Allotments 4 All

Allotment Stuff => Allotment Movement => Topic started by: morton on February 21, 2008, 20:39:58

Title: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: morton on February 21, 2008, 20:39:58
This has been blagged off another allotment forum and as I have not seen it mentioned on here I thought it worth a whirl.

Tony Baldry (Banbury, Conservative) is proposing a cross party bill. Should we as members of A4A be supporting this? First reading was on 19th February and the second is on 14th March.
Have a look at
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2008-02-19a.154.0&s=allotment#g154.1

If you are in agreement then write to your own MP and urge him to back this move, and write to Tony Baldry and let him know that you've contacted your MP, so he can button hole said parliamentary colleague at Westminster.

You can do this simply through www.writetothem.com
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: manicscousers on February 21, 2008, 20:48:06
thanks for that, morton, will send off to my mp amd to Tony Baldry  :)
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: Suzanne on February 21, 2008, 21:00:24
Same here. Thanks :)
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: betula on February 21, 2008, 21:42:43
I Will email my M.P thanks for bringing it to our attention ;D
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: kt. on February 21, 2008, 22:38:08
Just done both. Sent to my MP and replied to Tony Baldry also.
(I even added a link to the subject on this site - well you never know, he may chat one evening......)
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: BAK on February 22, 2008, 07:49:35
done - written to MP and Tony Baldry.
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: franklynn on February 22, 2008, 08:52:57
Will there be a requirement on local councils to maintain in good order existing allotments so that they do not fall in to ruin. I think that my council are deliberatly rumnning down allotments so they can claim that there is no call for them so they can bring in developers to build new houses. I
ll slap my own wrist for that blasphomy
Frank n Lynn
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: Cuke on February 22, 2008, 09:44:17
"It places a duty on local authorities to provide sufficient allotments according to demand"

Interesting.. I always assumed it was simply to provide alotments if there was demand. Read like that however it implies that the length of a waiting list could be used as a reason to ask for more allotments in the same area even if some already exist...
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: arphamoe on February 22, 2008, 19:54:21
Done my bit. We have a dispute going on locally between Town and District Council over the 'sequestration' of a piece of land under very dubious activities. Perhaps a bit more judicious examination will help stop Council's abusing their powers (but I won't be holding my breath!!)
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: morton on February 24, 2008, 21:51:13
With all of the people who are on waiting lists for allotments and who are members of this forum I would have thought that this topic would have yielded a far greater response from the membership as a whole.

So come on everybody it is so easy to e-mail your MP by just following the links given.
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: Trevor_D on February 25, 2008, 15:40:52
Done.

There are flats going up everywhere in our area, as soon as a builder can get his hands on a couple of adjacent houses. (Lots of big ones round here, with large gardens.) And virtually all of the allotment sites in the constituency has a waiting list!
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: saddad on February 25, 2008, 19:12:09
Done...
Our MP is M Beckett, sometime foreign secretary... who has supported our site in the past...
fingers crossed.
Saddad  8)
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: saddad on February 27, 2008, 15:53:07
Got my Pro-Forma reply from the PA today...
 ;D
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: arphamoe on February 28, 2008, 22:26:43
My MP has previously raised the issue and is supporting the Bill. He obviously thought about the reply I received today - nothing standard about it at all. Hope he's not the only one with an independent mind!!
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: kt. on February 29, 2008, 20:52:22
Been working away for the past week. I returned today, and had a written reply from my local MP saying he is going to look at the proposed bill and inform me of any outcome.
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: hippydave on March 13, 2008, 17:14:37
i sign the petition many months ago to stop allotments being built on and i just received this reply i have just received   http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page14997.asp
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: morton on March 13, 2008, 18:03:05
The Allotments Bill should get its second reading in the House of Commons on Friday 14th March so if anybody sees any reference to it perhaps they could post it for all to see.
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: Jeannine on March 13, 2008, 19:37:06
Prescott lives 1/4 mile from me, shall I stick a note through his door!!
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: Hyacinth on March 13, 2008, 20:26:14
i sign the petition many months ago to stop allotments being built on and i just received this reply i have just received   http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page14997.asp

Praps we've all received it today? I got mine.
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: asbean on March 13, 2008, 22:13:43
Yep, we got it too
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: morton on March 13, 2008, 22:31:58
Prescott lives 1/4 mile from me, shall I stick a note through his door!!
I think the only weight that Prescott carries......... well we all know the answer to that one.
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: MattD on March 30, 2008, 21:10:30
I bunged my MP an email the night before the bill was due, not expecting much more than a standard thank-you reply.  However, I received not one but two letters.  The first stating that the bill didn't get enough time on the original date but she would speak to Tony Baldry.

Here is the important section from the second letter:

"...Tony Baldry tells me that his Bill has demonstrated that there is a very considerable interest and support for the idea of local authorities being encouraged and given the ability to create new allotments, in addition to protecting existing allotments.  He also tells me that he has asked Ministers at the Department of Communities and Local Government to respnd in detail to points he made in his speech introducing the Bill."

My MP will get a copy of the response from the Department and will write to me in due course.

I guess the main thing is that enough people got in touch with their MP's to show that it was an important issue.  Who knows what may happen if we keep up the pressure.

Matt
Title: Re: Allotment Bill in Parliament
Post by: manicscousers on March 30, 2008, 21:27:36
I think our mp has the wrong idea, don't think he read my e mail properly..received a reply yesterday
"I have written to Rodney Hill, Chief executive of Wigan Leisure and culture about the current position in Wigan regarding allotments, i will come back to you with a full response in due course"..anyway, at least it is a response
SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal