SLAF Lessons Learned Report

7/30/2019 SLAF Lessons Learned Report

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Somerset Land & Food

Key Findings & Lessons Learned

October 2009 - October 2012


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Contents

Project Background

The Somerset Land & Food Project has been a three year access to land project,

launched in 2009 and funded by the Big Lottery Local Food Programme. It wasmanaged by Somerset Community Food, a grassroots charity founded in 2004,which aims to re-connect people with the social, health and environmental effects of

growing, buying, preparing and eating local food.

The project involved four paid staff members

Linda Hull (full time), Hannah May (part time from October 2009-2011), Nicole Vosper

(part time from October 2011-2012) and Finance Ofcer Angela Durbacz, supportedby a group of trustees.

Acknowledgements

Staff from the Somerset Land and Food Project would like to acknowledge with

thanks the advice and inspiration of Allan Cavill of the National Society of Allotmentsand Leisure Gardens, the mapping expertise of Mark Thurstain-Goodwin and team at

Geofutures and the ongoing support of Somerset Community Food Trustees:

Kim Robinson, Kath Wilson, Peter Millar, Susanna Damann and Sue Chant.

Last but not least, thanks must go to Sarah and Paul Sander-Jackson for winning the

nancial support of the Big Lotterys Local Food Programme.

1

Executive Summary 2

Key Achievements 3

Key Learning Points 3

Bringing more land into Community Food Production 4

Land Mapping 4

Surveying Provision & Gauging Demand 5

Supporting Access to Land 6

Sharing Skills for Food Production 7

Network Building 8

Recommendations 9

Creating a Lasting Legacy 10

Case Studies

Access to Land Roadshow 5

Get Growing Support Fund 6

Incredible Edible Somerset Open Gardens 7

Local Conferences 8

Contact Details 11


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Executive SummaryBack in early 2009 when Somerset Community Food was

considering how to continue its mission to support community

food projects, there was a Grow Your Own revolution

sweeping the nation. Record numbers of people were

registering on waiting lists for allotments up and down thecountry and it seemed there was just not enough land to go

round. Local consultation with a range of partners including

many of the countys new Transition Initiatives indicated that

access to more land was an important requirement to progresscommunity led responses to the impacts of climate change andto enable reduced dependence on fossil fuels.

Somerset Land and Food was therefore devised to investigate

this phenomenon in our own county and to facilitate further

access to land for community growing, where possible. The

project set out to negotiate with landowners and enable newgrowers to learn skills and exchange existing skills with others

in the emerging network. Face to face gatherings were planned

twice a year to bring like-minded people together with a view to

creating a partnership that would go on beyond 2012.

During the course of the project, approximately 10 hectares(24 acres) of new land has been brought into production

right across the county most often by individuals joining forces,

forming new associations and approaching local landowners

directly with offers of nancial return in exchange for a patch of

land to grow on. The National Society of Allotments and LeisureGardens has spearheaded this.

The Land and Food Project has supported many of these

groups by offering them resources to buy training, tools,

fencing, sheds, polytunnels, compost and seeds to help them

get growing successfully as quickly as possible.

Our conferences have been staged in every district in the

county as have our Access to Land public meetings, whichhave provided opportunities for people to meet, get to know

each other, exchanging knowledge, skills and experience about

nding land and starting to grow food, sometimes for the rsttime. A brand new Open Gardens Scheme, launched in 2012,

saw pioneering projects open their doors to curious gardeners

from all over Somerset.

The delivery of this project has not been without its

challenges. Such a pioneering and complex project requires

sufcient people to share a clear vision of what the aims and

objectives are and what the real need is that the activity of the

project is trying to meet. It started just as the recession and

cuts were hitting home here in Somerset disrupting and

dismantling many organisations active on community andsustainable development issues. This meant that strategicallies were hard to come by. Additionally, meaningful

engagement with our intended target audience also proved

difcult to achieve. Was this because the urgency of access to

land was not so great, or the notion of increased access to land

was actually more theoretical than real, or was it simply that thecapacity of these groups was too stretched for them to be more

involved?

The answer is probably a mix of all three. Luckily, the project

and staff were exible enough to allow a certain re-shaping

to respond to the actual needs identied by the groups who didengage. Another challenge, internal to Somerset Community

Food, was that a key trustee, who developed and championedthe project within the organisation, was unable to stay involved

for personal reasons. This effectively meant that other trustees

had to pick up the reins of a project which they had not beeninstrumental in creating. In terms of governance of the project

this also had a knock on effect on the clarity and quality

Somerton Allotments Association celebrating their success in accessing land

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of shared vision, which added to the absence of other strategic

partners.

