Hackney Right To Grow

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  • Space to Grow report from RHS

    Space to Grow report from RHS

    Fantastic to see the RHS “Space to grow: realising the potential of the community gardening movement” report which came out in October and how it highlights the importance of community gardening especially in urban areas” Community gardening in the UK has grown and evolved over time… Community gardening groups come in many shapes and sizes, such as allotments, health centre gardens, school gardens and even shared containers on streets and shared spaces in housing developments. Of those surveyed, 76% are located in urban areas, while the remaining 24% in rural settings.” The report notes “… the top motivation for community gardening groups is bringing the community together – in 85% of cases. This is followed by benefitting participants’ physical and mental wellbeing, encouraging enjoyment of gardening, improving biodiversity and wildlife habitats and creating cleaner, greener or more attractive surroundings.” And continues ” … community gardens are helping us tackle some of the biggest issues of our time, particularly in policy areas that have long been priorities for government: improving people’s health and wellbeing, fostering place-based community cohesion, increasing access to nature and delivering on environmental targets. The body of research pointing to the benefits and impacts of community gardening continues to grow.” I could not agree more! So whether you are engaged in delivering biodiversity gain, or improving health or diet, food kitchens, reducing food waste and composting, or working with mental wellbeing or increasing access to nature, community food growing does this for you! While doing the same for your colleagues in other departments. For Local Government the report states Recommendations for local government

    1) Create a local strategy for community gardening
    Taking a strategic approach to supporting community gardening would help local authorities and regional mayoralties to deliver against their policy priorities for local residents – including improving health and wellbeing, uniting communities, developing a strong sense of place, restoring nature and delivering on climate-related goals.

    Some local authorities have recognised the impact supporting community gardening can have in their areas and are already leading the way with their own strategic approaches to supporting local growing. Southwark Council has appointed two Community Gardening Coordinators to support a network of local community gardens; Greater Manchester Combined Authority has invested millions through its Green Spaces Fund, and East Suffolk’s ‘Field to Fork’ scheme is helping communities grow their own food.

    These forward-thinking initiatives highlight the potential of taking a strategic approach to supporting local community gardening.

    2) Use the Right to Grow to deliver against local policy priorities Incredible Edible’s Right to Grow campaign urges local authorities to make it easier to identify and access public land suitable for community growing or wildlife projects. It also calls for a simpler process for groups to secure free leases to cultivate the land, and for those groups to have the opportunity to bid if the land is put up for sale.

    Right to Grow offers a tangible opportunity for local authorities to deliver on their policy priorities in areas such as wellbeing and social cohesion by supporting local people to grow in their communities. In addition, by enabling community groups to take over underused public spaces, councils could save maintenance costs – which could be repurposed to directly support community growing.

    Recommendation:
    Local authorities should consider how creating a local strategy for community gardening, or incorporating community gardening into existing strategies, could help them deliver their policy priorities for local residents.

    Recommendation:
    Local authorities should consider how they could deliver on their policy priorities and ‘green the grey’ by adopting Right to Grow.

    The Right to Grow campaign has captured national political attention and continues to build momentum at a local level, with six local authorities adopting Right to Grow to date – including Hull and Bury. The more local authorities that adopt Right to Grow, the more barriers will be dismantled for community growers trying to access land and the more councils will be able to utilise the power of the community gardening movement to help them deliver their policy priorities.”


    https://www.rhs.org.uk/get-involved/community-gardening/spacetogrow

  • What if we had the Right to Grow?

    What if we had the Right to Grow?

    Up and down the country public land is being left unloved, costing our local authorities money to care for and giving nothing back to the community in return. Community groups like Incredible Edible have shown that with a little imagination, bravery and TLC these parcels of land can be turned into oases for food and wildlife.

    It’s time we were afforded a Right to Grow; an opportunity to take up our seed packets, spades and watering cans, and nourish our communities, without all the hoop-jumping and red-tape so often encountered by those who want to get on and grow food with and for their community. The Right to Grow calls for a new relationship that builds trust between councils and communities, and sees authorities recognise the immense value that community food growers bring to the places we call home. With special thanks to University of Sheffield and Research England for funding the production of this film.

