Month: July 2026

Water

I today met the project manager and contractor on site, to give them a key and to discuss the coming works.

Work should begin within a couple of days. The contractors will fit further isolating stopcocks in the suspect length of pipe to narrow down the location of the leak. This will involve excavations on the main track, and so vehicular access won’t be possible beyond the point of the works. There will also be interruptions to the site water supply of typically two hours during the fitting of the stopcocks.

The largest vehicle used will be transit van size I was informed, so this shouldn’t present any particular problem, but everyone’s advised to take due care all the same, and to supervise children appropriately in the vicinity of the works.

Manure

We’d been told by the Riding School management that the next clearance of manure wouldn’t involve PPA, as it was going to “other allotments”.

However, while I was waiting to meet the above my ‘phone rang, and it was the manager of CRS. Apparently the “other allotments” – Pontcanna ‘A’ it turned out – couldn’t take all of the manure and she asked if it would be possible to deliver to PPA. She was lucky that I was there, as otherwise I’d not have been available to do this supervision. (Since Sue’s retirement as Site Representative we’d made clear that it was time – after some years now – for someone else to take on this aspect of the Site Representative’s remit.)

Since Llandaff Fields allotments and Pontcanna ‘A’ – even together – have nothing like the number of tenants that PPA does it’s understandable that their need for manure may not accommodate all that needs disposal by CRS. So we can perhaps expect deliveries to continue fairly regularly in future. Indeed, the amount delivered today was substantial.

Communal tools, wheelbarrows, trolleys etc.

Plot holder Michael McGuone very kindly restored two abandoned wheelbarrows to good serviceable condition, and left these by the southeast manure pen for his fellow gardeners to use communally. Sadly, these quickly disappeared. Whether these were taken and kept for personal use by PPA tenants or taken off site isn’t known. One of the new green trolleys has also vanished. The other is safe, but not available for use just at the moment, and further new ones have been bought by PPAA Committee for service soon.

Would everyone please note then, that such things left by the pens are for communal use by PPA gardeners only, and not to give away, whether for private use or for community projects elsewhere in Cardiff.

Scrap metal collections

Since the general tidy up and removal of waste at the southeast end of site, the collection point for any scrap metal is now immediately to the right of, rather than in front of the blue shipping container.

(Plot holders are reminded, that there isn’t any collection, or on-site recycling facility for any other unwanted materials.)

Martin P

Admin.

Present: Gordon Goldsmith (Chair), Mike Powell (Site Representative), Wendy Gunter (Treasurer), Sue Pasek, Rhys Williams, Martin Pasek.

Apologies: Lewis Evans, Nerys Lloyd-Pierce, Sera Jones, Adrian Peters.

The meeting opened at 19:00.

Matters arising from previous Minutes: 

To be covered in agenda.

Matters arising from AGM: 

The Committee were re-elected unopposed along with new members. Mike Powell was elected as Site Representative.

Chair’s report:

• Gordon opened the meeting to welcome – in their absence – new Committee members Sera and Adrian. 

• Thanks were extended to Sue as she steps down as Site Representative.

Site Representative’s report:

• Mike reported that he will attend GDPR and Orkastrate training on 20/7/26, at the Council’s Forest Farm office.

• He will attend the CAHA (Cardiff Allotment Holders Association) bi-monthly meeting on 22/7/26, location as yet to be confirmed.

• Since May, Mike has let six plots, and Sue three.

• Three structures application forms have been requested.

• Eleven plots have been given up.

• Mike has applied to the Council for our waiting list to be reopened. As yet he has not received a reply. Sue explained that the Council have a “tipping point’ for closing the list based on vacant plot numbers v. number of people already on the waiting list. Mike to enquire re the exact ratio applied.

• Further correspondence has been received directly from a tenant with a long history of making varied complaints and allegations, and receipt acknowledged. No contact has been made to the PPAA Committee by the tenant’s chosen advocate, name unknown, despite the tenant previously stating that they would do so. The tenant had also requested that the PPAA Committee not contact them directly, although their most recent communication demanded a reply. The Council are in the loop.