Despite this, the role of trustees, or members of a project

management group, must not be underestimated when it comes

to the governance structure necessary to adequately deal

with the nancial management and reporting requirements of a

Big Lottery grant. Without the backing of an establishedorganisation and trustees with the requisite skills and expertise,

which Somerset Community Food in this case provided, such

a big and complex project would have been more than

project staff could have managed alone. That is to say that

functions such as payroll, HR and nancial management, overand above simple book keeping, are absolutely essential to thesmooth and legally compliant delivery of such a project.

On balance, much has been achieved by the project in

locating and quantifying community growing space and

demand for land as expressed by waiting lists. This mappinghas made the patchwork of allotments, community gardensand orchards, therapeutic horticulture projects and the like

much more visible and connected than they were previously.

Access to land remains an important issue, which must not be

forgotten especially as the Government has recently announced

1500 squares miles of land must be built on to full the housingneed in this country.

Like gardeners who prepare the soil, the Somerset Land and

Food project has created rich conditions for growth for the

community food networks in Somerset.As no other

organisation in Somerset works on mapping access to land,development of skill-sharing networks and events or offering

basic training, we can now build on the groundwork we have

laid with staff time and resources to support the cross pollination

between actors such as land owners, individuals on allotment

waiting lists, community projects and charities. In this way, all

our contacts will continue to benet from membership of

the emerging Incredible Edible Somerset social network.

One of the key messages repeated time and again from peopleon the ground is that its not just about growing food far and

away the most important aspect for many people ofgrowing together is the social aspect: the new friends made,

the sharing of top tips at the water butt or the fun had at seed

swaps and harvest shows. What people are really growing is

a sense of community, pride in their own efforts at doing battle

with the weather and the slugs and a real sense of achievement

and satisfaction at being able to include something home grownat nearly every meal.

The community food network is alive and kicking in

Somerset and deserves more recognition and support to

widen its reach and deepen its inuence in spreading the

message that its good for the health, good for the bank balanceand good for the soul to grow some part of your daily food. Turn

to ourrecommendations and join us in their implementation!

Linda Hull

Project Co-ordinator, December 2012


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Key AchievementsMapping and evidencing need

* Surveyed over 300 parish councils to produce the countys

rst digital, publicly accessible map of allotments andcommunity food growing spaces at foodmapper.org.uk

* Plotted and quantied the amount of land available for

community growing and identied the demand for land hotspots

in Somerset

Capacit y building and skill sharing

* Supported 17 groups, bringing more than 10 hectares of new

allotments and community gardens into production, to get

established by granting them a total of more than 24,000 to

buy training, tools, sheds, fencing, compost, soil and seeds

beneting over 1200 people

* Enabled over 1000 people to share skills on how to cook,

grow, harvest and process food, how to access land, buy land,

set up therapeutic horticulture projects and manage

smallholdings

* Ran a series of 5 roving workshops to bring together

landowners, parish councillors and those seeking land to hear

from panellists recent local experience in accessing new land

* Staged the rst ever Incredible Edible Somerset OpenGardens Scheme involving 9 workshops at 11 different growing

spaces visited by 135 people

Network development and knowledge t ransf er

* Staged over 40 events including six network conferences

involving over 1200 people and more than 400 organisations

and community groups

* Developed a database of over 1000 contacts regularly sending

them the Somerset Local food Update with land and food news

including training and volunteering opportunities

* Designed innovative social networking capability at

incredible-edible-somerset.ning.com

Diggers Field in Langport, was the rst half hectare of new land to be brought into community food production in 2010

* Some districts have much more community growing space

than others. Taunton Deane Borough Council is unique in

the county having developed an Allotment Strategy

requiring developers to make community growing spaceavailable as part of Section 106 agreements and Community

Infrastructure Levies.

* Parish councils have a statutory duty to provide allotments.

They report that would-be allotmenteers can underestimate

the time, energy and skills needed to grow food effectively

and drop out rates can be high.

* Councils prefer instead to manage waiting lists by reducing

the size of allotment plots by half or thirds when they come up

for re-letting. This makes smaller plots available to new growers

but effectively reduces the amount of land available toindividuals to grow food.

* There are opportunities for landowners to lease land for

nancial return but they want to see clear local leadership and

evidence of need before making offers of land.