    🌱 Find out more about the Right to Grow: https://www.incredibleedible.org.uk/w…

    🌱 Report: Benefits of the Right to Grow: https://www.incredibleedible.org.uk/w…

    🌱 Council briefing on the Right to Grow: https://www.incredibleedible.org.uk/w…

    🌱 How Right to Grow supports existing council policies: https://www.incredibleedible.org.uk/w…

    🌱 Join the Right to Grow mailing list and Learning Network: https://mailchi.mp/incredibleedible/n…

  • Hackney Right To Grow Public Meeting

    Hackney Right To Grow Public Meeting

    Hackney Right to Grow has an open meeting for those who are interested in the campaign and especially if they want to get involved. Wedesday 17th September, 7pm at the Garden of Earthly Delight on Graham Road.

  • GLA Environment Committee

    GLA Environment Committee

    Essential reading re London and food growing. The report of the GLA Environment Committee

    “The ’Right to Grow’

    The Committee also heard that giving local communities the ‘right to grow’ offers a potential model for expanding access to food growing across London. It follows a similar principle to the approach taken in Southwark – by calling on local authorities to set up a simple process by which communities can apply to access suitable land for food growing.”

    Read More

  • Unlock green spaces with Hull’s new ‘Right to Grow’ initiative

    Unlock green spaces with Hull’s new ‘Right to Grow’ initiative

    Great to see Hull City Council become the first council to officially launch Right to Grow in their locality!

    “In September 2023, Hull made history as the first city in the UK to pass the ‘Right to Grow’ motion … affirming its commitment to improving sustainability.

    Following this decision, the council is now inviting residents and community groups to bring forward ideas that will turn underused council-owned land into thriving, biodiverse spaces.

    The initiative makes council land available for small-scale gardening projects, including the planting of food, plants, wildflowers, and fruit bushes, forming part of the council’s broader strategy to promote green spaces, enhance biodiversity, and support community wellbeing.

    By transforming unused council land into vibrant open spaces, the programme seeks to foster a sense of community, improve local environments, and allow residents and community groups to take ownership of their local green spaces.”

    We’re running slower than we hoped with our campaign in Hackney but with support from the Mayor of Hackney we hopw this policy will be replicate here at the end of 2025 or into 2026.

    If you have ideas where you live in Hackney for community gardens get in touch with us!

    Read More
  • Sustain: Local Food Growth Plan

    Sustain: Local Food Growth Plan

    Evidence and experience shows us that local food systems can deliver a number of vital benefits. These range from strengthening local economies, increasing farm profitability and encouraging the uptake of nature-friendly farming to creating better jobs in the supply chain, connecting producers with communities and enabling a more accessible and reliable supply of healthy and affordable food. 

    To enable resilient local food systems to thrive, concerted effort is needed to secure investment in infrastructure and boost citizen support and demand. The Local Food Growth Plan (LFGP) is the culmination of a two year partnership project looking at how to grow the local food sector across the UK. It draws on insights gained from the needs and experiences of thousands of farmers, growers and local food businesses that we work with or represent. 

    The partnership consists of the Landworkers’ Alliance (LWA), Sustain, Sustainable Food Trust (SFT), Pasture for Life (PfL) and the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC). The project was funded by the Rothschild Foundation. This report builds a compelling case and impetus for growth, addresses the challenges identified in the Snapshot Review and recommends actions at local, regional and national levels to solve them.

    Read More
  • Identify more sites to help London feed itself

    Identify more sites to help London feed itself

    With 99 per cent of the food and drinks consumed in London being brought in from outside the capital, the Mayor must undertake a London-wide review of food growing sites and identify new land for food growing.

    The London Assembly Environment Committee has published its report – London: A Growing City? – which outlines the key barriers to food growing in London, and what the Mayor can do to increase community food growing.

    Key recommendations in the Committee report include:

    • The Mayor should work with boroughs to undertake a London-wide review of food growing sites across the capital and identify opportunities for making new land available for Londoners to grow food, including new allotments, community farms and orchards.
       
    • Ahead of the 2026-27 budget, the Mayor should set out the steps he intends to take to make London’s food system more resilient by end of this Mayoral term. This should include supporting the Right to Grow campaign.
       
    • The Mayor should convene stakeholders across London to agree actions to reduce barriers for ‘Black, Brown, and minority-led’ food growing projects.
  • FOOD IN OUR HANDS – March with the Land Workers Alliance

    FOOD IN OUR HANDS – March with the Land Workers Alliance

    When: Saturday April 26th – Food and speeches from 12pm

    Where: Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, London, SE11 5HL

    March with the Land Workers Alliance to put Food in Or Hands!
    On April 26th 2025, we’ll be bringing together farmers, growers, food system workers, activists and everyone who has a stake in the UK’s food system (yes – that includes you!) to march in London under the banner ‘Food In Our Hands’.

