Issue - meetings

Councillor Anne Regan, Chair of the Allotments Scrutiny Task Group, will present the report.

RESOLVED that

1. The recommendations of the Scrutiny Task Group Report as laid down in paragraph 7.1 of the report be approved subject to feasibility and resources.
2. Authority be delegated to the Executive Director in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Sustainability and the Borough Solicitor to review and revise the terms of the Authority's current allotment tenancy agreement and enter into the new tenancy agreements with plot holders to enable the new terms to be effective from 1 January 2014 (as outlined in the Allotment Management implications of this report).
3. It be noted that O&S have scheduled a follow up to the implementation of the recommendations in 12 months time.

Cllr Regan, Chair of the Scrutiny Task Group Allotments, was invited to address Cabinet. In introducing the Task Group report she thanked the members and officers who had been involved and explained that the group had made 11 recommendations to Cabinet. A further recommendation regarding reviewing and revising the terms of the current allotment tenancy agreement had been put forward by the Cabinet Member Sustainability partly in response to the Task Group’s recommendation that the process of enforcement of allotments needed to be revised to ensure that uncultivated plots were being managed. She hoped that the up to £600 000 allocated by Council for the development of new plots at Priors Farm would be allocated in full to address the demand in the town. Cllr Regan also highlighted the need for full resourcing of the Green Space Development team to provide support for allotments. Finally she clarified that the review in 12 months time would be undertaken by the Overview & Scrutiny Committee as opposed to reconvening the task group.

In response to a question regarding addressing the waiting list by splitting full sized plots Cllr Regan confirmed that this was already been done. The Leader of the Council also confirmed that the recent Council decision was to agree funding up to £600 k for satisfying allotment demand.

The Cabinet Member Sustainability thanked the task group for its report and the officers and members involved. The task group had made some constructive recommendations which he supported subject to feasibility and resources. The Cabinet Member went through each recommendation in turn. He confirmed that the development of plots at Priors Farm would be progressed albeit in a way that would satisfy the maximum number of people across the whole town, not just those living in close proximity to the site. Alongside this officers are reviewing waiting lists and addressing issues with plotholders not adhering to their tenancy agreements. In terms of the task group recommendation relating to additional resources he stated that this would not be possible, it was a question of maximising existing resources and using site wardens to the maximum.

The Leader of the Council thanked the Scrutiny Task Group for its useful piece of work and all those involved.

RESOLVED that

1. The recommendations of the Scrutiny Task Group Report as laid down in paragraph 7.1 of the report be approved subject to feasibility and resources.
2. Authority be delegated to the Executive Director in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Sustainability and the Borough Solicitor to review and revise the terms of the Authority's current allotment tenancy agreement and enter into the new tenancy agreements with plot holders to enable the new terms to be effective from 1 January 2014 (as outlined in the Allotment Management implications of this report).
3. It be noted that O&S have scheduled a follow up to the implementation of the recommendations in 12 months time.

A report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee - to be introduced by the Chairman of the committee, Councillor Duncan Smith who will ask Councillor Anne Regan as Chair of the scrutiny task group to introduce their report

This item was considered after Agenda Item 12 (Council Tax Resolution 2013-14).

Councillor Smith, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, invited Councillor Stewart as Vice-Chair of the scrutiny task group to introduce the report. Councillor Stewart highlighted the importance of the council fulfilling its statutory duty to provide allotments. The waiting list currently stood at 700. The task group had undertaken a series of visits to allotment sites and held in depth discussions with officers and others involved. He wished to thank all those officers who had supported the group in its work.

It was suggested that rather than reconvening the task group in 12 months time to review the implementation of the recommendations, this could be undertaken by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

In response to a question raised regarding the allocation of £600 000 of capital receipts from the sale of land at Midwinter to fund provision of potential new allotments in Cheltenham, the Cabinet Member Finance, referred to the Council’s commitment to invest part of the receipt from the Midwinter sale in allotment provision. £600 000 was a recent estimate from property services to provide for the current level of demand. Further work was ongoing to assess demand in terms of duplication with parish council waiting lists. Reference had been made in the report to land at Priors Farm and work was ongoing to ascertain whether this was the right land in the right location. He highlighted that the allotment reserve would form part of the supplementary capital programme which would be brought to Cabinet and Council later in the year.

The Chair of Overview & Scrutiny reminded members that it was scrutiny’s intention to bring each piece of work before as many members as possible to raise awareness and enable members to contribute. He thanked the working group for its constructive report which would certainly add value. He welcomed the fact that the legal position had now been resolved. Where there is a Parish Council in a District Council area, then the powers, duties and responsibilities of the Allotment Authority for allotments within the boundaries of that parish lie with them. In addition the Chair of Scrutiny expressed the Task Group’s concern about the ability of officers to support allotment holders in the light of budgetary changes. A further key issue was the recommendation to work with others to identify plots of land which could be used for allotments and the council was urged to work in partnership with organisations to facilitate a scheme to distribute surplus produce to those in most need in the town.

The Cabinet Member Sustainability congratulated the task group on its extensive work and thanked all officers involved. He expressed caution with regard to recommendation 6 which requested additional support for allotments as resources were limited but Cabinet would take seriously the recommendation to work with the voluntary sector to take things forward.

In terms of the £600 000 to fund future provision he explained that this was a political commitment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9