latter through our contributions to the Local Government Association's working group on a best practice regime for allotments (5), advice offered through our website to local councils and gardening groups around the country, from Devon and Brighton to Gateshead and Edinburgh (6), and our participation in national representative bodies for allotment and community gardeners (7). Our hope is for an evolving and successful partnership with Dartford Borough Council in delivering quality allotment gardens as an integral part of the Corporate Strategy's vision. We also offer our continuing support to the QED initiative in all its concerns, with health, transport, waste management, pollution and biodiversity, and through QED in helping the Borough Council achieve its goal of a quality environment for all.
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(1) See: Response of the QED Allotments Group to Dartford Borough Council's Environment Plan (September, 1999) and Response of the QED Allotments Group to Dartford Borough Council's Community Development Plan (September, 1999).
(2) Response of the Dartford Allotments Steering Committee to the Local Plan Review Main Issues Discussion Paper (1997).
(3) Tara Garnett, CityHarvest: The Feasibility of Growing More Food in London. (London: Sustain), 1999.
(4) Richard Wiltshire, "Towards an Inedible Urban Renaissance". Allotment and Leisure Gardener, 3, 1999, p. 16.
(5) QED Allotments Group, Devolved Management for Allotments: Models and Processes (December, 1998) and Allotments in Local Agenda 21 (December, 1998).
(6) For a listing of local authorities and gardening groups assisted over the past year see the QED Allotments Newsletter, Issue 6, Autumn 1999.
(7) The Group includes members of the South East Regional Committee of the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners and the Council of Management of the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens.
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