* Getting the right t between what a landowner needs and

wants and what the community needs and wants can be a

long drawn out process. By contrast, a willing landowner and awell-organised group can make fast headway and a bare eld

can be transformed into a highly productive space in a matter ofmonths.

* Small private landowners and housing associations seem

most willing to make land available for community based

growing.

* People on waiting lists who really want to grow food will be

satised more quickly in their search for a plot when they take

matters into their own hands, create independent and

autonomous self managed associations and organise together

to approach willing landowners directly. Strong local

co-ordination and, in some cases, sustained lobbying, is

the key to accessing land.

* Challenges faced by people seeking land include objections

from neighbours, competition from developers and overcoming

landowners misconceptions that they will lose control of whathappens on their land.

* There is a missing generation of growers and huge oppor-

tunities exist for increasing access to training in how to grow

food. As Somerset is a big, rural and sparsely populated county,

learning opportunities need to be widespread, location basedand nancially affordable.

* Opportunities are not restricted to courses & events - skills

are exchanged continuously and learning from others, for

example at allotments or community gardens can be one of the

best ways to learn.

Key Learning Points* Approximately 108 hectares (266 acres) of land available forcommunity growing in Somerset, mainly in the form of

allotments.

* Approximately 1100 people are on waiting lists. The hotspots

include Taunton, Wells, Cotford St Luke, Wellington, Chard and

Burnham. These are sizeable in some places such as but ourresearch with parish councils has shown that numbers on lists

are not, in themselves, the most robust indicator of proactive

demand for land.

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Foodmapper statistics:

* 205 hectares of land havenow been plotted

* 175 growing spaces

mapped, most of them

allotment sites,

but including 7 community

orchards.* 57 community groups listed

with contact details, 80 landowners - many town and parish

councils and local food initiatives including 21 local producers,

23 country and

farmers markets, 7 food co-ops, 7 community gardens

* 200 registered users

Land MappingA rst step for the project was to survey and map current accessto land and demand. Working with Geofutures, Bath based

GIS specialists as well as a partnership of interested parties

including South West Food and Drink, the Regional Food andHealth Team from SW Dept of Health, Western Somerset Local

Action for Rural Communities and West Somerset Living Well

Programme, Foodmapperwas born - a unique online map ofcommunity based food production in Somerset.

Foodmapper gathers previously scattered and lacking data

on allotment provision, evidencing the need for more access

to land. This online database visually displays the locations in

Somerset where waiting lists exist and where there is no accessto community growing space. This enables groups searching for

land, and new stakeholders of all sorts, to use comparative data

to prove the need, and lobby for, the creation of new growing

space. These gaps in provision, which may also indicate skill

decient areas, have now been quantied.

The map is also a directory of community growing

spaces and our mapping of community food projects, which

welcome new members and volunteers, enables those on wait-

ing lists to nd and get involved in projects immediately, helping

them to develop useful transferable skills for when they moveonto their own plots. Foodmapper has also given 150+ growing

spaces an online presence where many may have had none

before.

Foodmapper plots details of who uses and owns the land

(where known), including contact details for the relevantcommunity group plus data about number and size of plots, land

use, topography, boundaries, availability of water,storage facilities and more. The result is a unique, publicly

accessible digital map of all the allotments and many

community gardens, community orchards, market gardens,

therapeutic horticulture projects and food-related initiatives inthe county.

Bringing more land intoCommunity Food Production

* Mapping began by plotting the growing spaces in the10

market towns with the wards of highest deprivation.

* Full audit now complete after surveying 300 parish councils.

* Mapping was undertaken district-by-district in advance of localpublic meetings.

* Volunteers were supported to map their areas.

* New projects are continuously being added as they are foundout about.

Key Learning Points about Foodmapping

Strengths:

* Accurate data now exists about allotment provision in

Somerset.

* Foodmapper has made the network of projects visible and

connected in a way not previously available.

* This map will endure as a tangible product of the projectsresearch.

* Records are accessible to the public.

Weaknesses:

* Finding volunteers with skills and time to map their local areas

consistently & systematically.* Limitations of the website.

* Records are only accessible to people on the internet.

Looking at this map, where the dark green circle is Bristols food footprint, it can be seen that half of Somerset is needed to feed the city.

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A full audit of provision wascompleted in 2012, after liasing withmore than 300 parish councils.Consistent data was needed to

present to landowners. Results of

the survey showed that there are

approximately 108 hectares (266

acres) of land available for

This detailed data has been used

to raise awareness of demand

for land across the county during

negotiations with landowners,

providing evidence that there

are opportunities for

landowners to lease land for

growing in particular areas.

