The starting pistol has sounded and we’re off! Another growing season is underway. As we all reach for the seed sowing kit and seed packets we will all be thinking about getting our hands on quality growing medium to ensure the best chances for our darling seedlings & plants.
Interested in joining a group who can help work with Glasgow City Council to help identify new land for allotments?
The webinar on Thu 19 November is a chance for anyone who’d like an allotment to meet up, think about how to respond to last month’s meeting with representatives of the council, and decide what productive action to take next.
Following a successful meeting with representatives of Glasgow City Council, we’ll be holding a next-steps meeting for anyone who’d like to help us move forward with finding new land for allotments.
“I would like an allotment space where I can learn with other people how to grow food. I’ve been added to “the waiting list for the waiting list”. How long will I have to wait?”
In view of the long-standing shortage of plots in Glasgow and the large increase in demand for that most of us have experienced as a result of the Covid pandemic, we believe we need the City Council to take action by making more land available for food growing.
The best hope we have of doing this is to help those who want a plot to get together to campaign for change.
You’re welcome to join in, particularly if you don’t already have an allotment, or if your allotment life would be more convenient if a new site were set up closer to home.
To register for the meeting, to put forward any questions for discussion, or just to find out more, email GAFForum@gmail.com.
Councillor Martha Wardrop (Green Party Councillor for Hillhead) and Rachel Smith (Glasgow City Council Landscape Design and Development Manager) have agreed to attend an online meeting to discuss:
which includes a duty on local authorities to provide allotments, and to act if the waiting list exceeds 50% of the total number of allotment spaces owned by the council – see Section 112
which the Council were required to write as a result of the Act above, and which includes a plan to develop new allotment sites over the next 5 years – see page 28
which includes a duty on local authorities to provide an Open Space Strategy ‘to set out a strategic framework of the planning authority’s policies and proposals as to the development, maintenance and use of green infrastructure in their district‘ – see Section 3
which has overlap with the plans for new allotment spaces mentioned in the draft Food Growing Strategy, mentioned above
Time
Content
Speaker
19:30
Welcome Introduction to panel members
Jenny Reeves (Chair, Glasgow Allotments Forum)
19:35
The Community Empowerment Act 2015 What it says about allotments and food growing
Jenny Reeves
19:45
Glasgow’s Response The Food Growing Strategy and proposed action regarding new allotments
Rachel Smith (Landscape Design and Development Manager, Glasgow City Council)
19:55
Discussion Participants’ questions about the meaning and implementation of the new legislation in Glasgow
Panel chaired by Scott Ramsay (Member, Glasgow Allotments Forum)
20:15
Taking Action How you can make your voice heard Strategies / approaches for effectively demanding land / space for growing
Councillor Martha Wardrop (Green Party Councillor for Hillhead)
20:25
Discussion Participants’ questions about taking action for the provision of new growing spaces
Panel chaired by Scott Ramsay
20:40
Summary and Next Steps
Jenny Reeves, Rachel Smith, and Councillor Martha Wardrop
21:00
Close
If you can’t make the meeting, you’re still very welcome to join the campaign. Get in touch so we can keep you up-to-date with developments and other activities in the future.
