More details to follow
Category: Community Food Growing
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Hackney Council passes a Right to Grow motion
Community food growing campaigning group Hackney Right to Grow welcome the passing of a Right to Grow motion at the Hackney Full Council meeting on Wednesday 4th March 2026 and thank especially the proposer Cllr Lynne Troughton, seconder Cllr Gilbert Smyth and Cllr Sarah Young for their support through the whole process. We also thank the other Cllrs from Labour, The Independent Socialist Group and the Green Party who all spoke passionately in favour of the motion and about how important it is for Hackney residents to have access to food growing space.
The preamble of the motions states “Everyone in Hackney should have access to enough fresh food to feed themselves and their families well and this is all the more challenging during the cost of living crisis. The right to grow will provide a renewed focus on the importance of providing affordable healthy food and sustainable methods of producing the food we eat” and resolves to “Adopt the principle of “right to grow” on council-owned land that is
considered suitable in agreement with the Council”The Right to Grow means there is right or at least a presumption that unused and under-used land can be used for growing food (The Right to Grow motion Hackney has adopted comes from, with adaptions, the national Right to Grow movement, launched by Incredible Edible in 2022 ). Hackney communities have some of the least access to growing space in Britain with 10s of 1000s living in flats, with no access to anywhere to grow, and at the same time some of the highest levels of food poverty, so this is massively needed. Hackney Council has been great in supporting food growing on their housing estates but there are an incredible number, and area, of un- and under-used land in Hackney that could be used for growing food. Urban community food growing has massive benefits not just in getting good healthy food into the mouths of those who most need it, so mitigating food poverty and helping with social justice, and in increasing food resilience come future crises, but also in increasing community engagement, with helping with people’s physical and mental health, and directly confronting climate change by reducing reliance on carbon intensive food production, and providing significant benefits for biodiversity, not only in creating biodiversity hot spots in urban areas, but more importantly by reducing our consumption of food growing in biodiversity destructive modern agriculture.
Hackney Right to Grow also want to thank Pam Warhurst for starting this whole process and being our inspiration, and the national Right to Grow / Incredible Edible campaign and Sustain / Capital Growth for their support.
Glyn Harries, one of the Hackney Right to Grow group co-ordinators said “It’s great that Hackney Council have voted to adopt the Right to Grow principle and we hope to see a significant increase in food growing sites in the borough, bringing people together, getting healthy food for those that need it the most, with great biodiversity benefits and helping fight climate change”
Deba Salim, from The Garden of Earthly Delights and TimetoGrow! and Hackney Right to Grow co-ordinator stated “So pleased this long awaited motion has been passed finally! It’s high time to be growing food locally, and with it, building community resilience”.
Cllr Sarah Young, Hackney Council Cabinet Member for Climate, Environment and Transport reflected on “powerful speeches on the importance of growing our own food as part of our diverse cultural heritage – growing food that tastes of home in Hackney – as well as enjoying being active, eating well and cheaply and spending time with together and outdoors while we garden. She also thanked Cllr Lynne Troughton and the Hackney Right To Grow group for all their “…work on this. It was so good to end our full council with unanimous support for the right to grow across the council chamber. We have so many great gardening groups on Hackney’s estates and this motion starts the process of spreading the right to grow throughout the borough. Bring it on.”
Cllr Lynne Troughton added “I am so proud to have brought this motion which confirms our commitment to social and environmental justice. I look forward to working further with the campaigners that sparked the flame in me to get this over the line.”
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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?
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…
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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!
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RIGHT TO GROW FOOD ON PUBLIC LAND HELPS LOCAL AUTHORITIES MEET GOALS ON HEALTH, SUSTAINABILITY, FOOD PROVISION AND MORE.
With 78% of people believing that substantial or radical changes are needed to fix the food system, community food growing offers a practical, scaleable grassroots solution which local authorities can have a direct hand in supporting and developing.
Embracing and encouraging community growing will, through adoption of a Right to Grow on public land, offer a multitude of benefits from food provision, health improvements and social cohesion to improved biodiversity and reduced carbon emissions.
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Welcome to Hackney Right To Grow
Hackney Right to Grow is a coalition of local growers and food, climate and community activists, campaigning for residents in the London Borough of Hackney to have the right to grow food on public land across the borough.
Our 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. Incredible Edible growers have shown that with a little TLC these parcels of land can be turned into oases for food and wildlife.
Red tape and complex leases often stop communities from making good use of public land, not to mention the fact that it can be incredibly hard to find out where exactly this unloved public land is.
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.
A Right to Grow would require local authorities to maintain a free, accessible map of all public land that is suitable for community cultivation or wildlife projects. They would also need to make it straight-forward for community groups to secure free leases to cultivate the land, and allow those groups to bid for the land should the authority decide to sell it.
The Right to Grow is gathering political traction and received broad support in a debate in the House of Lords. It is also gathering traction at local levels, with Hull passing a Right to Grow motion, and several other local authorities looking into how they could implement a Right to Grow.
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‘Better than medication’: prescribing nature works, project shows
One of the great things about Community Food Growing is it does not just grow food but it helps people grow too. And while I am sure that “nature walks … tree planting and wild swimming” all give great benefits I suspect that Community Food Growing, as illustrated in the photo the Guardian has used, has the deepest and longest benefits.
As a lecturer at Capel Manor and at Organic Lea, students often had to fill in ‘wellness’ forms at the beginning, during and at the end of the term to see how they were feeling. It was for them to see how they were doing, mentally, while on the course and also related to funding. And of course I asked students too how they were feeling through the courses I taught, and both those forms and the responses to me from students show how helpful and sometimes even transformative being involved with food growing is for most people. And the funders could see their funding was working!
And growing food has a deep affect on people.It’s the whole seed to plate thing, the nuturing from planting a seed, watching it grow, protecting it, watering and feeding it, then harvesting and eating it, often with others people, communally. That’s something above and beyond what “nature walks … tree planting and wild swimming” give, though they themselves have special elements to them.
And as the article also notes, and the hard nosed bean counter should spot immediately, social prescribing saves money! The NHS and local councils will save significant sums of money if they invest in social prescribing AND specifically in setting up and supporting Community Food Growing projects as part of that.
Community Food Growing is a Win Win! People get better mental and physical health and of course healthy free food and councils and other local and national institutions save significant sums of money.
It’s odd we’re still in the pilot project stage with social prescribing, and council support for food growing remains minimal, but I can see both exploding in the next few years.
So, which council leaders and officers are going to make a name for themselves leading on this?
