Resilient Green Spaces

News item first posted on: 03/09/21

Welsh Government Funds Landmark New Local Food Scheme

SF&G is delighted to announce that a new £1.27m partnership project that will support community-led food growing spaces has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government. 

We are delighted to launch our new partnership project; Resilient Green Spaces! The £1.27m partnership project is being led by Social Farms & Gardens to pilot alternative re-localised food systems using communities and their green spaces as the driving force for change across Wales until June 2023.

The Resilient Green Spaces project, being led by us at Social Farms & Gardens, will pilot alternative and re-localised food systems using communities and their green spaces as a driving force for change across Wales. This exciting project will empower growers across Wales and lead the way for change for the benefit of communities, consumers and the climate. 

The project has six pioneering strands of work delivered in partnership, that will test what communities can achieve given the right support, access to land and freedom to do what they do best: 

  1. Building a National Allotment Development Team - Wales’ first Allotment Development Team will be convened to support landowners and managers in meeting the growing demand for adequate allotment provision and to improve access for those who are often marginalised from green spaces and healthy food. 
  2. Innovative Food Hubs - five enterprising and sustainable Food Hubs will be established in communities across Wales to provide food that is good for people, good for the environment and good for local business by promoting short supply chains. 
  3. Productive Community Orchards - hundreds of new orchards will be planted and monitored across Wales, provide economic benefits to communities in addition to the well-recognised social and environmental benefits of community green spaces. 
  4. Greener Corridors and Spaces - communities will be empowered to take control of their public green spaces so they are better connected for nature and people. 
  5. Exploring Community Access to Farms and Land – new approaches to meeting the challenges and opportunities of access to land for new entrants to agroecological farming and local communities will be explored. 
  6. Building Horticultural Future Farming Skills - a pilot training package will be developed to cover the skills needed to run horticultural farming businesses. 

This groundbreaking project is the result of a partnership between 8 organisations – Social Farms & Gardens, the Landworkers’ Alliance, Development Trust Association Wales, Open Food Network UK, Lantra, Shared Assets, Cardiff University and Gwynedd County Council.


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