Agenda item

Councillor Dawson presented the draft terms of reference for the Exeter Allotments Forum which had been redrafted following the Allotments Forum pre-meeting on 29 January 2015.  Members discussed the document -

·         It was clarified that the Chair, at least in the first year would be drawn from a City Councillor on the Exeter Allotments Forum, and after the first year, the position would be open to all members of the Forum.  The Deputy Chair position was open to any member of the Forum.

·         It was noted there was provision for a deputy to attend for a member of the Forum as included in the General Terms of Reference.

·         Attendance could be extended by the permission of Chair for a specific topic, although there had to be a control of numbers.

·         It was confirmed that as a Forum, there would not be an Annual General Meeting. The Terms of Reference for the Forum would be reviewed after 12 months to ensure that the Forum was working as intended.

·         It was also suggested that pattern of meetings should be in May, July, October and January to avoid any clashes with elections for the city councillors.

A representative from the Hamlin Lane Allotment enquired how the numbers of shadow delegates would be managed, as not all allotments were run by allotments associations. Roger Crane advised that the terms of reference would also provide an understanding of the way that allotments were run and establishing a local level representative was vital. This process would evolve, and it was anticipated that a more robust process would help to identify future representatives. A representative from Cowick Lane Allotment recognised that forming an association could be a huge burden for smaller sites, but there were benefits of amalgamating individual sites into an association.

Councillor Owen referred to the overall aim of the Forum, which was to enable a two way dialogue with the allotment holders as well as an opportunity to share views.  He hoped that where possible, individual associations could be set up for the long term mutual benefit of those on the allotment site.

A representative from the Hamlin Lane Allotment queried why there was no ‘any other business’ item on the agenda.  Councillor Dawson replied that there was the opportunity to send in items of business to be included on the agenda.  Councillor Owen also added that it would be more helpful to have items notified in advance of the meeting to ensure members were aware of the business to be discussed.  As agreed as an amendment, there was now a four week opportunity to send in questions or items to be raised.

A representative from the Sweetbriar Lane Allotment referred to the outcome of the recent budget consultation exercise.  He also could not see any opportunity for a formal decision to be made at the Forum?  Councillor Owen advised that the detail of the budget consultation was available on the City council web site. The intention was to keep rent rises broadly in line with inflation, but they had to manage costs against income and expenditure.  He added that the Forum was not a decision making body.

A representative from the Prince Charles Road Allotment referred to the code of conduct and the reference to the Chair being able to expel a member and was concerned that the Chair had the discretion to exercise this right. Councillor Dawson felt that such an action would be implicit in the terms of conduct of the meeting.

A representative from the Cowick Lane Allotment proposed that the terms of reference be accepted. This was seconded by a representative from an allotment. 

The terms of reference were amended as follows:-

·         A four week lead in time (rather than two weeks) for notice of the meetings would enable sufficient time to canvass or contact everyone to establish if there were any issues raised.

·         the inclusion of the wording final agenda would be sent to all members of the Forum at least one week prior to the meeting. 

The terms of reference, including the amendments above were approved, and a copy of the terms of reference would be attached to the minutes.