Capital Growth contributes to new Community-led Plan for London, published by Just Space

Through meetings and a panel discussion with other food growers in the city, including the Community Food Growers Network, Women’s Environmental Network and the Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens, Capital Growth helped shape the 'Community Food Growing & Food Production' section of Just Space's new 'Towards a Community-Led Plan for London.'

This section outlines how planning policy could be used more actively to benefit food growing in the city. It hightlights the need for accessible, long tenure-ships on land, and for prioritising growing on under-used or vacant public space. It also asks that all new housing developments include community growing spaces, and that current growing sites are safeguarded from future development.

The vision for a Community-Led Plan grew out of Just Space's frustration by the few gains resulting from community participation in successive Examinations in Public (EiPs) of the London Plan, and at too late a stage in the process, and so they decided to write a set of London Plan policies from a community perspective. Eighty-five different organizations have contributed to the draft, from local community campaigns to pan-London interest groups.

Richard Lee, Just Space co-ordinator, said:
“Londoners need to be involved in strategic thinking about what kind of a city we want to live in and how policy can reflect that, rather than being just ‘end users’ of the planning system. Our policies focus on London’s well-being, for example through a more localized, fair and green economy; the refurbishment of existing homes; functional blue and green spaces; the importance of social infrastructure and community assets. The proposals come about through ground-level knowledge and the principle that London should be a city for all.”

The full report can be downloaded from Just Space, with the 'Community Food and Food Production' section found on pp 48-51.

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Maddie Guerlain
Former Economic Policy Coordinator Maddie Guerlain has now left Sustain.

Maddie lead on Sustain's mission to ensure the sustainable food and farming sector is a priority within national policy and investment linked to UK-wide efforts to stimulate a green economic recovery. She also founded and managed Roots to Work, a platform for job opportunities in the field of good food.

Maddie has held a diversity of roles within Sustain since joining in 2015. Most recently she was the Communications and Learning Coordinator (maternity cover), leading Sustain’s communications strategy and delivery, as well as supporting campaigns and promoting the work of alliance members. She was also a member of the FoodSHIFT 2030 team, an EU project supporting innovative food systems across Europe as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on facilitating the exchange of knowledge and information between sector bodies and project participants.

She previously managed network communications and learning for UK food poverty alliances with Food Power (2017-2021) and developed the Food Learning Forum (2019-2021) for a cohort of leaders from the food sustainability sector. She has also coordinated a number of Sustain's London projects, including Capital Growth (2015-2017), Good Food for London (2017-2019) and Good Food Retail (2019-2021).

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