This data, when matched with

population densities, can beused to calculate how much

land *should* be available for a

particular settlement according to

standards devised by thecommunity growing in Somerset, mainly in the form of

allotments. Approximately 1100 peopleare on waiting lists

and latent demand suggests this number should be doubled to

reect people who dont appear on waiting lists, either because

they dont know how to register or feel lists are too long tobother. Waiting list numbers ebb and ow. The table below gives

a snapshot of demand in 2012.

District,

population and territory

Amount of

allotments

Total

waiting

list

South Somerset (pop 158,000,

area 95,906 ha)

40 hectares 277

Taunton Deane (pop 112,682,

area 46,250 ha)

26 hectares 400

Sedgemoor (pop 116,524, area

60,587 ha)

22 hectares 127

Mendip (pop 110,000 area

73,943 ha)

12 hectares 250

West Somerset (pop 35,000,

area 74,705 ha)

8 hectares 61

SurveyingProvision &Gauging Demand

National Society of Allotments and Leisure Gardens. In this way,community groups can use this research to evidence and

strengthen their bids for access to new growing space.

Key Learning Points about Allot ments

* Waiting list numbers are not, in themselves, the most robustindicator of actual, proactive demand for land.

* While it is the single statutory duty of a parish council to

provide allotments, their willingness to get involved in provisioncan vary greatly:

- Some say their lists are not accurate e.g. people have

moved away, lost interest and so forth.- Parish clerks have observed that many would-be

allotmenteers underestimate the time, energy and skills

needed to grow food effectively and that drop out rates can

be high. This can be especially true on new sites where many of

the plot holders are new to growing and access to skilled advice

is lacking.- Some councils are therefore reluctant to rush to extend

provision fearing they will be left with the nancial and

maintenance burden of untended plots.

Case St udy: Access t o Land RoadshowSomerset is a vast rural county and

with 1.5 staff, engaging with peopleacross all 5 districts has been a

challenge. The roadshow was designed

therefore to go to where the people are

and go beyond generalist marketing.

Working district-by-district on a month-by-month basis from January to May

2012 our roadshow enabled us:

* To launch very targeted grassroots

marketing in one district at a time,including local papers, parishbulletins, radio and more as well as

poster campaigns in towns & villages

and targeted invitations

* The results of the completed

allotment survey for that particulardistrict were presented, giving a clear,

evidenced picture of demand for

land.

Ways forward for councils:* Many prefer to manage waiting l ists by

reducing the size of allotment plots by half or

thirds when they come up for re-letting. Thisstrategy has the effect of making more,

smaller, plots available, which can be useful

for new growers who can build their skills and

experience on a manageable area, but

inevitably works to reduce the total amount

of land available to be cultivated by

individuals in a particular location.

Ways forward for people looking for land:

* Waiting for the powers that be to make land

available may not lead to quick access togrowing space for those on waiting lists. Where

parish councils do not take the lead in fullling

their statutory obligations to provide allotments,

and/or create barriers, people on waiting

lists will be satised more quickly in their

search for a plot when they take matters

into their own hands and organise together

to lobby the council or approach willing

landowners directly.

* Strong local co-ordination and, in some

cases, sustained lobbying, is the key toaccessing land.

* Get support- The National Society of

Allotments and Leisure Gardens and the

Federation of City Farms & CommunityGardens are recognised as trusted agencies

that exist to respond to proactive enquiries.

* Each evening hosted main

speakers Linda Hull and Allan Cavill,from the National Society of

Allotment and Leisure Gardens, as

well as a panel of people who had

been there and done it - local groups

who had started allotments,community gardens and more. This

enabled an exchange of information,

inspiration and advice. A panel style

question & answer session supported

this skill sharing.

* Information stands with fact sheets &

resources complimented the

evenings.

* Post event press-coverage also

meant more opportunities forlandowners & seekers to become

engaged.

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Support ing Access t o LandOne of the desired outcomes of the Somerset Land & Food

Project was to negotiate with land holders for 100 hectares

in total of additional land for cultivation in close proximity to

10 market towns to be used for community gardens, marketgardens, allotments, smallholdings or Community Supported

Agriculture Projects for the use of local food groups by 2012.

