How you can help
Sustainable food
Buying food that’s been produced locally means it will have travelled less distance, creating less pollution. Buying your food from local greengrocers, markets and independent shops helps local businesses stay alive, keeps money circulating in the local economy, maintains the character of our towns and protects jobs for local people. You’ll also tend to travel less to do your shopping, which keeps your carbon emissions down as well.
Go green-fingered
Try growing some of your own food - in your garden, on an allotment rented from the Council, as part of a community growing initiative, or even on your windowsill. You don’t always need a lot of space to grow food – many vegetables and herbs grow very well in tubs or planters.
There are several options available:
Allotments
The Council have several allotments available and these can be rented to individuals to produce vegetables and fruit crops for use by themselves or their family.
For more information go to Allotments or email parks@calderdale.gov.uk.
Gardens
If there is a piece of Council-owned land adjoining your property which you would like to rent to create or extend a garden area we can help.
Please telephone 01422 392129 or email parks@calderdale.gov.uk.
Community Growing
Calderdale Council are keen to build on the success of Incredible Edible Todmorden |
by encouraging local people to get involved in growing their own food. We can provide advice and encouragement to help get you started, but we can also make available any suitable Council land. As part of our commitment to this we will be running a pilot scheme in Todmorden from March 2014 to March 2015.
Community Growing is for groups of people who want to work together to create edible growing spaces for use by the community, for example, Incredible Edible Todmorden. You can join these groups or you can set up a new organisation. More information can be found in our leaflet Growing on Council Land [PDF file 181KB]|
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To view the full Community Growing guidance, including a plain English licence and useful contacts go to Community Growing Guidance [PDF file 249KB]|.
Help finding land
If you have seen a piece of Council land you would like to use or need support to find available land in Todmorden, our Mapping Guide will help. Please get in touch with Kirsten Fussing for more information via email to kirsten.fussing@calderdale.gov.uk or via telephone on 01706 548133.
FAQs
Why would land be unavailable for community growing?
As part of this pilot, a number of checks have already been carried out on the Council-owned land in Todmorden. Some pieces of land are unsuitable or unavailable for food growing for a number of reasons, such as:
- Environmental concerns eg soil may be unsuitable for food growing or there may be conservation rights associated with that piece of land;
- Health and safety concerns eg grass verges near highways or access requirements;
- Planning concerns e.g. land identified in the Unitary Development Plan for specific use;
- Service concerns e.g. currently in use by a Council service, or an issue has been identified which could affect that service;
- Legal issues e.g. covenants, title of the land, lease arrangements, grazing rights etc.
How do I obtain a licence?
When applying for a licence to use Council land for community growing we will need the following:
- Information on the consultation carried out with local people, both those interested in taking part and those who are not.
- A plan of what you want to do. This can be a hand drawn plan if necessary showing what you would like to grow where on the site, where your paths might be (if applicable) and any other changes you might wish to make to the site.
Third party liability insurance. Through the period of the agreement, the licence holder(s) will maintain third party liability insurance with a minimum limit of indemnity £5,000,000 for any one incident and without limit on the number of claims in any one year.
Options for insurance:
If you are part of a constituted community group you may already have the relevant third party liability Insurance cover;
If you currently have a home contents insurance policy you may be covered through the Personal Legal Liability insurance section of your policy, which would cover your actions as an individual;
If you are a social housing tenant, your landlord may offer a Tenants Home Contents Scheme which also provides Personal Legal Liability insurance that meets the insurance requirements of this scheme.
Scheme participants are responsible for ensuring they meet the insurance requirements of the licence and we would always recommend that you contact your insurance provider and advise them of your project to ensure you would be covered by your current policy.
For more information on Community Growing activities in Todmorden, email kirsten.fussing@calderdale.gov.uk or call 01706 548133.
Useful links
To find out where your nearest local market is see .
Calder Valley Organic Gardeners|
The organisation aims to educate its members and members of the public in all aspects of organic and natural gardening, both ornamental and productive.
Garden Organic| (the new name for the Henry Doubleday Research Association)
A a registered charity and Europe’s largest organic membership organisation. It is dedicated to researching and promoting organic gardening, farming and food.
Fairtrade Foundation|
For more information on Fairtrade products.
Love Food Hate Waste|
Love Food Hate Waste is the ‘Waste Not Want Not’ of the modern day, providing handy tips, advice and recipes for leftovers to help everyone waste less food.
