You would think – in a country which embodied universal human rights through the Magna Carta as part of its formative history – that, eight centuries later, we might also have progressive laws around a national ‘right to food’ and a ‘right to grow’ what we eat. Alas, in Britain today these rights are still not enshrined in law. However, a grassroots movement is starting to shift the dial.
From Bristol to Brighton, Cumberland to Shropshire, an increasing number of community groups are demanding permissive access to publicly owned land so they can plant veg and boost biodiversity. More than ten councils, boroughs, or local authorities have now adopted ‘right to grow’ policies. This is inspiring others across the country to demand more from government too.
The benefits of community growing are legion, from improving local food resilience and mental health to encouraging social inclusion and wellbeing, buffering people against food inflation and increasing access to nutritious and culturally appropriate food. Not to mention boosting peoples’ pride of place and connecting them with the towns in which they live.
“The ‘right to grow’ is a rallying cry for anybody without land, from council estates to back-to-back houses. We have so many public spaces the length and breadth of the UK, paid for by our taxes, that could be repurposed for growing food to improve peoples’ diet and health,” explains Pam Warhurst, founder of Incredible Edible, which is spearheading the campaign.
Incredible Edible, a network of more than 150 community growing groups, has created a blueprint on the ‘right to grow’ principle, which local authorities can now adopt. Once signed up, the council then has to make it easier for people to create community gardens for food and nature on public land.
This can involve zero-cost leases that protect the ‘right to grow.’ Groups must also be allowed to bid for land should the local authority decide to sell it. The aim is to allow people to grow food on the edge of parklands, in hospital gardens, street verges, even in railway car parks – Warhurst knows it can be transformational.
“In a town where children walk through an edible landscape of raspberries growing around their health centre, like we have, or bees buzzing in front of the college, or orchards planted around the sports field, it’s incredible. And when they do this day in, day out, those children relate to food in a totally different way to those that buy foodstuffs wrapped in plastic from a supermarket,” she explains.
Pam continues: “This is about feeding people in a different way and repurposing land, right now and into the future. We’re just a grassroots organisation, but we’re telling a story that now has an awful lot of traction.”
Overcoming obstacles to growing
Take the city of Hull. Last year, councillors unanimously passed a motion on the ‘right to grow’, which means the local authority now has to provide a map detailing where there’s suitable public land that can be used to grow food. It also has to help people overcome obstacles for such use, whether this involves providing water for planting or insurance.
“This is a no brainer. Instead of councils paying to mow the grass in our parklands when they are strapped for cash, it’s time for them to have a fresh conversation with their local community and sign a new contract with them about the ‘right to grow’ food on these spaces. This is also about growing trust between citizens and the state,” declares Warhurst.
So how big could this be? The first national scale analysis of this issue by the University of Lancaster, found that there is a huge potential to grow fresh fruit and veg in overlooked spaces in towns and cities across the UK, particularly amenity gardens managed by local councils.
“It is enough to make a meaningful difference to the availability of food that is vital for public health. It’s great to see movements like “right to grow” picking up pace,” explains Jess Davies, Professor of Sustainability at the university.
She adds: “If parcels of unloved urban space can be used in a way that enhances soil health and biodiversity, while producing fresh healthy food, boosting community wellbeing and easing the pressure on the wider food system, then that’s a major win.”
What’s interesting about this movement is that it is fueled by grassroots activism, literally, from the ground up, whether this involves communities in Southwark or Runnymede, Hounslow or Bury.
“There’s a critical mass growing,” points out Warhurst, who has big plans: “We would now like to see a national land foodbank, accounting for this at a bigger scale. London could become the first major city globally with the ‘right to grow’ across all publicly owned land. Then there is the Incredible Northern Greenhouse, which would link communities and local food production from Halifax to Hull – the only challenge is human will.”
A poignant time in politics
The rise of the ‘right to grow’ comes at a pertinent time. There is now a groundswell in the rights-based movement, whether it is the ‘right to clean water’ in rivers, the ‘right to roam’ or the ‘right to food’, which has a number of MPs clamouring for this right to be enshrined in law. There is also a greater understanding of food poverty and health inequalities by local authorities.
“The right to grow movement is certainly inspiring community empowerment and agency; bringing with it more equity and accessibility in the food growing movement,” points out Lula Wattam, Food Growing and Network Officer at Capital Growth, part of the Sustain alliance.
At the same time, the UK’s Horticulture Strategy is under review, focusing on fruit and veg, so is the country’s national food strategy, while the recently published Land Use Framework also mentions the ‘right to grow,’ while questions over Britain’s food resilience are top of the political agenda.
There are also now over a 1,000 Green party councillors across the UK, a number that has skyrocketed in recent years. They have more of a focus on this agenda.
However, with no primary legislation for the ‘right to grow’ in England, even though it has been proposed, local authorities are getting around this by offering permissive rights.
“So few people have access or rights to land, because so few of us are land owners in the UK. You can only embed systemic change when people have a fundamental ‘right to grow,’ because people can then act on their right. Such a right would also change the culture since there would be a principle and value associated with this,” states Naomi Luhde-Thompson, who heads up Rights Community Action, a campaigning coalition.
She concludes: “I find it incredible that we haven’t managed to get a law passed yet. Who doesn’t think growing food is a good idea? In the next three years, I think this is going to grow. This is something that communities really need – reconnecting people, places and food. It’s just fundamentally important.”
Main image, Incredible Edible Apothecary Garden Health Centre, c/o Incredible Edible
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