Tower Hamlets campaigners deliver petition to unlock more land for cultivation

Last week I had the pleasure of joining Carmen Ho and Rachel Hippolyte at Whitechapel Town Hall for a full council meeting. After receiving 277 signatures on their petition they were invited to speak in front of the councilors to plead their case for the Right to Grow in the borough.

The East End has a long legacy of food growing and community activism, having originally been market garden and agricultural land before the area was industrialised. With the first community growing site opening in 1978, this tradition continues today, shown through the impressive work of the Tower Hamlets Right to Grow grassroots campaign group.

The Right to Grow Tower Hamlets emerged in June 2025 after identifying the need for more food growing spaces and security for sites. Since then they have made impressive progress producing a map of local food gardens, guide and walking tour; engaging council officers, NHS partners and other land owners; and learning from other Right to Grow groups about how a motion can be implemented by the council sustainably.

Carmen address the 80 councillors at the meeting, stating:

“A Right to Grow can help make new-builds more sustainable and promote regeneration by making existing housing more resident friendly and climate-resilient.

In divisive times, we need to come together with a common purpose. Community food growing is an easy, low-risk way to engage residents, build trust between the community and the council and establish strong, diverse neighbourhoods.”

The Righ to Grow Tower Hamlets campaigners put forward the following demands :

• For communities to be consulted in the Food Strategy planning
• A free, accessible Map of the land suitable for cultivation
• Simple, supported process for community groups to access land (including funding!)
• Fair leases, and long term options so our community groups can invest in the future! Insecure (5y community lease) makes it impossible to secure funding
• Dedicated food growing officers in the council that understand food growing

The duo were asked questions about their proposals from the elected officials including Cllr Nathalie Bienfait from Bow West who queried how the community has responded to the campaign.

Rachel answered:

“Since launching in June 2025 we've had 12 campaigners, 19-20 gardens joined our network, 100+ newsletter sign-ups, we've been contacted by many groups that want to include food-growing in their initiatives – faith-based groups (Dawatul Islam), groups providing training for Bangladeshi women (Ocean Women's Association), which shows the need. Hafsah from Spitalfields City Farm has spoken about how allotment waiting lists are long.”

Whilst the council already support food growing projects on 37 housing estates, the campaigners argue there is more land to be unlocked by the passing of the policy, ensuring all residents of the borough can access food growing with the support of a specific food growing officer to help with guidance, funding and administration.

The Right to Grow campaign is quickly growing across the city, with movement within councils and communities. Hopefully these petitions and town hall speeches will become increasingly common as we look towards a more joyful, green and tasty London where residents can come together and plant tomatoes, kodu and uri beans in the local areas.

If you want to watch the petition, you can do so here (go to 1hr3min) and if you are a Tower Hamlets residents that wants to get involved in the movement check out the campaign here.

Not a local? Join the London wide campaign whatsapp group to find your borough branch or find out how to set one up yourself.