    There’s a lot to be angry right now; from Defra’s abrupt closure of the SFI scheme and the ongoing struggle of food producers to make a decent living, to rising inequality and continued attempts by the far-right to hijack UK farming.

    It’s now more important than ever for us to come together and build a broad and progressive coalition across the UK’s food, farming and land working sectors, and present our vision for a more just and equitable future.

    Find Out More
  • A year of The Right to Grow in Hull

    A year of The Right to Grow in Hull

    Date and time

    Wednesday, April 9 · 4 – 5pm GMT+1

    Register

    At the end of 2023, Hull announced it would implement a Right to Grow policy, to support communities in accessing public land for food and nature projects. 

    That was the easy part! What followed was a year of working through a detailed process to decide exactly how the policy would be implemented, and how it would work in practice. 

    The whole process was followed closely by researchers at the University of Leeds. In this session we’ll hear the learnings and observations from that research, as well as hear from the officer who will be working with the community in Hull to bring the Right to Grow to life!

    There will be time for discussion and questions at the end.

    Who should join the webinar?

    🌱 Anyone working towards the adoption of a Right to Grow in their area

    🌱 Anyone with an interest in policy change to support community land access

    🌱 Anyone who believes we need more community food and nature spaces in our urban spaces!

    Our Speakers

    Rebecca St. Claire – Lecturer in Sustainable Food Systems at University of Leeds

    Claire Gribben – PhD researcher and teaching fellow on Sustainable Cities and Sustainable Food Systems at Unviersity of Leeds

    Jane Winter – Open Space Community Engagement Officer at Hull City Council

  • Right to Grow: London Learning Network

    Right to Grow: London Learning Network

    Date and time

    Tuesday, April 8 · 3 – 4pm GMT+1

    Register

    Join London’s Right to Grow Learning Network for a talk on why civil food resilience matters and how it can be applied to London’s food system. This session will feature Professor Tim Lang, one of the UK’s leading voices on food policy and resilience.

    The UK government assures us that our food security is robust. But is it really? Climate change, geopolitics, food price volatility, and fragile supply chains paint a different picture—one where resilience is key.

    Why Attend?

    • 🌱 Understand the Risks: How vulnerable is the UK’s food system? What role does policy play? 
    • 🌍 Explore Solutions: Can the Right to Grow movement contribute to national food resilience? 
    • 🗣 Engage & Discuss: Have your say on how communities should be involved in shaping food security.

    Professor Lang will share insights from his latest research, including a report for the National Preparedness Commission on public food resilience. He’ll explore: 

    • ✅ The politics of food security 
    • ✅ The UK’s reliance on imported food & just-in-time supply chains
    • ✅ The government’s Resilience Framework (and its surprising gaps) 
    • ✅ Whether citizens should be involved in food resilience planning—or if supermarkets should have all the power

    What to Expect

    🎤 Talk by Professor Tim Lang (Professor Emeritus of Food Policy, City University of London) 

    🤝 Q&A & Discussion on the Right to Grow, food security, and resilience 

    🌿 Networking & Action-Building with growers, campaigners & policy experts

    Whether you’re a food grower, policymaker, activist, or simply someone who cares about the future of food, this event is for you. Let’s build a movement where everyone has the right to grow and shape a resilient, sustainable food system for London and beyond.

    Who Should Attend?

    This event is open to anyone age 18+ from London who’s interested in food growing, sustainability, activism, and urban futures. Whether you’re a resident, part of a local authority, a community leader, or a policymaker, your voice is important!

    After our speakers’ presentations, there will be time for questions and discussion, and the session will be recorded.

    Meet your hosts:

    Incredible Edible – a grassroots movement that encourages people to grow their own food and share it with others. The movement began in 2007 in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, UK.

    Sustain – is a powerful alliance of organisations and communities working together for a better system of food and farming, and cultivating the movement for change.

    Nowadays – a social enterprise fighting for urban nature. Nowadays provide resources, educational content, programmes, workshops, and cybergardening tools to make nature and gardening accessible to everyone.