New food around the block

Rising food prices and increased interest in healthy food, means more people are looking to grow their own.  Growing Round the Houses[1], a new briefing paper by Ben Reynolds of Sustain[2]  and Christine Haigh of Women's Environmental Network[3]  (WEN), explains how social housing providers and their tenants can work together on their estates to grow food. As well giving advice on how to set up a food growing project on their estate, it describes examples such as the Spitalfields Estate Community Garden, where residents worked together to build themselves a food growing space for vegetables and herbs popular with the local ethnic minority community.

With urban allotments like gold dust, housing estates, with wide, underused green spaces are coming into their own, turning over their lawns to food growing plots.  Ben Reynolds said “There's incredible interest in growing your own food. Vegetable seed is overtaking flower seed sales for the first time. We hope this work will be the catalyst for a new dawn for urban agriculture.” 

Christine Haigh, who works on WEN's Local Food programme with women's groups in East London, says “This paper provides inspiration and useful guidance for residents and social landlords looking to set up similar projects.”

Simon Donovan, community development manager at Tower Hamlets Community Housing[4]  comments, “The food growing project on the Spitalfields estate is an inspiration. Residents are talking to their neighbours, taking charge of their own space and having a pride in it.  As well as cheap healthy food, there are physical and mental health benefits from the outdoor activity involved.”

The document will be launched on 30th June at the Growing Food for London conference in London[5], the first time that the diverse urban agriculture communities – such as food growers, park keepers, architects and others - have been brought together in London.

ENDS
Press contact: Ben Reynolds, London Food Link project officer at Sustain, tel (work): 0203 5596 777, (mobile): 07939 202711, Ben@sustainweb.org or Christine Haigh Local Food Project Officer at Women's Environmental Network, tel (work): 020 7481 9004, (mobile): 07870 577934, food@wen.org.uk.

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1) Growing Round the Houses: Food production on housing estate land is a joint briefing by Sustain and Women's Environmental Network launched on 30th June 2008. Copies are available from http://www.wen.org.uk/local_food/resources.htm and here.  The paper makes recommendations to social landlords, planners and developers, and residents to facilitate new food growing projects on housing estates across the country.

2) Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming represents around 100 national public-interest organisations.  Sustain (a not-for-profit organisation) advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, promote equity and enrich society and culture. www.sustainweb.org

3) Women's Environmental Network is the only organisation in the UK working consistently for women and the environment.  WEN's local food project provides training and support to groups of women growing food in urban areas.  http://www.wen.org.uk/

4) Tower Hamlets Community Housing (THCH) is a Registered Social Landlord (RSL) and a Registered Charity that owns over 2,800 homes in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.  http://www.thch.org/

5) The Growing Food for London conference is an all day event at City Hall, on Monday 30th June.  Booking is necessary.  Speakers include Tim Lang (City University), Joe Nasr (author of Urban Agriculture: Food, Jobs and Sustainable Cities), Fritz Haeg, (author of Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn) and Ian Collingwood (Middlesborough Council regeneration, and lead on the Middlesborough Urban Farming project). The event, which is jointly organised with the London Parks and Green Spaces Forum, is part of the London Festival Architecture.