Minutes of Meeting of the Committee of Tilehurst Allotments Society: Wednesday 23 April www.tilehurstallotments.co.uk email: Tilehurstallotments@hotmail.com

Present: Ken Phillips (Treasurer), William Macphee, Jenny Cottee (secretary), Dave Griffiths, Colin Robinson, Richard Buckingham, Kate Jones ,Karen Fidler, Michael Geater,Stephanie Keighley ( Agent of TPLC)

1	Jenny had asked Richard to chair the meeting and the meeting agreed his offer .The sad news that John Butt , Chair of the Society, had died a fortnight previously was recorded and marked with a few moments of quiet recollections. His cremation would be in a few days time. Richard welcomed Stephanie Keighley who had recently taken up her post as Agent of the Society. Stephanie said she will be around on site occasionally, as well as when doing the current spate of letting .Looking forward to getting to know more. Oliver is hard act to follow.
2	Minutes of meeting held on Wednesday 1 February had been circulated & were agreed to be correct; matters arising were considered later in the agenda.
3	Reports: Secretary: all to be covered in agenda items below Treasurer We do not have any major outgoings anticipated- we have paid for the noticeboard materials since last meeting. At the moment the balances stood at : Current ac £440.17, money manager ac £699.51 , Bond £8,500 total £9639.68 .
4	Trustees report. Jenny reported that the trustees have dealt with the following items i) major paths: grass cutting The trustees had sought tenders ,and the contract ( for two years) to peter Andrews. Oliver had drawn up the requirements and Stephanie had passed on a copy of the specification to jenny. Peter had started the regime at the beginning of April. (ii) repairs to boundary fence near Armour Hill have been done so there is no nuisance to nearby plots
5	Updates on events that have happened since the last meeting & are not covered later on agenda (i) Reading Council Planning Sites and detailed policies document- the planning inspector decided that the draft document would not be sound unless some specific changes were made. To do this Reading Council had to undertake yet another consultation and invited comments on the inspectors proposals. I spoke with our Chair and we decided that we did not need an additional committee meeting : the committee had already determined its view. I replied on behalf of the Society saying we supported the proposed modifications. Another letter from the programme officer suggesting a further modification to the draft Sites and Detailed Policies had been received in the previous few days. This modification referred to the now final national planning framework . On discussion we did not think the modification was necessary adding nothing that had not been previously stated. (ii) Notice boards -Thanks to Ken and Dave for excellent replacement at car park and repair to polsted rd board. We agreed that at some date it would be good to replace the pin board with more effective version. (iii) PCSO site visit and security issues. (a) PSCO Nathan Hollis and PCSO Ashley Wilkins visited the site and showed commendable knowledge of tracks etc. (b) I have been told of one recent incident of smoking substances in a shed- contacted police- no response yet.	(i) Colin will draft a response and circulate it for comment prior to sending to the programme officer. (ii) dave? (iii) Jenny invite pcso to speak with plot-holders again when there seems to be some issues that need discussion
6	Chair : arrangements until AGM at end of September We decided that Richard should be chair of the society until the AGM at the end of September. He would be willing to stand for election then ,but unfortunately will not be at that meeting.	decide how to proceed at a future meeting
7	RESCUE-. Things went quite well- less stuff than in previous years. Due to car parked in car park hiding pile of metal it was left for a week several days – causing several phone messages etc. .On balance arrangements were satisfactory – worth repeating since service is useful for new plot-holders particularly
8	Dig It (i) last edition- rather full so some items held over (ii) next one end of May-ie mon 28 so copy date fri 18 May-it will cover show –need for donations and help, more contributions needed.	editor: locking gates reminder encourage informal sharing
9	Site issues : (i) Water supply – Polsted rd Repairs to 2 taps (T1 and T6 on the map) were done and both water supplies now working after eventual response by Thames Water to repair request at Armour Hill Thanks to Stephanie for her persistence. ii) Thames Water –hosepipe ban guidance re what is permitted put on the notice boards (iii) Plots not yet being cultivated –Jenny made contact with about 10 plot holders who appear to have done little cultivation alerting them to forthcoming plot inspection- there are 7 vacant half plots- Mervyn has given up all except one half plot. Stephanie will be contacting people on the waiting list asap. There are also two vacant chair height KOG plots- we have one possibly two potential tenants. We discussed the reasons for giving up- some find even half plots too big.Further splitting of plots involves toomany disadvantages- better to encourage informal sharing.	ii) Jenny keep checking the thames water website and update guidance on noticeboards as needed.
7	Trustees H&S inspection on the main site - Saturday 28 April –Jenny and Ken volunteered to attend
8	AOB (i) Show on Sat 9 June: We will organise by email – lots of stock needed eg fresh produce, and any kinds of plants).Drop off stuff from 9.30-11,00 (or later) to the Victoria rec on the day Michael will collect from Chapel hill. Helper rota will evolve- Karen in afternoon (ii)We will not do the TRACCCA show at Prospect Park in August (iii) No truth in rumour that there are proposals to use the reserved land for travellers site- cause of rumour was complex message from planning inspector being misunderstood.	.
9	Date of next meeting : Wednesday 4 july 7.15pm	Colin send his apologies
The committee thanked William and Joan for the continued hospitality- accommodation and refreshments, and the meeting closed at 8.40 pm