MAY MINUTES

Please remember our blogsite at http://abas2014.blogspot.co.uk

Minutes of the May meeting of Abas - May 15th at 8.00 p.m. at Astley Bridge Cricket Club

Present: 22 representatives from 9 sites

Minutes of the April Meeting The Minutes having been posted on the Association Blog-site, and there being no corrections anyone wished to make or any points anyone wished to raise the minutes were adopted as correct.

Matters Arising

1. No society had yet received an amended OMA from Malcolm Russell.
2. Some societies had received responses to their March or April monthly reports.
3. Matters relating to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework were covered later
4. Abas had received no copy of the Allotments Budget 2018/19 or an updated “Refresher Monitor”
5. Clammerclough - Representations had been made to Allotments about vacant / abandoned plots at Clammerclough. The matter now appeared to have been resolved – 2 plots having been let, one awaiting a response to an offer and a fourth declared unusable.
6. The date for the Awards for All training had been confirmed as June 11th.
7. There was no feedback on sites wanting to bid for grants for composting toilets, this must await the training session on June 11th. 

ABAS Membership

A number of societies have still not yet paid their annual subscriptions to the Association.

Current membership still stands at 399 plot-holders.

Bolton Allotments Competition 2018

The Fairhurst, Greenhalgh, New Tenant and Rosebowl Competitions will again be run by ABAS in 2018

Judging Criteria are available

First Round Judging will take place in in week commencing 25th June

Second Round Judging will take place in in week commencing 23rd July

Additional information has been placed on the blog-site

The Annual Vegetable Show will be held on Saturday 4th August at Trinity Church, Tonge Fold

There will be 25 Vegetable Classes and lists and schedules will be available

Members are reminded that the Treasurer (Terry Farrell) is happy to give short talks on Showing Vegetables if societies want this. He has already given one such talk.

NWCAA

Please note the new NWCAA email address:

nwcallotmentassociations@gmail.com

The NWCAA website is www.northwestallotments.btck.co.uk

Please visit their website to sign up for NWCAA Newsletters

NAS INSURANCE SCHEME

A Q&A page on the new Allotmenteer Liability Insurance Scheme was published on page 8 of Issue 2 2018 of Allotment and Leisure Gardener. Societies associated with the NAS should get this magazine.

Key Points

· The insurance does not cover husbands/ wives / partners / “buddies” unless they are individually members of their society and have paid their own “affiliation” fee

· There is a £100 excess on the policy

· If your society hasn’t got you on the list they send to the NAS, then you aren’t covered. No details on mechanisms for updating lists during the year as new members join and old members leave.

· Individuals will need to give permission to their Society to contract into the scheme on their behalf. Your name, address and email address will be passed to the National Allotment Society and then to Shield. You will receive personal confirmation that you are a part of the scheme from Shield.

· You will need to re-contract into the scheme each year.

· You can be insured whilst still opting out of any direct contact with Shield.

· When you receive you confirmation from Shield you will be asked whether you wish to receive information about other Shield products.

 You will be covered if someone injures themselves on your plot when you are not there.

· Societies will still need Public Liability Insurance for the Site. The NAS say that this applies only on self-managed sites and that on “direct let” sites (e.g. those in Bolton) the Landlord (in this case Bolton MBC) are responsible. Bolton MBC have always refused to provide public liability insurance to societies. In discussion it was felt that any local authority “cover” would only relate to the ‘public’ areas of sites. Societies will still need separate cover for events and activities. Whether the OMA might be interpreted as making the site “self-managing” is a moot point, which we shall take up with Allotments. Advice is that societies should continue their current arrangements.

The general feeling of the meeting was that the scheme does not replace current arrangements made by societies – it may have some value but don’t discontinue any other provision at present.

More Information is available directly from the NAS

GDPR

General Data Protection Regulations come into effect on 25 May 2018.

They affect anyone who collects personal data in the running of their organisation.

This covers allotment societies and Abas.

The Steps to comply are:

1. Conduct a Data Audit
2. Make everyone aware of Data Security Issues
3. Have a Data Policy
4. Tell everyone on whom you hold data, what you hold.
5. Issue a Privacy Notice
6. Check Data Security

Data Audit

WHO – are we holding data on?

WHAT – data are we holding?

WHERE – is that data being kept?

WHEN – for how long have we held / are we holding that data?

WHY – are we keeping this data? What are we using it for?

We might add – HOW – do we collect that data and from where?

As an example Abas currently holds name and email address for all those who attend the monthly meetings and who put their email address on the attendance sheet. These are used primarily for issuing calling notices and bulletins. The original data is held on paper and the email addresses as part of our ISP provider’s standard “contacts” folder.)

The question of the status of “Waiting List Data” – which is supplied to OMA Secretaries by the Council – was raised – abas will seek to clarify this with “Allotments”

AWARENESS & POLICY

Make sure that all those involved are clear about the policies and procedures of the Society in respect of the collection, storage and use of personal data on members (and others if relevant).

