one year on... - Islington Council

<strong>one</strong> <strong>year</strong> on...One <strong>year</strong> after the launch of Edible Islington, Islington Council’s campaign forfood growing, we celebrate its success and recognise the hard work of themany growing groups by looking at the impact it has had on Islington and itscommunities.In 2009, Islington Council launched Edible Islington, a £1 million campaign tosupport local communities to grow their own food. The campaign aimed to developopportunities for food growing across the borough, supporting the production of,and access to, locally produced food and promoting social wellbeing, healthy livingand sustainability.Food is integral to all our daily lives and has huge social, economic and environmentalimplications. Community food growing is becoming increasingly popular andacknowledged as a fun and cheap way of producing healthy food. There is a hugeinterest in community food growing in Islington. However, being <strong>one</strong> of the boroughswith the least amount of open space, it has never been easy to find large open areasfor growing food. The Edible Islington campaign funded and supported over 100projects across Islington to grow their own fruit and vegetables. These sites includedhousing estates, schools, shared gardens, universities, parks and the creation of anew allotment site for Islington.The project was delivered in partnership with Groundwork, St Luke’s Centre andCapital Growth. Community groups were able to apply for either a small grant (up to£3,000) or a large grant (up to £15,000) to set upand develop their food growing site. However, thecampaign was more than simply a grant scheme.In delivering Edible Islington, the council adopteda community development approach, supportinggroups not just financially but also to build theirknowledge and capacity. A range of groups -including those who didn’t have previous foodgrowing experience or who had never applied fora grant - were given the chance to develop a foodgrowing project. Small grants were administeredby Capital Growth and all those who receivedthese grants were supported by the CapitalGrowth scheme. Large grants were administeredby Groundwork and all those who made enquiriesregarding these grants were allocated a projectofficer from either Groundwork or St Luke’s Centreto visit the site, discuss ideas and help them withthe application process.2