|
|
|
Issue Number 1 |
March 1997 |
|
SOMETHING NEW FOR ALLOTMENT GARDENERS IN DARTFORD Welcome to the first QED Allotments Newsletter. QED Allotments has been organised by participating allotment societies and associations in Dartford to promote and enhance the benefits of allotment gardening as part of Quality Environment for Dartford (QED), Dartford's Local Agenda 21 Initiative. In this first issue we examine what QED Allotments is, what's in it for allotment gardeners, and how in turn allotment holders can contribute to the QED Initiative - a long term commitment by the Borough Council, local businesses and voluntary organisations and by ordinary citizens to promote sustainable improvements in the quality of our local environment. Subsequent issues are over to you: this is a forum for the exchange of ideas, assistance, opinion and advice, between people in Dartford who care about allotment gardens, about best practice in allotment gardening and allotment site management, and about the quality of the environment - both on and beyond allotment sites. The Newsletter will be available to all allotment holders in Dartford - and to our supporters in the wider community. ALLOTMENTS IN QED QED exists to promote the active involvement of local citizens in the care and enhancement of the environment - something which allotment gardeners have always done. QED is about recycling: we already compost organic materials, transform waste timber into sheds, smother weeds and conserve moisture with carpets. QED is about helping the next generation to understand how nature works: allotment gardening allows the whole family to participate in sustainable food production in harmony with the elements. QED is about local biodiversity: whether by design or default, allotment sites are a refuge for all manner of flora and fauna. QED is about access to open space and healthy exercise: allotments provide both. In these and many other ways, the essence of allotment gardening already mirrors the objectives of QED. Which is good for the environment, and good for Dartford. But these things go on anyway, so why link them to a new initiative? First, because allotment gardeners have a great deal to offer through QED, such as our experience of self-management and local control, our understanding of composting as an alternative to dumping, and even some old-fashioned and sorely missed community values. And second, because allotment gardeners cannot make these contributions if allotment gardening is not itself a popular and successful activity. Hence the objective to promote and enhance the benefits of allotment gardening as part of QED. FOUR PLUSES FOR ALLOTMENT GARDENING What will QED do for allotments? First, it will provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, information, and advice between allotment holders and allotment sites: that's why the Newsletter has been established. Second, it will help to promote allotments as a source of healthy leisure activity for the people of Dartford, and particularly to groups which stand to benefit most from greater participation in allotment gardening, such as the active elderly and unemployed and persons with special needs. To this end a pamphlet will be published shortly, explaining to the general public the opportunities which exist for allotment gardening in Dartford. New plotholders mean new energy for allotment sites, and the benefits could be widespread: for example, plans are already in place to extend the overspill arrangements governing waiting lists at Dartford Road to cover the Maypole site. Third, it will enhance the ability of local allotment associations and individual plotholders to gain access to resources to improve sites and cultivation practices. Under an arrangement reached with Marshalls, for example, the benefits of that company's seeds scheme for new plotholders will now be available on all sites, not just on those which are formally self-managed. And fourth, QED Allotments will be the focus for planning long term projects for site improvements - such as the provision of gardens for the disabled and landscaping to improve amenity values. OPPORTUNITIES BEYOND ALLOTMENT GARDENING QED Allotments is one of six issue groups (and two local area groups) within QED, and the allotment associations have already made important contributions to the work of other groups. The QED Waste Group has launched an experimental community composting scheme in conjunction with Wilmot Road Allotments Association, and Dartford Road is cooperating with Dartford Grammar School for Girls and the QED Youth Group to explore the use of allotments in teaching environmental conservation - and to establish a presence on the Internet. Other QED issue groups cover problems of Transport, Pollution and Health. As the QED Initiative develops new opportunities will arise for participation by allotment associations and their members in the conservation of Dartford's environment, details of which will appear in the Newsletter. WHO RUNS QED ALLOTMENTS? QED Allotments is overseen by the Dartford Allotments Steering Committee (DASC), an informal grouping of local allotment associations established in September 1996 with initial active support from the Dartford Road, Gore Road, Marcet Road and Wilmot Road sites and the West Dartford Allotment and Garden Society. DASC has its own Secretary (Mr Robert Johnson) and Research Officer (Mr Marcus Jaffray), and details of all its activities (including QED Allotments) are regularly circulated to representative organisations or individuals on sites currently or formerly managed by Dartford Borough Council. DASC operates under a single guiding principle: that no specific action can be undertaken without the consent of any and every participating association that may be affected. In this way the autonomy (and accountability) of individual allotment associations is preserved, but all participants (including other sites which are in correspondence) share the benefits of cooperation and mutual assistance. DASC was recognised by Dartford Borough Council in January 1997 as a formal participant in the QED Initiative, and a representative of DASC (currently Dr Richard Wiltshire) has been appointed to the QED Steering Group. As part of QED, QED Allotments enjoys administrative support from the Borough Council, which has cooperated in the production and distribution of this Newsletter. REACHING A WIDER WORLD Local Agenda 21, an initiative established by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero, is taking root in every local authority area in Britain, and the participation of allotment gardeners in Dartford's QED Initiative has already attracted outside attention. An item entitled "Agenda 21 friendly allotments" published in the Winter 1996 issue of Network 21, a newsletter for the voluntary sector, local government and parish councils in Kent, refers to the report upon which QED Allotments is based, and concludes: "This could be an excellent model for other allotment sites in Kent". Several enquiries from around the county have since asked for more information about allotment gardening in Dartford. Our participation in Agenda 21 also received a mention in the Winter 1996 edition of the National Society's journal Allotment and Leisure Gardener . QED Allotments has been founded by Allotment Associations on sites presently or formerly managed by Dartford Borough Council. Now we are delighted to invite parish sites to participate as well, both in QED Allotments activities and as full members of the Dartford Allotments Steering Committee. For further information, please contact DASC's Secretary, Mr Robert Johnson, at the address given in the letterhead. WHAT NEXT? Now it's your turn. If you have any ideas, suggestions, or comments to make about allotment gardening in Dartford or of interest to allotment gardeners, and you would be willing to write a short article for the Newsletter, why not contact the Secretary? Better still, would you like to help edit the next issue of the Newsletter? And if your site doesn't yet have its own Newsletter, why not use this space to advertise your activities? The choice is yours. AND FINALLY ... QED Allotments will be represented in the QED Marquee at the Dartford Festival (July 19-20). And if you're the sort of person who takes a pride in your allotment, why not show it off? The Dartford Festival Allotments Competition is in its third year, featuring the Borough Shield plus special trophies for allotment gardens on parish sites and for novice gardeners. For further details, please contact Mr Roger Howard, 3 Pilgrims Way, Dartford DA1 1QZ (01322-229290). |
|
|