On Policies –

The NAS suggests that Societies should produce a system flowchart which sets out all the processes relating to the secure collection, storage and use of data. Abas is working on a policy statement (which does not yet contain a process flow chart) draft copies of which were be available on the night.

Consent Form

You need to be able to prove that you have permission from the people on whom you are holding data to hold that data. And use it for specified purposes. This is the “opt-in” or consent policy.

You need a signed hard copy.

Abas had produced a draft form which was available on the night, and which has since been used to gain consent.

Communication / PRIVACY NOTICE

By law (under the GDPR) you must tell people about the data you hold on them and what you will do with it. YOU MUST JUSTIFY THAT USE. You must also issue a privacy

A Privacy Notice can be on a website, on paper, sent by email or even presented verbally. Choose the method that is most appropriate to you audience.

(ABAS has put its Privacy Notice on the blog-site)

The Privacy Notice

Under the GDPR the notice must (in clear, concise and accessible language)

1. Identify who controls the data
2. Explain the purpose you are holding the data, the legal basis and justification for holding it
3. Identify any other entity that the data might be sent to
4. State if you intend to transfer information to an organisation outside the EU
5. Say how long the information will be stored
6. Explain people’s rights to:
7. Be removed from the list
8. See what information you store about them
9. Have their history deleted
10. Change details

ABAS HAD A DRAFT PRIVACY NOTICE AVAILABLE AT THE MEETING AND IT HAS SINCE BEEN POSTED ON THE BLOG-SITE

SECURITY

It is your responsibility to make sure any data is safely stored.

If stored on a computer that computer should have security software that is properly installed and regularly updated. You may wish to review encryption.

As earlier stated go to “Allotment & Leisure Gardener for more information or go to www.ico.org.uk (information commissioner)

GM SPATIAL PLAN

Jeff Gibson represented Abas at a meeting at Tindall Street Allotments (Eccles) – also present were Steve Dennet (Mayor of Salford), Don Booth (Salford Allotments Federation), Steve Dennison (Salford City Council Allotment Officer), Cllr Michelle Barners (SCC) and two members of Salford Allotments Federation. Representatives of Salford and Bolton MBCs attended.

No other Boroughs sent representatives and NWCAA were not present.

Paul Dennnet gave a resume and said that the revised GM Spatial Plan will be issued in June 2018.

This will be followed by a further period of consultation (12 weeks).

Paul Dennet mentioned that there could be delays in implementation of the final GMSP due to staff reduction in GM Councils’ Planning Departments

It was pointed out that Bolton now has some 400 people on its Allotment Waiting List. Data on other Councils’ waiting lists was not available.

It was again emphasised that the GMSP should include provision of 5000 sq mtrs of allotment space for each 1000 new homes built.

For further information

GMSFconsultation@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk

WHAT’S ON IN 2018?

Abas will continue to maintain the section of the blog site that highlights events being organised at or by allotment groups within Bolton (and possibly further afield).

MEMBERS WERE REMINDED TO TELL US OF ANY EVENTS THAT THEY ARE PLANNING OR THAT THEY THINK WILL BE OF INTEREST TO PLOT-HOLDERS

GRANTS ETC.

The initiative to get more money into our allotment provision will begin with a training session on Awards for All to be held (6.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m.) on June 11th at the Hub in Bolton Town Centre (a calling notice has been issued)

Lesley Turner, Bolton MBC is preparing a ‘flyer’ which will give more details of venue, content, timings etc. Places will be limited and we may have to restrict attendance to one person per member society, but we’ll push for more.

Awards for All grants are up to the value of £10k.

OUTSTANDING ISSUES

So far as we know the principal outstanding issues from the previous meeting have been covered in previous sections

MEMBERS WERE REMINDED TO PLEASE MAKE SURE ABAS ARE INFORMED AS TO ISSUES THAT THEY FEEL NEED RAISING AND RESOLVING

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

The meeting noted that the problems in restoring a water supply to Tonge Fold Allotments (ongoing since Easter) were now resolved.

The minutes of all meetings are posted on the blog site as soon as possible after the event, we also post any other information we feel relevant to our members’ concerns

http://abas2014.blogspot.co.uk

It was suggested that a good use of any monies in the budget freed-up as part of cost savings initiatives might be to arrange a once-yearly waste collection from each allotment site. This suggestion has been transmitted to “Allotments”.

MEETINGS SCHEDULE

The following meetings are planned

Monday 11th June (this may be replaced by the Awards for All Training Session – whether there will be a separate business meeting of Abas or whether we will just issue a bulletin remains for discussion)

Monday 9th July

Monday 13th August

Monday 10th September

Monday 8th October

Monday 12th November (THE AGM)