Pontcanna Permanent Allotments, serving over two hundred Cardiff gardeners, traditional and organic
Insole Court at Llandaff have sent Allotments the following:
Gardens Tour: Scenic Summer at Insole Court
July 5 @ 10:00 – 11:00
Our tour guides will show you the highlights of the season, as well as telling you all about the history of our magnificent site.
Please note the tour will involve walking for around 45 minutes and will take place on some uneven paths. Sturdy shoes and suitable clothing is recommended.
Meet outside the Gift Shop around 5 minutes before the start time.
PPA Website Team
Reminder: owing to back-siphoning of groundwater when the supply is turned off, the site supply is not drinking water.
I met with Rhodri Edwards – who is Allotments Officer’s line manager under Parks – today on site.
To recap, there is a serious underground water leak somewhere in the southeast segment of the site, that is, between the mid-point stopcock (at the junction of Road Three and the long track), and the main stopcock at the southwest of the site. It’s losing over a cubic metre of water per hour, which equates to a rate of about £17,500 worth of water a year.
A project manager and contractor have been engaged, and the purpose of today’s visit was to assist in the decision as to the best of the several options to resolve the problem. I proposed a conservative one, which would minimise cost and disruption, while making future leak tracing much easier, and also reducing the likelihood of their happening again. Whether that would be chosen or not remains to be seen, however.
Rhodri said that work should begin within the next week or two. However, given the cost and seriousness of the leak he said that the Council would very much encourage us to turn the water off overnight. I explained that this had been tried before, though with the limited volunteer effort available meaning that it was turned on at 1000 and off at around 1400, but that this had led to resentment among those who attend before or after work and who found the troughs empty, with opprobrium being attached to the unpaid volunteers.
So a main aim of this article is to see if there are people who often attend before work – who’d be willing to turn on the water early in the morning – and others who come after work, and who’d be prepared to turn it off when they leave, ideally giving the water on from say 0700 – 2030 or so. It could also be turned off during spells of wet weather (if we get any.) A group could be set up, to arrange and to share this between themselves, if there were enough offers. Please contact PPAA Committee if you might be able to help.
Martin P. (Volunteer)
Present:
Committee: Mike Powell (Acting Chair) 142, Wendy Gunter (Treasurer) 113b, Sue Pasek (Acting Site Rep) 73, Martin Pasek 73, Lewis Evans 88b/118b.
Plot holders: Tim Robinson 104a, Martin Keane 127a, Sera Jones 129, George Grigg 129, Sue Waring 60, Roger Phillips 60, Caroline Ritchie 51a/53a, Jane Bush 51a,53a, Adrian Peters 157, Alec McSkimming 38, Katrina Couper 104a, James Matthews 13b/24b, Mel Ford 64, Louise Shenstone 157, Wanda O’Connor 6a/b.
Apologies: Jane Davies 88a, Margaret Mathias 159, Gordon Goldsmith 120a.
The meeting opened at 11:00.
Chairman’s Report:
Mike opened the meeting by welcoming everyone in Welsh and English. He went on to say:
Pontcanna Permanent Allotments is a locally managed site, the allotments Association has a Constitution, and there is a Local Management Agreement between ourselves and the Council.
The Association has three main responsibilities:
The allotment Association is made up of unpaid volunteers, we are not staff.
The Association receives an annual grant from the Council based on the number of plots.
The Council has its own responsibilities under the Local Management Agreement including eviction in the case of non-cultivation. They are of course staff and not volunteers.
To us this is a fantastic allotment site with wonderful soil. However, others may see this as prime development land, and so we need to make sure the site is fully cultivated and managed as required by the Tenancy Agreements and the LMA.
He introduced Sue as giving her report next, and explained that she had been Site Representative for many years, most recently as Acting Site Representative when nobody else came forward after Phil Reardon stood down. Sue has indicated that she was now stepping down in this role.
Mike proposed a vote of thanks to Sue for all her work and general applause followed.
Site Representative’s report (shared role):
Sue explained that despite the continuing issues with the Council Orkastrate system she had been able to let out twenty-six plots. The Council have not been able to provide an up to date list of vacant plots.
The Clean and Quit process for this year has been completed, with the PPAA requesting that the Council issue termination of tenancy for ten plots
Rubbish and rotting structures is an ongoing issue for the site, and is responsible for a large proportion of site volunteer time and expenditure to remove.
Alec McSkimming asked from the floor the current situation with the site underground water leak. Mike Powell responded it was the responsibility of the Council and ongoing.
