Agenda item

1.   That an independent organisation is commissioned to help the City Council review the purpose and management of allotments with recommendations brought back to the Committee in March 2021; and

2.   That authority is delegated to the Corporate Director - Place in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of Environment Committee to agree the scope of the review.

The Committee considered a report on the review of allotments.

Worcester City Council works in partnership with the Worcester Allotment Forum to provide allotments around the City, appendix A attached to the report, provided a map and details of all the allotment sites.

An information report outlining how the City Council’s allotment service operates was considered by the Committee in October 2019.  As part of the work independent experts will review the purpose of the allotments taking into account wider changes and trends in society together with the City Council’s own aspirations for allotments now and in the future.

The preferred option, outlined in paragraph 3 of the report, identified the appointment of an independent organisation to undertake a review of the way that allotments are governed and managed including their social, financial and environmental impacts.  It was anticipated that a report would be brought back to the Committee with the conclusions of the review in March 2021.

Some Members welcomed the report and accepted that a review of the current system is needed and would like to see more officer/member involvement.  It was however suggested that the review be carried out in house rather than spending £12,000 appointing an independent organisation.

Other Members felt that they could not support the proposal as it needed to be a much wider scope, the review itself was not of concern but were concerned about the lack of boundaries to the piece of work which were not found in the report.

The Chair stated that the service would not have the capacity to carry out this piece of work in house, as a huge amount of consultation and engagement would be required. 

It was considered that the review would give the opportunity to look at what other councils are doing and look at best practice.  To give everyone the opportunity to be involved would be a huge task for officers, therefore the appointment of an outside organisation would be a benefit.

Members agreed that engagement with the plot holders was important and that the right people were being involved, whether it was being carried out in house or externally.  The allotment holders were key to all of this.

The Chair suggested a possible amendment to 1.2 of the recommendation that the Chair and Vice Chair initially agree the scope then put to members of the Committee, this may be able to be done by email or special meeting, before the next meeting, to give reassurances as to what the scope would be.

The Deputy Director – Governance suggested that there were two options open to Members to enable them to reach a decision – a full scope of the review to come back to Committee before work is commissioned or agree a form of words in principle, that the outcome of the review has to report back to Committee before it is implemented.

In referring to the Committee report, the objective is about the sustainability of these as valuable community assets.  The review would ensure that they can carry on being valuable community assets and how we make them sustainable.

The Chair stated there needs to be some method form of sharing the scope of the review before any commissioning takes place, with the Committee before we go forward, Members would then have reassurance as to what’s being looked at.

A suggestion was made for a task and finish group of no more than 4/5 Members of the Committee to look at the parameters of the review, and report back to Committee with the proposals.

The Chair agreed to the suggestion to set up a task and finish group for a time limited period and proposed an amendment to 1.2 of the recommendation that the Chair and Vice Chair establish a time limited, task and finish group, to include other Members of the Committee, to agree the terms of reference and scope of the review.  This was agreed.

The Deputy Director – Governance stated that although the Committee agree to delegate authority to the Chair and Vice-Chair to agree the terms of the review, following consultation with the task and finish group, to also explicitly record the purpose of the review to ensure the sustainability of these community assets.

On being put to the vote the proposal was unanimously agreed, subject to the amendments to recommendations 1.1 and 1.2 in the report.

RESOLVED:

1.   that an independent organisation is commissioned to help the City Council review the purpose and management of allotments to ensure the sustainability of these valuable community assets; and

2.   that the Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee establish a Task and Finish Group to agree the scope of the review to be commissioned by the Corporate Director – Place, with the outcome of the review being reported back to the Committee at its meeting in March 2021.