29/09/2026
Community Garden Update
The Parish Council is aware of recent discussion on social media regarding the Community Garden and would like to provide residents with a full update on the work that has taken place throughout 2026, together with the next steps currently being progressed.
January 2026
Cllr Chris Merrington advised the Parish Council that he would be stepping back from involvement with the Community Garden and village flower tubs. This was recorded in the Council minutes.
March 2026
Arrangements were made for T & D Contractors to take over the grass cutting at the Community Garden.
April 2026
The Council agreed for Adam Washington to take over the village flower tub work.
During the same month, the Community Garden was temporarily closed after the Council was notified that an unknown substance had been discovered on the site.
The Council also approved a quotation for professional asbestos surveys to be carried out at both the Community Garden and School Street allotment site.
May 2026
The Council considered the asbestos survey report and agreed that quotations should be obtained for the necessary asbestos removal work at both sites.
June 2026
Members considered the quotations received. Due to the significant cost of carrying out works at both sites, the Council agreed that the Community Garden should be treated as the immediate priority and approved the necessary asbestos removal works there.
The Council also agreed that responsibility for the management of the Community Garden would return to the Parish Council, with the Clerk managing the site as part of the Council’s wider responsibility for its land and assets.
10th July 2026
The specialist asbestos removal works were completed and the main site was reopened following the clearance.
Shortly afterwards, however, residents began accessing and digging within the raised beds before arrangements for their use had been finalised. The Council was then notified that small fragments of suspected asbestos-containing material had been found within some of the raised beds.
As a result, those areas remained restricted while further health and safety arrangements were put in place.
August 2026
Work began to clear and reorganise the Community Garden. This included emptying and tidying the storage container, clearing the polytunnel and organising the site so that it could be managed properly going forward.
Much of the waste shown in recent photographs came from items that had previously been stored within the container and polytunnel. Other items shown in the same photographs were already present in the existing waste pile. These items were brought together into one area as part of the clearance process so that they could ultimately be removed from the site.
During this period, the Clerk also liaised with the specialist asbestos contractor and a Councillor with extensive health and safety management experience to establish a simple, safe and lawful procedure for dealing with any future discovery of unknown material.
September 2026
The Council has continued putting the necessary management and health and safety arrangements in place. This has included:
- a Community Garden management plan;
- a new risk assessment;
- an Unknown Material Discovery Procedure;
- a Raised Bed User Agreement;
- updated site rules; and
- arrangements for appropriate PPE and secure storage for any potentially hazardous material discovered in future.
The relevant PPE was delivered on 28th September, and a lockable storage container is being delivered on 29th September.
Arrangements had also already been made for the remaining waste to be cleared from the site, with the intention of completing this work during the first part of October. T & D Contractors have now been confirmed to attend the site next week and a skip will be hired for the removal of the accumulated waste.
What happens next?
The Council’s priority is to complete the remaining clearance work and put the Community Garden into a position where it can be safely and properly managed for residents going forward.
The work is ongoing and is being progressed as quickly as possible, while ensuring that the necessary health and safety requirements are properly addressed.
For clarity, the PPE, storage arrangements and planned clearance of the site were already being progressed before the recent social media discussion.
The Parish Council appreciates residents’ interest in the Community Garden and will provide a further update once the next stage of clearance work has been completed.
