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Could plot holders who know others – but who don’t follow this website – please kindly pass on this information to them – thanks.

The contractors are now working to locate the serious leak in PPA’s pipework, and making excellent progress.

The water is now left turned on by the volunteers, who previously shared a rota to turn it off overnight, and to whom PPAA Committee are sincerely grateful.

The contractors may need to turn off the water however, and this may be at unpredictable times for periods of typically two or three hours during the day.

There may well be no vehicular access to some parts of site south of Road Five for some days.

We trust that everyone will understand that this inconvenience is unavoidable, especially as the other option for the Council could be to turn off water to PPA completely.

Admin

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

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:

• Clearing of vacant plots – often including removal of rubbish – and offering these new plots to new tenants from the Council’s waiting list.

• Site maintenance to boundaries, gates, locks, water troughs, hedges and tracks.

• Annual plot inspections following a procedure required by the Council. In the event of persistent non-cultivation without a reasonable explanation the Council should terminate the tenancy and the plot be released.

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