Hedgerow
During the 2007 season there was four break-ins. The most serious was the burning down of a member’s shed. All the sheds on site and the main storage containers were broken into and the petrol stolen. The local police and the members of the Resident Association along with our own members now make regular patrols of the site.
Due to this Lancashire County Council and West Lancashire District Council were approached with a view to plant a hedgerow along the ninety three metres of Paladin fencing, the most vulnerable part of the perimeter fencing, where the thieves have cut through the wire mesh in three different places .
West Lancashire County Council allotments officer granted permission to allowed the Society to plant a hedgerow along the outside of the allotment. The council's officer agreed to back the Society if it lodges an appleal against the planning permission for the type of fence along this stretch (it boarders a footpath and thought to be more aesthetically pleasing) as the rest of the site has a Palisade fence where penetration has not gained. It granted funding would be very difficult to raise.
Lancashire County Council supplied at no cost to the Society six hundred shrubs. Mainly Hawthorn and Blackthorn but also fifty Holly and fifty Hazel. The Hazel will also be useful when coppiced at a later stage and the branches used as canes on the allotment.
Planting was carried out during February 2008.