Having mapped Somersets allotment provision, totalling 108hectares, it was clear that 100 hectares as a target was anextremely ambitious one. However it can be reported that

through the life of the Somerset Land & Food Project, 7.5

hectares of new allotment space has been created as well as

2.4 hectares of community gardens. These sites include:

* 12 brand new allotmentson private land where there

was no existing allotment

provision

* Two new additional allotment

sites, one on private land and

one on housing association

land where there were waitinglists on existing sites

* Seven new community gardens on church, town council,

school and housing association land in areas with waiting lists

*One new council owned statutory site and one new extensionto a statutory site to replace one lost to development.

E merging Pat t erns:

* Many of the new allotments have been established using the

South West Model devised by Allan Cavill, SW

Representative of the National Society of Allotments andLeisure Gardens, who advocates that new sites are most

quickly established by independent and autonomous groups,

often formed from those on waiting lists, who then carry outtheir own land search and complete their own agreements with

the landowner rather than expecting their parish council to

create new statutory sites i.e. protected by AllotmentLegislation.

* The bulk of new sites formed in this way are therefore

private and temporary, which means they must be run in

such a way that the land can be returned to the landowner inthe same condition as when originally let, following due notice

being served.

Negot iat ing wit h Landowners

During the 3 years of the project, conversations have been

initiated about access to land with a wide range of landowners

including councils, housing associations, large public trusts,farmers unions, national park authorities and more. Numerous

events have been staged where landowners have attended to

nd out more about the demand for land and the benets to

them of releasing it for community use.

The evolution of these conversations into actual release of landhas been inuenced by a range of factors including:

* The nature, extent and location of demand for land

* The onset of the recession and cuts to services

* Changes in the political landscape and organisationalrestructuring in many sectors

However, the most important factor continues to be the need

for robust demand to be demonstrated and championed

local to where land is potentially available.

Landowners have wanted to see clear local leadership and

evidence of need before making offers of land.

Key Learning Points

* On balance, small private landowners seem more ready to

lease land to well organised community groups who proactivelyapproach them.

* In urban areas the issue of much land being in options

agreements with developers poses another barrier for some

land seekers. Taunton Deane Borough Council has developed

an Allotments Strategy including policy to require developersto make community growing space available as part of Section

106 agreements and Community Infrastructure Levies on new

build housing.

* In West Somerset, the ownership of much land by big, privateestates can also mitigate against nding suitable land.

Knowing who to contact in the hierarchy is useful for taking

the next steps.

* Potentially available land leased by Housing Associations

depends on assessing and stimulating the level of interestof residents, whom they naturally prefer to offer land to rst, in

preference to other members of the community.

Case St udy: Get Growing

Support Fund

Over 1219

beneciaries (minimum)

across 17 different

projects in 5 different

districts of Somerset

Common items included:

* Get Set Grow Courses & other

specialist training* Fencing, timber, sheds,

polytunnels & tools

*Compost & soil buildingmaterials

*Processing equipment

This really wouldnt have been

able to happen without the

grant. Just knowing were being

supported makes so much

difference!- Sarah Laborde,

Axbridge Community Allotment

In the rst 18 months of the project, it was observed that

land sometimes was not the main determining factor to

enable people to get growing. In order to meet community

needs better, the Get Growing Support Fund was launched.

This one-off fund was designed to support community

groups or small social enterprises in Somerset to access the

expertise, tools, advice, training & support they need to bring

new land into production or to support existing projects to

develop and thrive.

This enabled 17 groups to apply for tools required by their

growing projects, many of which can be shared with otherlocal groups if needed. The Get Growing Support Fund

proved very effective in developing relationships with new

and existing contacts, in gauging what communities reallyneed and desire and what capital items are most challenging

for groups to purchase.

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Sharing Skills for FoodProduction

Skills exchanged:

* How to cook: 80+

* How to grow your own food: 392+

* How to harvest

& process food: 64+* How to buy land: 84+

* How to access land: 381+

* Film production

& social media: 12

* Therapeutic horticulture: 45

Total number of people

learning new skills = 1338

Key Learning Points

* Opportunities are not restricted to

courses & events - skills are

exchanged continuously and

learning from others, for example at

allotments or community gardens can

be one of the best ways to learn.

* Courses need to be accessible.

Our funding has meant many free

opportunities have been created,

meeting needs of low-income families

and those without the means to investin paid courses. Ensuring a sliding

scale or bursary places can counter

this nancial exclusion on charged for

courses.

* A key role for SLAF has been tocollate and promote specialist

training already on offer in Somerset

and using our networks to advertisethese opportunities.

* Due to the scale and geography of

Somerset, location-based trainers

may be better placed to lead activities

locally.

* Many are inspired by the work ofothers and seeing real-life projects

through site visits is most benecial.

