Friday, 24 September 2010
Good news everyone!
At the recent full Town Council meeting the proposed Golfa site was REJECTED!! We feel that this was the right decision. Welshpool Allotment Association are now looking forward to working with the Town Council and Powys County Council in securing a suitable site.
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Welshpool Town Council propose allotment site.
As recently published in The County Times, the Town Council propose that the site offered by Golfa Farm should be the site for allotments in Welshpool. The landowner requires a rent of £2/sqm. The national average for allotments is 13p - 35p/sqm. The Town Council will subsidise this at £1.50/sqm with allotment holders paying 50p/sqm. Welshpool Allotment Association consider that this is hugely expensive to the allotment holder and the tax payer, with the only winner to be the landowner. The maximum size of a plot will be 120m, only half of a full sized plot as stated in the Allotment Act. Therefore the Town Council will not be fulfilling this legal requirement. The size of an allotment is legally around 250sqm which is big enough to grow food to support a family of four. The Town Council are not providing this.
Welshpool Allotment Association have turned down this site as it is not a suitable for numerous reasons besides the expense. It is over a mile out of town along a busy main road. The only way to access the site would be by car, which is unacceptable to us as its hardly the 'green' approach and many people do not have a car available to them. The site has an 'agricultural' access point onto the busy trunk road. Not ideal to pull out onto. The land is also only available for 11 months of the year which is unacceptable to WAA.
We have informed our members prior to the Town Council proposing this site, that if they want to take up a plot at this site then they can approach the landowner independently.
Regretfully Welshpool Town Council will not pursue any other sites within the town. This is unacceptable to Welshpool Allotment Association as there are other sites to consider and there is still the Burgess Land!! It's a shame the Town Council are not embracing the idea of a suitable well organised allotment site within the town as it could be such an asset, with a wide range of people and community groups using it, working together. An ideal opportunity to restore 'Pride in Welshpool'. They really are missing a trick here.
If you have any thoughts on this matter then please post a comment.
Welshpool Allotment Association have turned down this site as it is not a suitable for numerous reasons besides the expense. It is over a mile out of town along a busy main road. The only way to access the site would be by car, which is unacceptable to us as its hardly the 'green' approach and many people do not have a car available to them. The site has an 'agricultural' access point onto the busy trunk road. Not ideal to pull out onto. The land is also only available for 11 months of the year which is unacceptable to WAA.
We have informed our members prior to the Town Council proposing this site, that if they want to take up a plot at this site then they can approach the landowner independently.
Regretfully Welshpool Town Council will not pursue any other sites within the town. This is unacceptable to Welshpool Allotment Association as there are other sites to consider and there is still the Burgess Land!! It's a shame the Town Council are not embracing the idea of a suitable well organised allotment site within the town as it could be such an asset, with a wide range of people and community groups using it, working together. An ideal opportunity to restore 'Pride in Welshpool'. They really are missing a trick here.
If you have any thoughts on this matter then please post a comment.
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