Some of the committee, plus one very welcome volunteer (Chas from Plot 85), have cleared the track by the old Committee hut.
The track had become heavily silted from a drain overflow and the passage vehicles through the winter months had churned it up further. The track has now been scrapped back to the hardcore base.
The old committee hut was also cleared of fly tipping, the next stage will be to make it water tight.
Having cleared all the fly tipping out the old Committee hut, it was saddening to see fresh rubbish fly tipped in their less than 24 hours later! Please dispose of your own rubbish as this costs the Committee money to dispose of, meaning less money to use on more meaningful projects to improve the site for all.
PONTCANNA PERMANENT ALLOTMENTS 
You good gentlefolk, who are the community of plot holders at PPAA, might be interested in the recent activity at the “Bring And Take” cubicle by the Western Avenue gate.
Well, it’s the time of year traditionally called “the Hungry Gap”, so there hasn’t been that much produce to exchange as yet this year.
Have we been bored though? Far from it.
We have been entertained by a whole range of Novelty Items left for our delight. I’ll list some:
A dead car battery
A broken strimmer, with even the mains lead cut off
A selection of hand tools, beyond repair or any reasonable usefulness
A dustpan and brush (broken)
A bag of chocolate drops for a dog, and a packet of dog biscuits.
Two stale tortillas, with sliced sausage and hard-boiled eggs
A tin of Tesco cheese ravioli in tomato sauce
Three individual pork pies and some shop-bought plums
Two apparently stolen supermarket baskets
Oh, our aching sides…
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More closely related to the subject of track clearance and accessibility is the matter of the tree stump removal by the University fence.
The Riverside Community Gardens are undertaking this, as they have the people with the necessary tools and qualifications.
To that end they have excavated around the roots so that they can be cut, and they have treated the stump with arboricide.
When it is dead it will be removed, and that should be soon.
However, someone, a plot holder one assumes, has apparently decided that the excavation would make a good place to dump his or her clods of earth and weeds, rather than composting them on their site. So the excavations will have to be partly repeated. This will naturally add to the bill that the Committee receive from RCG.
I think that it is perhaps best if I refrain from giving a personal opinion, about whoever might have done this, but please do not fly-tip either there or anywhere else on site. Drivers beware, and note the warning cone too.
The stump needs to be removed, because as it stands, it prevents (by a small amount only), our preferred waste contractors from negotiating the turn in their caged pick-up transit. They will only need access on relatively infrequent occasions, but their work is necessary. Their vehicle is far less cumbersome than a skip lorry, and this approach solves the problem of skips being filled with opportunist dumping before their paid-for purpose can be served.
The Committee is inevitably faced with the task of clearing some abandoned plots, even though the terms of tenancy state that it is the duty of the outgoing plot holder. A little thought, as to the circumstances under which plots often become disused, will explain why this will sometimes be unavoidable.
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