24/02/2024
Thank you to everyone who signed our petition either online or on paper. The response from the council is below. The Friends are committed to keep together as a group and hopefully will relocate to the allotment site at the back of Mesnes Park in the near future. If anyone would like to volunteer with us at Mesnes Park please contact us through messenger or [email protected]
Subject: Petition: The Friends of Haigh Walled Kitchen
Importance: High
Dear (Petition Organiser)
Hope that you are well. Just to confirm, the petition (e petition and paper petition) that you submitted on behalf of The Friends of Haigh Walled Kitchen, has now been validated and found to contain a combined total of 327 signatures (18 signatures were from people residing out of the borough and 3 signatures provided no addresses).
This qualifies the petition as an ‘Ordinary Petition’ under the Council’s Petition Scheme (attached) – and guidance on Ordinary Petitions is outlined below:
Ordinary petitions
These must be signed by at least 100 people. However the Council will use its discretion where there are fewer than 100 signatories in cases where there is clear local support for action. Following acceptance of a petition of this nature the petition will be forwarded to an appropriate officer within the service area concerned who will be requested to respond to the petition organiser within 10 working days outlining what the service intends to do.
As the petition will be treated as an Ordinary Petition, it has now been sent to the appropriate officer within the service area concerned, who will respond to you via e mail within 10 working days, outlining what the service intends to do.
Please expect a response to your petition by 13th February 2024.
Kind regards,
Democratic Services
Resources Directorate, Wigan Council
Wigan New Town Hall,
Library Street, Wigan WN1 1YN
Subject: Petition: The Friends of Haigh Walled Kitchen
Importance: High
Dear (Petition Organiser)
I am writing to formally acknowledge and respond to the e-petition and written petition submitted by ‘The Friends of Haigh Walled Kitchen Garden’. As the petition has received over 100 signatures (327), but less than 5,000, it is classed as an ‘Ordinary Petition’ and therefore requires a response from myself as the appropriate officer within the relevant service area by 13th February 2024 outlining what the service intends to do in response to the petition.
Your petition reads, “We the undersigned petition the council to provide a suitable plot of land within the Haigh Woodland Park estate for the Haigh Conservation and Restoration Group also known as The Friends of Haigh Walled Kitchen Garden to continue as an autonomous constituted group of volunteers”.
As you know, myself and relevant colleagues have met with you and the Kitchen Garden Volunteers group on numerous occasions over the last few months to discuss a way forward given the planned horticultural changes at Haigh Hall in line with the Levelling Up and National Lottery Heritage Fund programmes. These plans include changes to the way that that the Kitchen Garden will be managed going forward but also some imminent works in the garden itself. From these meetings and conversations, agreement has been reached that an alternative allotment space be secured for the group at Mesnes Park in Wigan and, following site visits, work is now underway to relocate the group’s allotment space to here. There are a number of issues to work through to achieve this but we are working in collaboration on this and the council are supporting the move with resource and finances. We understand that the group are satisfied with this space as an alternative to the allotment space at Haigh and are currently considering the tenure arrangements as advised by Senior Greenspace Officer.
As we have discussed, the council does encourage the volunteers to continue to volunteer at Haigh going forward, however following the appointment of the Head of Horticulture and other posts to be recruited to in the near future, this would have to be in a more structured and managed way, with guidance provided by the Head of Horticulture. The value of the work that the Kitchen Garden Volunteers have delivered over the last 15 years or so at Haigh can not be understated and we would appreciate the support of the group in delivering the horticulture vision for Haigh going forward. As explained in our meetings, whilst we cannot provide an alternative plot of land within the Haigh Woodland Park estate for the group we believe that the plot at Mesnes Park is an alternative solution of particularly high standard.
We are committed to continue working together to ensure the relocation to the Mesnes Park plot goes smoothly and provide full support throughout this process. Furthermore, we would like the volunteers to continue to volunteer at Haigh in the future as we deliver against the project objectives and horticulture vision for the benefits of the wider community.
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes
Strategy & Innovation Directorate
Wigan Council
Wigan Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 1YN
