BHAF Update

As most of our members are probably aware, there have been some big changes for the Brighton and Hove Allotment Federation this year.

At the AGM there was a motion voted through which demanded that the federation were more ‘representative’ of plot holders’ interests. This came about in part due to the Council’s attempt to raise the rents by 70%. A steering group was selected to engage with the BHAF membership and, off the back of that consultation process, re-draft the federation’s objectives. The new objectives were voted through at subsequent Special General Meeting of the federation.

The new objectives require that the federation represents plot holders, and also gives direction on certain issues like rent costs. The federation is still in the process of updating the constitution to reflect these new objectives and we hope to have suggestions for the members to consider soon. Our job is to make the federation as representative as possible, for those who want to be represented, and to be transparent, open and participatory – whilst at the same time bearing in mind that many plot holders are not interested in the politics of it all and just want to get on with growing vegetables. It will be something of a balancing act. The federation has also been asked by the Council to enter into a series of meetings whose aim is to produce an ‘allotment strategy’ for the city for the next 5 years. These meetings start in December and we will be feeding back and asking for input from then.

4 new members joined the federation committee in March, and we also gained a new Secretary in July. So for the first time in many years the federation has quite a full committee. However, two prominent members; John Burns (Chairperson) and Steve Lucas (Treasurer) have decided they will not be standing for re-election at next year’s AGM. The committee is presently discussing the role of Chairperson; we hope to have a recommendation before the next AGM. We also invite applications for the post of Treasurer. Please apply by email to BHAF.contact@gmail.com  A brief description of the treasurers work is attached to this post, (below) along with the helpful qualifications or experience, but please do not be put off if you do not have all the experience, motivation to help fullfil the federations objectives is most important.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank John and Steve for their work over the past few years, and wish them well.

We will be launching our new website soon, as well as our new logo, which you can see on this post, we hope you like it. The website will basically be the same but with a more modern design and will hopefully be a bit easier to navigate around and find what you’re looking for. It’s a community site, and it is easy for anyone to add pages pictures and comments, so please do. An active website, with your thoughts, tips and ideas for improving the service, will be an important component in enabling the Federation to be more representative.

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Comments about this page

  • Looks wonderful !! Very excited. Please add my details (Mark Carroll has them) If you need a volunteer for anything!

    By Emma Bateman (Holland) (12/11/2012)

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