Treasurer’s report: Wendy
Wendy talked through the accounts for 2025/2026, and although they had been submitted to the Council on time, along with proof of site insurance, the annual grant was late in being paid.
She discussed that plot holders should think about setting up an annual DD to pay their £5 PPA subs.
Alex McSkimming asked why no interest was being earned on the funds held.
Sera Jones asked if the sum held for plot deposits was larger than the number of plot holders. Wendy confirmed that this is regularly assessed and monies transferred to the main funds block if the amount becomes too large.
Election Committee Members: Mike
Chair: Gordon Goldsmith had self nominated in absentia
Nominated – Gordon Goldsmith
Seconded – Wendy Gunter
Site Representative:
Nominated – Mike Powell
Seconded – Martin Pasek
Nominated – Sera Jones
Seconded – Martin Keane
It was agreed that as their were two candidates a separate e vote would be sent out on Wednesday 16th June, with both candidates being invited to provide a short resumé to be attached.
Treasurer: Nominated – Wendy Gunter
Seconded – Lewis Evans
Committee: Existing Committee all standing for re election
New nominee – Adrian Peters
Seconded – Mel Ford
The two candidates standing for Site Representative both indicated that they were happy to stand on the Committee if not elected to the post.
Update, Wednesday 1st July 0930:
The votes cast in the e/postal election, for the en bloc return of the standing Committee plus new volunteers were thirty-three FOR, and none AGAINST.
In the e/postal vote on candidates for Site Representative, there were fourteen votes for Sera Jones, and thirty-one votes for Mike Powell.
A list of plot numbers, and how their tenants voted is available on request.
The next ordinary Committee meeting will be at 1900, the upstairs conference room, The Cricketers, Cathedral Road, Cardiff, on Tuesday, 14th July 2026.
Plant Sale: Mike
Approximately £352 had been raised. Thanks were extended to John Morgan plot 21, and Seren Morris-Watts plot 5, for their work.
There were positive responses from around the floor as to the success of the sale.
AOB
Alec McSkimming thanked the Committee for their work over the past year, and singled out the hedge development work along the spine road for praise.
Caroline Ritchie and June Bush offered to have an “open morning’ on their plot to discuss “No Dig” without unnecessary cost. This was welcomed.
Martin Keane said if people joined the Charles Dowding Society they would be given many techniques to help garden in the manner that Caroline and Jane had discussed.
Martin Keane asked about wood chip deliveries and was reminded that they are provided only by the Council. He asked if he could have his own deliveries and the answer was yes, but only on to his own plot, and for Martin to let the deliverer in and out himself.
Wanda O’Connor and Alec McSkimming stated they were happy with the current system and with the quality of the wood chip delivered.
There was no further business and the meeting ended at 11:52.
Caroline Ritchie and her sister Jane are two of the site’s most effective and enthusiastic gardeners, and their plots are a joy to see.
They use the No Dig Method, and garden organically, but their approach doesn’t require bought-in hardware, growing materials, weed suppressant or wood chip, nor the labour of installing and maintaining these. When the time comes – as it does to us all – to give up the plot, there won’t be any derelict or rotting materials or structures to be dismantled and removed from site, either by themselves, or by the effort of unpaid volunteers, and at the cost of the Council Tax payers of Cardiff either. This last point is one of the main burdens on PPAA Committee resources at present.
They’d be pleased to converse with other gardeners about their technique, and have sent PPAA Committee this message:
“Jane and I would be happy to have a chat with people who want to know about our no-dig method on Saturday 4th July. We usually get there at about ten in the morning, and our plot numbers are 51A and 53A. Adrian Peters has suggested we use the Riverside Community Garden hut if it’s raining, but Jane and I think that seeing is better than just talking, providing the weather is okay.”
PPAA Committee would encourage all interested in this way of gardening to take up this kind offer. It would be best to let Caroline and Jane know, and the easiest way would simply be to post a comment to that effect on this article. (They can tick the box to be notified of such comments if they choose.)
Many thanks to Caroline and Jane.
PPA Website Team
As previously published in this article, the PPAA 2026 AGM will take place next Sunday, 14th June, in the area by the communal poly tunnel, near to the southeast gate, at 1100. The agenda and procedures will be as outlined in that post.
As announced, it will be chaired by Mike Powell.
The Committee have since received an offer from a tenant to join, and further such offers will be very warmly received.
The weather – as it stands – looks to be good, and so we hope to see many plot holders there!
PPA Website Team
