"We did listen to tenants"

BEAUDESERT and Henley Joint Parish Council this week hit back at claims it had refused to listen to the views of allotment-holders. On the contrary, they had spent hours of their time working on allotment projects and it was the allotment association which had excluded parish council members from their meetings rather than the other way around, according to a ready prepared statement read out by the council's chairman Cllr Les Goodman (pictured right) on Monday night.

At the beginning of the month allotment-holders turned out in force to a meeting of the parish council to express their frustration that councillors were no longer consulting with them on plans for the allotments, having made it clear the council was the "landlord" and the allotment-holders merely "tenants" and "therefore no discussion was required." The allotment association had been so incensed by the parish council's behaviour its officers-the chairman, secretary and treasurer-had resigned.

Cllr Goodman said the matter would be put on the agenda for the next meeting and he kept his promise. On Monday he moved to set the record straight through a lengthy statement. He began that the council welcomed dialogue with the allotment association and had supported them at council meetings-this included a twohour council meeting to discuss a proposed allotment handbook, funding and "tireless" work to keep the allotment up to the correct standard.

Cllr Goodman said that in March a parish council representative had been told he should no longer attend the allotment association meetings, indicating the association did not welcome parish council involvement and not the other way around. He questioned whether the former officers of the allotment association represented the whole membership. As evidence he stated that attendance had dwindled at allotment association meetings with only five people attending the last one.

Similarly, he questioned the allotment association's claim that the statement read out at the last parish council meeting had been endorsed by all the allotment-holders, bar one, as he had not seen any signatures and the parish clerk had received no communication verbally or in writing that allotmentholders shared the concerns of the officers.

In summary, Cllr Goodman said the implication that the parish council had done little for allotment-holders was unfair. And he concluded there were two options for moving forward. If the allotment association had disbanded permanently then the council would resume arrangements for communication with individual tenants. If the allotment association was still in existence the council would do all in its power to fmd new officers to run it.

The council agreed to write to all allotment tenants to see which of the two options they would prefer.

Report by Philippa Prankard - Stratford Herald - 20th Augut 2009