of the vegetables and 89 per cent of the fruit we eat, for example, are imported. And in spite of organic food’s environmental benefits at the point of production, over half of that consumed in the UK is currently imported (although this is declining as UK production capacity increases). Some 95 per cent of all the food consumed across the world involves oil at some point in its production – through the use of mechanised production, fertilisers, transportation and packaging. As global oil supplies diminish, so the threat to our overall food security increases.


Combined, all these environmental concerns would be eased by relocalising the growing of food, which can not only benefit health, but also strengthen communities which have lost touch with the very stuff of life – the food we need every day.


This is why we have been thrilled by the uptake of Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London’s ‘grow your own’ initiative Capital Growth by green-fingered Londoners and believe it offers a template for other cities to follow suit. Since its launch in autumn 2008, the small Capital Growth team has been providing practical support for would-be city gardeners to find land and set up community plots. The scheme cajoles and challenges landowners and large organisations to get involved by offering up patches of earth. These plots can be temporary or more permanent fixtures, and are popping in all manner of spaces including on roofs, in housing estates, by Tube stations


RHS Borris Hampton


and in schools. Our 800 plots (we are on track for 2,012 sign ups by 2012) are offering a solution to the allotment shortage London is experiencing, binding communities together and supplying a low cost supply of food.


A shining example of what we are setting out to achieve is the Rocky Park Urban Growers in Bethnal Green, east London, part of the Capital Growth’s ‘Edible Estates’ strand. Tucked away just five minutes from a busy road junction and Tube station, this inspiring project has transformed formally neglected plots of land at the heart of a multicultural social housing estate which was previously plagued by anti-social behaviour by involving around 150 residents in growing fruit and veg. Whole families are now involved and enjoying a steady supply of food tended by themselves and their neighbours.


Residents have created raised beds, along with a herb garden used by a local special needs school for play and learning. The growers also have excellent eco-credentials collecting rain water in butts, composting green waste and nearly everything on site is recycled or salvaged from tips. Second hand plants, which would have been discarded, have been sourced (with permission) from local authority parks. Rocky Park vividly shows the power of communities working together to help themselves and their local environment, using endless creativity to make


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