Hounslow: 27 acres of unused land to be transformed into allotments and community gardens

Schoolchildren will learn how to grow their own food in scheme aiming to help families through the cost of living crisis
The health benefits of things like community gardening groups are to be looked at in the £1.5 million study (Chris Ison/PA)
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Anna Davis @_annadavis13 December 2022

More than 20 acres of land in one London borough will be transformed into allotments and used to teach children about growing food.

Hounslow Council has found 27 acres of unused land which will be allocated to its new ‘Grow for the Future’ scheme.

As part of the project, unused land which is currently inaccessible or used for fly tipping will be turned into community gardens, orchards and allotments.

The council plans to link each new site with a local school to help teach children where their food comes from and the importance of good nutrition.

As part of the plan, food grown on the sites, which are expected to cost around £20,000 to clear and prepare, will be given to schoolchildren and their families to help with the cost of living crisis.

The council also revealed plans to search for private land that could be leased or purchased by the council and opened up to the public in the same way.

Salman Shaheen, Hounslow council’s Cabinet Member for Parking, Parks and Leisure, said: “It is a scandal that in 21st century Britain, children are going to school hungry and families are forced to choose between heating and eating.

“Grow for the Future will provide hundreds of new growing spaces for Hounslow’s residents to put food on their plates. Land once going to waste will be repurposed to educate children on leading healthy lives and how to grow nutritious fruit and veg. And what our schools grow, they can donate to feed vulnerable children missing out on free school meals as the cost-of-living crisis bites.

“I want to give everyone in urban environments, young and old, so often disconnected from nature, the opportunity to cultivate land they can all their own and understand where our food comes from. To learn, and grow, for their future.”

Hounslow currently has 1,950 allotments but the council said there is increasing demand for them particularly since the pandemic.

A spokesman for the council said: “Demand is particularly high among the many residents in flats who lack gardens and with the large number of new flat developments going up in the borough this is expected to increase. There are currently 952 residents on the council’s allotments waiting list.”

Currently 18 sites have been identified, making a total of 27 acres. The first are set to reopen to the public in the summer.

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