EU funding for allotment hedging - tell me more.....

[SMP1704]

Oldmanofthewoods mentioned this.............

Jack, can you give some more details, e.g. how to apply.  Our council are hopeless, so I'm thinking some nice thick thorny hedges will discourage the marauders.

Thanks

Sharon

[SMP1704]

[OliveOil]

check out awardsforall in google - up to 10k for community projects

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Walking distance from Twickenham station has an excellent pub if I remember!

Hedges get EU funding as they are natural habitats (because we have been using them for hundreds of generations) and stock-proof barriers.

The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (http://www2.btcv.org.uk/display/btcv_home) get EU grants in response to requests such as yours.  Other than using the BTCV you will find specialist "grant getters" in most parts of the country.  The difficulty in your case I think is that the council will not look well at someone trying to attract a grant on their property.

May i suggest that you contact the BTCV first by phone, explain what you are after and ask their advice.  They are a decent bunch.  (A English hunting hedge is impenetrable after 5 years- two rows of Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Guelder rose etc, 9" apart, 18" between each tree - staggered).

If they can't help please reply to this and I will have a root around.

I have planted loads of these and they are truly beautiful.

Jack

[Eristic]

The downside of a free hedge as opposed to expensive netting is that the Council will have a duty to trim it at regular intervals and this costs ££ particularly in urban areas. Also bear in mind that a stockproof fence does not keep yobbos out.

[Tee Gee]

To add to Eristics reply think of this;

It is true they can be a haven for wildlife but this includes slugs & snails :-\

[Oldmanofthewoods]

The downside of a free hedge as opposed to expensive netting is that the Council will have a duty to trim it at regular intervals and this costs ££ particularly in urban areas. Also bear in mind that a stockproof fence does not keep yobbos out.

You don't trim a proper hedge, one "lay's" it, usually about every seven years.  The grant for the hedge includes a layer who gets about £1.5/yard and it happens in the winter months but not on frosty days.

A stockproof fence can keep anything out.

[OliveOil]

woodland trust too

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Thanks OlO I didn't know that.  But I am an instructor in hedge-laying so i do know a little bit about it. 

Jack

[Trevor_D]

Thanks for this info. Our site is self-funding; we are a Poors' Field - set up under the enclosure act - and have the original hawthorn hedge along quite a bit of the boundary. There have been suggestions that we put in a 'proper' fence, but personally I'm relectant to get rid of a heritage hedgerow. I'll get the committee to look at this.

[Oldmanofthewoods]

I could come and look at yer 'edge and offer some suggestions if you like?  It would be a pleasure.

Jack

[Robert_Brenchley]

Whether you lay a hedge of not depends on local tradition. There are two styles of hedge management, laying, which produces an instant stock fence, and coppicing, which takes about five years to do so, and involved cutting everything down to a few inches above ground level; they predomainated in different parts of the country. Personally I'm a fan of coppicing followed by hard pruning; it takes time but you end up with something impenetrable to the most determined vandal, as long as you use the right species, ie something with a mat of side branches, and for preference, spikes all over it. Hawthorn or blackthorn are ideal.

[SMP1704]

Thanks for all the info.  I have found the BTCV website and will contact them. 

In some areas of the boundary there are lots of brambles - I suppose we could train these to act as a barrier hedge.  Anyone else taken this approach??

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Yes, you could do that as a short term measure although it will not help the hedge in the long term as the hawthorn, blackthorns etc will grow into mature trees that can't be laid anymore (that's why you see widely spaced treees which appear in rows straggling across fields).  These were once hedges.
Have a look at: http://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/

You can attend a BTCV course over a weekend to learn how to do it yourself!  I learned that way and I am as thick as pigshit!

Jack

[SMP1704]

Always wondered about those trees in fields..........can you tell that I'm a townie ;)

Phoned BTCV and they don't having any grant money to offer :'( but I have contacted our local office in Richmond (why didn't I already know about them??) who are willing to do a volunteer day to sort out the boundary but will charge £150 +VAT + materials - which I suppose is reasonable unless there isn't any money at all, but at least we have a fundraising target.

and any remedies for Knotweed - that will have to go before any saplings can go in..........

I can feel a quest coming on (as in "it's never easy is it)

A hedge laying course - now that would be something for the CV ;D

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Knotweed.................oh bugger!  I hate knotweed even more than leylandii!

Green control is only by digging, pulling or grazing and you will probably never get rid of it unless you only have a little patch.  Even if a tiniest bit of the root is left in the pigging stuff is viable.  Make sure none of it gets into any watercourse near you as it will float away and bugger up somewhere else.  Permenent grazing will remove all top growth but it will come back as soon as the grazing stops.

You must tell the owner of your land that there is knotweed there.  They are legally oblidged to come and kill it off.

Fight the good fight!

[manicscousers]

we're just filling in the forms for a grant from the 'brighter borough fund', your councillor has to support it, our community action party local councillor is supporting us, don't know if it applies everywhere though  :)

[SMP1704]

Manics

I've googled 'Brighter Borough Fund' and it seems to be a Wigan thing.  Good for you, sad for us ;)

thanks anyway for the info

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Sharon

You should look at the Environmental Agency's website re knotweed.

Jack

[SMP1704]

Thanks - read up on knotweed in my first year - know your enemy and all that!!

Our local authority - Hounslow (time for a bit of naming & shaming) have subbed out Leisure and Culture to CIP (something most residents voted for in order to save the libraries, but it seems there was some small print that no-one mentioned at the time)

CIP's refrain is that the council have not given them any funding for allotments and all the money they get from rent pays the water rates (not metered)  There are about 6 tanks for the whole site of 40 plots, so something doesn't sound right there - suppose I could use the FoI act to get a look at the bills from Thames Water.  I'm trying to get a meeting with the team leader for Allotments but was told on Monday that "he is very busy at this time of year and allotments would be at the bottom of his list" >:( :o ???

We all know that Hounslow/CIP have a legal obligation to control the knotweed, but try telling them that - I'm sure that none of them are gardeners..........

I am trying to get a bit of community spirit going on the plot and have a meeting on the 14th - think I will suggest that where there is knotweed, we do some bramble training and where the area is clean to plant a hedge.  Does that make sense, any other ideas to keep out the little monsters or rather children with challenging behaviour and emotional issues. >:(

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Whether you lay a hedge of not depends on local tradition. There are two styles of hedge management, laying, which produces an instant stock fence, and coppicing, which takes about five years to do so, and involved cutting everything down to a few inches above ground level; they predomainated in different parts of the country. Personally I'm a fan of coppicing followed by hard pruning; it takes time but you end up with something impenetrable to the most determined vandal, as long as you use the right species, ie something with a mat of side branches, and for preference, spikes all over it. Hawthorn or blackthorn are ideal.

Coppicing to make a hedge would be ludicrous.