scaffold poles

[chairman]

our local council is trying to ban the use of scaffold poles.
I've seen them being used on allotments for years from runner bean frames to helping to hold up compost bins.
do you use them?
would you use them?
are they a problem on your site?

[chairman]

[Robert_Brenchley]

They're used to reinforce the stream banks among other things, and no, they're not a problem. Some people have the most ridiculous ideas!

Someone will be on in a minute saying that such nasty unsightly things shouldn't be allowed within a mile of an allotment.

[Unwashed]

I have half a dozen scaffold pole tripods, maybe 8' tall.

Your council has no power to ban them, tell them to do their worse.

Funnily enough though, a fellow plot holder did tell me that my tripods were "too much", so yes, there are people out there who think there is a scaffold-pole problem.

[Flighty]

Chairman have the council stated why they want to ban the use of them?
People use them on my site but I don't myself.

[BarriedaleNick]

Being on a railway embankment our site is a bit slopey and is held up with scaffold poles and planks.  If they took them away the site would end on up on the tracks.
Sometimes people in power just make rules up because they can and have nothing better to do.

[saddad]

Welcome to A4A Chairman...
I use them to hold down long runs of net/fleece...  :)

[1066]

people on our site have used them to make fruit cages. can I ask why the council want to ban them?

[daileg]

Being on a railway embankment our site is a bit slopey and is held up with scaffold poles and planks.  If they took them away the site would end on up on the tracks.
Sometimes people in power just make rules up because they can and have nothing better to do.

i think the saying goes JOBS FOR THE BOYS

[chairman]

it's because of the dreaded  "elf n safety" rules. they may fall, drop or be walked into. Can we not trip, bang our heads or summit else on plots. how many times have i stood on a rake over the years.  ::) we have come up with another approach to this. they as well as us have a "duty of care"  maybe they should mow the main paths as per their contract so we can walk to the plots safely.

[1066]

it's because of the dreaded  "elf n safety" rules. they may fall, drop or be walked into. Can we not trip, bang our heads or summit else on plots. how many times have i stood on a rake over the years.  ::) we have come up with another approach to this. they as well as us have a "duty of care"  maybe they should mow the main paths as per their contract so we can walk to the plots safely.

Ah good ole elf and safety! Sounds like you need to do a bit of bargaining with them then! I'd also be tempted to contact my local councillor and the local paper - local papers are always looking for stories.....
1066

[Flighty]

They seem so intent on trying to prevent all the possible what ifs that it beggars belief sometimes.

[DEREK CRABB]

i would challenge this proposed step by the council, scaffold poles are not an offensive weapon yet! the council must be trying to "improve the appearance" of your allotment. my wife "the lawyer" thinks that they do not have the authority to dictate what materials you use, as long as they are used safely and there is no danger or H & S issues.. fight the dictators!  rgds derek

[Unwashed]

Just mentioned this in another thread:  I'm not convinced the Council do owe anyone a duty of care to anyone on plots that they rent out; it is the plot holder who owes the duty of care under the Occupiers' Liability Acts.  Whether the council also had a duty of care would come down to how much control the council exercised over the plot, so perversely, a council that tried to minimize their liability by enforcing health and safety conditions on the tenant might very well create a liability that they otherwise would not have.

If the council employ workmen on the site then they will have a duty under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations to make a risk assessment of any jobs the workmen will be doing and it's just possible that they'd want to control what happens on plots to fulfil that duty.

Either way, I'd want to see how systematic the council had been in deciding that scaffold poles are a hazard that can only satisfactorily be controlled by banning them.