• £750 has been paid to Jack’s Waste for removal of rubbish from vacant plots.

• The Council have cleared the fire debris following the arson on plot 131a.

• £150 paid to an appropriately-insured tenant for strimming down overgrown vacant plots. 

• £100 also paid to him for track strimming and mowing.

Treasurer’s report:

• Wendy has received the PPAA’s annual grant from the Council.

• The recently purchased card machine has been successfully used at plot lettings and the plant sale.

Delivery of wood chip:

• Many thanks go to plot holder Louise Tambini for organising delivery – through her Keep Wales Tidy contacts and Cardiff Council – of some wood chip previously used for pathways at the Blackweir festival site. Thanks also go to Committee member Sera for overseeing the delivery on site.

• Mike proposed that we reaffirm an earlier Committee decision only to accept wood chip from Cardiff Council. This was passed unanimously.

Delivery of manure:

• The Committee have been informed that ‘other allotment sites’ have currently got priority for the next manure deliveries from the stables. The Committee are monitoring the situation. Gordon reminded plot holders that they were free to collect manure from the stables manure pile at any time.

Water Supply:

• Following on from the issuing of a Notice to Repair by Welsh Water (Dŵr Cymru) to Cardiff Council, a contractor and council official visited site to assess the situation, no further information re time scale for the repair of this significant leak has been received from the Council. 

• A group of plot holders have been turning the water off overnight as requested by the Council. The PPAA Committee extend their sincere thanks for this.

Council’s non-cultivation of plots process 2026:

• Ten requests for termination of tenancy were sent to the Council.

Waste removal, skips etc:

• Gordon, Rhys and Mike to research suppliers of one-off waste removal before next meeting.

Vacant Plot Clearing:

• A reminder that there is a work party to clear some vacant plots on Sunday 19th July at 11:00, meeting by the south gate. Any plot holder able to lend their time to this work will be gratefully welcome.

AOB:

• The Committee discussed the rollout by the Council of their new Tenancy Agreement for every plot holder. The Council intend to start the process the week beginning the 20th July 2026. Plot holders are reminded to keep across communication on this matter, and to be aware that it is being applied by the Council across all sites in Cardiff.

• Martin mentioned that one of the recently bought green trollies has gone missing. Gordon proposed that it be replaced, being popular and well-used on site, and would also look at other sizes available.

There was no further business, and the meeting ended at 20:34.

The next PPAA Committee meeting will be at 19:00 on Tuesday, 11th August 2026, in the upstairs meeting room of The Cricketers, Cathedral Road, Cardiff.

Following the Blackweir events, the organisers have a significant amount of – we understand – good quality wood chips – briefly used for tracks etc. – for disposal, and PPAA Committee have agreed to accept as much of this as we can.

We’ll be getting deliveries tomorrow, from 8.30 till around 12.30. We’ll see how we get on, and if there’s more room and we run out of time tomorrow, delivery will resume on Friday.

Could everyone bringing vehicles to site please make sure that they don’t obstruct the pens, therefore. At this stage we don’t know how big the delivery trucks will be and how much turning space will be needed, so please don’t park in either the Western Avenue gate car park or the area near the pens at the southeast end of site during this time. There’s parking on Road Three, and by plot 90, as well as by the Community Garden container.

We thank Louise Tambini of Keep Wales Tidy, and PPA plot holder, for offering this material.

Kind thanks,

pp Sera Jones, PPAA Committee

Further working party:

PPAA Committee are very grateful for the valuable help given by the recent working parties.

The Council are slowly catching up with the backlog of updates needed for the Orkastrate system, and it’s becoming clear that the scale of the task – the sheer number of neglected plots now released by the Council, and the speed of growth of weeds – means that considerable further work will be needed, and so volunteers are invited to meet again for this on Sunday, 19th July, at 1100.

As before, the meeting place will be at the PPA communal poly tunnel by the southeast gate, and the clearance will start with plot 54b.

The invitation’s to all on site again, not just to those who’ve previously volunteered. So would those interested in this vital work please contact PPAA Committee (whether they’ve done this before or not)?

Sincere thanks,

Mike Powell, Site Representative