Announcements.

Announcement 9 - Our new allotment year starts Sunday 9th April 2023. This year we are please to say we did not flood, no thanks to Yorkshire Water, we think the winter season was kind. We are still waiting for the last front but in the mean time we aim to tidy the allotment as we come out of winter hibernation and we have bigger plans to add more plots to the site, add more raised beds and move the pedestrian entrance.  Watch this space.....

Announcement 8: - Sadly we will not be launching the allotment this year (22) as planned due to flooding this winter. We are in talks with Yorkshire Water and hope to fully launch next year instead 2023. There may be a smaller opening in 6 months,  August'22. TBC. To all those on the waiting list we will hold your details on record and will be in touch as soon as we know more. Thank you for your understanding. We will get there one day soon.

Announcement 7: Courtesy Notice - As per Bradford Council and Allotment Society guidelines this is a courtesy notice to say that we plan to have a bonfire on the Allotment this evening. Monday 23rd August 2021

Announcement 6: Courtesy Notice - As per Bradford Council guidelines this is a courtesy notice to say that we plan to have a bonfire on the Allotment this evening from dusk onwards. After 8:25pm. Weather looks suitable. 24/04

Announcement 5: Courtesy Notice - As per Bradford Council guidelines this is a courtesy notice to say that we plan to have a bonfire on the Allotment this evening from dusk onwards. After 8:12pm. There is a slight north easterly breeze of 5mph. 17/04

Announcement 4: Courtesy Notice - Bonfire on the Allotment evening of 24rd March 2021, dusk onwards. Unfortunately due to Covid restrictions this cannot be a social event this time around. To be made aware of planned future fires please subscribe to our mailing list by request to the following email address: admin@apperleybridgeallotmentgarden.org.

And LETTER

Dear Allotment Neighbour,

The hard work of reinstating the allotments continues. As spring has sprung early we find ourselves behind the curve of the seasons but we are doing our best to catch up.

The years of neglect are still being cleared away. That includes fly tipping and overgrowth and it is taking some time. Our goal is to rent our plots as soon as possible.

Trees

A couple of comments have been made about the removal of trees. It is normal for an allotment to only include edible fruit and nut trees. Other trees have mostly been removed. The hedgerow and bramble boundary between the allotment and the playing field will remain intact for both the benefit of wildlife and security.

Bonfires

We put out a courtesy message yesterday about a planned bonfire on the allotments to those subscribed to our email list. Unfortunately not all neighbours have subscribed. That might explain why a neighbour called 999 for the Fire Brigade to attend yesterday evening.

We now have an understanding with the fire brigade that we will inform them of any planned fires so as to avoid any future confusion about it being an emergency for them to attend, or not.

We are conscious of only burning organic materials so as to keep the fire, ash and therefore soil clean. Unsuitable fly tipped items will be disposed of in other ways.

Pattern of Bonfires

In keeping with Bradford Council and the Allotment Society guidelines we will have a series of planned fires across the year. It has been 3 months since the last fire which was New Year’s Eve, 31st December 2020. These fires at the end of March ’21 are part of the clearing process and should be treated as a one off phase.

Future fires will be more staggered and hopefully communal events based around national events like Bonfire Night for example. We look forward to inviting people onto the allotment once the Covid guidelines permit.

In light of events we thought a hand delivered message would be best however all future messages will be done via website or email so please subscribe by way of reply to:

admin@apperleybridgeallotmentgarden.org

Thank you all for your continued support,

Regards yours,

Apperley Bridge Allotment Garden Association.

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Announcement 3: Courtesy Notice - Bonfire on the Allotment evening of 23rd March 2021, dusk onwards. Unfortunately due to Covid restrictions this cannot be a social event this time around. To be made aware of planned future fires please subscribe to our mailing list by request to the following email address: admin@apperleybridgeallotmentgarden.org.

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Announcement 2: Courtesy Notice - Bonfire on the Allotment Old Years Nights / New Years Eve 31st December 2020 dusk onwards. Unfortunately due to Covid restrictions this cannot be a social event this time around. To be made aware of planned future fires please subscribe to our mailing list by request to the following email address: admin@apperleybridgeallotmentgarden.org.

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Announcement 1: Hand Posted Notice to Local Residents. Saturday 5th December 2020. (Without Prejudice).

Dear Residents,

We have the pleasure of announcing that we are the new legal owners of the allotments and the relief in saying that we beat the developers, and potentially worse, to buying the land! We are a consortium of residents and collectively our families can tot up 300+ years of being on Laburnum Place. Rest assured we have our interests as members of the ‘Laburnum Place and Apperley Gardens’ neighbourhood in mind. 

The allotment garden had been in the private ownership of the Collins family for the last 100 years and allotment plots have been rented out on an annual basis. The land remains privately owned and we reserve the right to use the land as we see fit, granting and denying access as we deem necessary. Our plan is to initially turn portions of the land into private gardens, the remainder will be rented out as allotment plots/garden plots as before.

It’s early days so please bear with us. We plan to re-allocate and mark out the land into new plots and if there is room make a communal space for all. TBC. This will involve some re-arranging to make the best use of space. Ideally this will be ready for the new growing season in 2021 but there is a lot of work to do first.

We have registered an allotment association with The National Allotment Society, membership number: S21253. Using their framework we will have codes of conduct, rules of usage, discounted seeds etc as well as individual liability insurance included within the tenancy contracts. As a guide rental prices will be based on the Bradford Council plot sizes and rates. TBC.

Future announcements will be posted on our website. To hear about future updates please subscribe to our mailing list by request to the following email address: admin@apperleybridgeallotmentgarden.org. As we build our Allotment Society we will also grow the website.

The sellers did not provide us with a list of allotment users or historical tenants so this announcement is a best endeavour as a catch-all message. Please feel free to pass it on to others.

In readiness to re-arrange the land to make a better use of the space, please treat this letter as 28 days notice to either:

·         By arrangement remove your possessions from the allotment garden

·         By arrangement seek permission to leave your possessions on the allotment garden

Note: In the absence of making any arrangements, we will assume anything remaining on the land Saturday January 2nd 2021 as being abandoned; and then access whether to take ownership into our allotment association or pursue the owners for removal.

Arrangements can be made by contacting the email address above.

From the date of this notice the land will be considered a Works Site and no-one should enter until: further notice OR making an arrangement to go onto the land OR signing a tenancy agreement. Thank you.

Finally – Thanks go to:

·         Bradford Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Liberal Democrat Party) who helped us secure the land purchase

·         The Collins family for considering our pitch ahead of others

·         And to all those who signed the petition encouraging a sale to locals residents

Yours gratefully, The new owners – Apperley Bridge Allotment Garden