Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 12th February: The huge Saga quandary.
It was with great sadness that we heard this week that Saga is to close their office and children’s nursery at Enbrook Park with effect from 17th March. With our main garden being on site, it meant that we were in a quandary as to what this would mean for us and the Community Garden – do we bother to sow any seeds from now on? Do we need to take up some of the plants straight away, as right now would be the best time to move them. It left us with many questions, let alone the thought of how much work we had put into the garden over the years, to have to leave it behind us.
Later that day we had a message from Saga:
“As you have already seen, today we announced to colleagues that we have taken the decision to close Enbrook Park, our head office. The building will be mothballed while we consider options for the site, which will be closed from 17th March.
“I would like to reassure you and the rest of the community garden volunteers that the grounds will remain open and maintained as usual and we will continue to keep you updated with developments as they progress.”
So it was that we decided as a group to carry on and grow as normal for the spring, and sow seeds for the summer. With no fixed date in sight, we shall have to take a gamble and see what happens. Not an ideal scenario, but also to remember that some people will be losing their jobs with this decision.
As for the public access to the grounds, as long as Saga owns the property, we can all still enjoy the wooded area, the various paths and lawns. After that we do not know. Who or what sort of company would be able to buy such a site in a prime location there in Sandgate? It has to be said that Sandgate’s green areas are rapidly disappearing to accommodate more housing. Just this week there was an invitation from a housing company to view the proposal to build eight houses on an open space in the Golden Valley area. The Government is telling us that we need our green spaces, but how does that fit with the pressure of building yet more and more homes? Just how big will that green space be that is left? It will probably not be big enough for a community garden.
What’s next?
- Start to sow the very first seeds of the season
- Water the pots now that warmer weather has appeared
- Cut back the goji berries
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.