The PPA site’s there for all of us, and there’s nothing at all in the terms of our Tenancy Agreements to say that anyone shouldn’t take it upon themselves to make improvements, to lend a hand, or to end nuisances beyond their own plots. That is, there’s no formal necessity to be a Committee member to do such things.
There’s nothing new in people doing this either. For many years, individuals – with whatever skills – have, at will, done such things as to pick litter and other rubbish, to remove damaging ivy from the listed wall, to clear accretions from tracks, to deal with vegetation – which might have been encroaching on tracks, car parks, or other used areas – to trim hedges so as to facilitate car access, to tidy manure and wood chipping heaps, to clean sediment from water troughs, and so on. All such help is very gratefully acknowledged too.
The independent volunteer does need to make quite sure, however, that what they’re thinking of doing doesn’t break their Tenancy Agreement – e.g. by planting broadleaf trees anywhere – and that it also works with the grain of both the PPAA Constitution and the Local Management Agreement. That is, it doesn’t hinder any right or freedom of any other plot holder to cultivate their plot, or to use the site in any way that they might choose within the rules, or cause any other nuisance to a gardener. It’s also best for them to make sure that such work wouldn’t clash with any Committee project either.
It’s through doing such things that many former and present Committee members decided that they’d like to work with others in these endeavours, and it’s often why they joined.
Long may it continue.
PPA Website Team
