An increasing number of people want to grow their own food locally, but finding suitable land to establish community gardens and allotments can be challenging, according to the chairperson of Community Gardens Ireland (CGI) and of Blessington Allotments, Dónal McCormack.
“We would ask that anyone who has suitable land available for a community garden or allotment to get in contact with their local tidy towns and other community groups to see what they can do together,” he said.
The online spring gathering and forum of community growers earlier this month unanimously backed calls for revised legislation to require local authorities to provide allotments and community gardens where there is demand.
The cross-border event, organised by CGI and Social Farms and Gardens Northern Ireland, was attended by over 70 community growers virtually from all over Ireland.
The event was a continuation of the two organisations’ joint project, Growing Resilience Across Ireland (GRÁ Ireland), which aims to bring community growers, north and south, closer together.
Presentations were given from community growers based across Ireland, including:
- The Strabane Health Improvement Project (SHIP), a community and local food journey of health and well-being that has been delivered in Strabane since 2004;
- Taplin’s Fields in Bridgefoot Street Park, Dublin, the first purpose-built community garden in a Dublin City Council park;
- The Glen Community Garden in Cork city, winner of a special pride of place award in 2022 because of its huge contribution to the local community; and
- Friends of Merlin Woods Community Garden in Galway, established by volunteers over ten years ago.
Ciaran Conneely from Santry Community Garden in Fingal, Dublin, was the keynote speaker at the gathering. Santry Community Garden was the recipient of two green flag awards in 2021 and 2022, and was voted one of the top ten green flag sites in the world in the People’s Choice Awards in 2022.
It also has one of only four complete Irish Heritage apple collections in the country, consisting of 68 varieties.
Finding land
Social Farms and Gardens Northern Ireland’s Miriam Turley and CGI’s Dónal McCormack gave updates on the challenges faced when trying to access and secure land for community growing projects north and south, including how currently local authorities are not obligated to provide allotments or community gardens in Ireland.
Miriam Turley explained the research carried out on a benchmark standard for community growing and allotment provision in Northern Ireland.
The attendance then unanimously backed CGI and Social Farms and Gardens Northern Ireland’s call for revised legislation to be put in place to require local authorities to provide allotments and community gardens where demand is evident.
Dónal McCormack said that recent proposals for planning reform in Ireland have shown the weaknesses with current laws and the need for a strong community-growing law in Ireland.
“Despite the huge benefits from allotments and community gardens, local authorities are currently not required to provide allotments or community gardens where demand is present,” he said.
“Given the climate and biodiversity crises taking place, laws need to enable community climate actions such as allotments and community gardens to be provided by local authorities for every community in Ireland.”
Community growers
Social Farms and Gardens Northern Ireland manager, Patricia Wallace, said the group was launching their report on a benchmark standard for community growing and allotment provision in Northern Ireland.
“This work has been completed over the last two years in association with local council officers in the 11 councils in Northern Ireland,” she said.
“The report recommends that councils in Northern Ireland adopt a target level of provision of 1250m2 (0.3ac) per 1,000 households of community growing space in their council area. This could be in the form of allotments, community gardens or community orchards,” she said.
“Although the report focusses on Northern Ireland, it is a significant contribution to the current debate across the island of Ireland on allotment and community growing provision.
“The health and well-being benefits to individuals, communities and the environment are well documented [therefore] policies on land access should be enabling this sector to thrive. We thank all who took part in the research including local council officers who were keen to have a benchmark standard.”
CGI and Social Farms and Gardens Northern Ireland are united in their call for governments and politicians, north and south, to recognise the role these community actions have in helping the climate and biodiversity crises and to deliver strong community growing laws for communities throughout the island.