* Putting theory into practice is

essential and getting your hands dirtyis a must. The time of year coursesrun also makes a difference.

* Re-skilling Somerset will take

generations and it is useful to keep

this long term perspective.

* A Directory of Skills, such as the

planned Knowledgebank can be

difcult to populate, soon out of date

and means the creators could be a

bottleneck of information. From thislearning came Incredible Edible

Somerset - a user led, updateablesocial networking website to enable

skill sharing well beyond the life of the

Somerset Land & Food Project.

One of the keys aims of the Somerset Land & Food Project has

been to develop the range of skills to enable more people toaccess affordable, locally grown and healthy food. Through the

life of the project over 1338 people have been engaged in skill-

sharing. The diverse range of these opportunities has included:

* Six conferences that brought together people from acrossSomerset to not only network but also to learn new skills and

gain advice from others, on everything from composting to fruit

preservation.

* Get Set Grow and Get Set Cook courses are 12 hour

packages developed by Somerset Community Food. JaneSweetman and other trainers have delivered these courses

supporting many people to learn new skills.

* The Access to Land Roadshow created opportunities for

direct knowledge transfer between people and projects working

on a grassroots level to access land.

* The Incredible Edible Somerset Open Gardens - a weekendof open gardens and workshops across the county supported

over 135 people to share skills related to food production.

* Learning for Growth - in partnership with The Magdalen

Project, an environmental education centre and working farm,

near Chard, a series of weekend and short courses were

developed called Learning for Growth. Over 100 individuals

have been introduced to smallholding and growing their own

food through these events.

* Specialist training days have also taken place across

Somerset, many determined by groups via the Get Growing

Support Fund, including forest gardening, fruit tree pruning,

buying land and more.

Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th August 2012 saw the staging ofthe rst Incredible Edible Somerset Open Gardens weekend,

a countywide event organized as part of National Allotments

week, with the aim of raising awareness of Incredible Edible

Somerset, as well as creating the opportunity for exchanging

skills and increasing networking.

* A total of 11 different sites were open to the public at various

points over the weekend including home smallholdings, small

edible gardens, therapeutic horticulture projects,

community orchards, allotment sites, market gardens and

community gardens.* Over 135 people participated in nine different practical

workshops workshops across the county.

* In total at least 170 people visited projects that were open to

the public.

* Key parts of the weekends success included: positive

media coverage, attractive leaets, grassroots participation,workshops that met community needs and social enjoyment.

You have truly made a difference, as people will implementsome of the ideas they saw, leading to a lot of food produced

as well as the other benets of permaculture...Seeing all the

gardens has been such a boost for future growth!

- Angie Rooke, Pilton Road Community Garden

Case St udy: Incredible E dibleSomerset Open Gardens

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Case St udy: LocalConf erences

Over 40 events

involving over 1200 people with and

422 organisations. Over 900 peopleregularly receive local food news

A key outcome for Somerset Land and Food was the creation

of a partnership to progress the aims of the project beyond

2012. While grassroots networks are slowly becoming more

visible and connected, progressing strategic level work has

been slow in a climate of funding and resource cuts affecting

organisations and ofcers engaged in community development.Scaling back of activities within other organisations reduced

their capacity to engage in the project due to loss of key

personnel and their contacts in the community. For acounty-wide initiative predicated on partnership working, these

factors have affected both implementation and exit

strategies. Therefore more work is required to develop the

partnership which can really progress access to land and

growing training in this county.

As access to land was a new area of work for Somerset

Community Food, public engagement was slow to achieve asa whole new audience needed to be identied and reached. It

therefore took time to establish the communications

infrastructure, brand development and network of appropriate

and relevant contacts.

The scale and geography of Somerset has also meant thatthe small staff team of 1 full timer and 1 part timer has had to

rely heavily on electronic communications to engage people.

We have tried to counter the exclusive aspects of this by

touring conferences and public meetings around the

county. But in such a rural, sparsely populated area with limitedpublic transport options, even working at the District level can

be problematic. Finding the right venue and right time of day to

accommodate the widest range of stakeholders has also meant

barriers to participation for some.

A key element in building a stronger local community food

network has been the series of conferences

organised by Somerset Community Food. In this large,

rural county, these regular events have enabled people tocome together and make connections. They have been

staged twice a year and have travelled around the county

district by district to enable and encourage local people toattend and for more localised networks to develop.

Key learning points have included:

* Food is the connector - make sure tasty local produce

is available & shared as an attractor.

* Balance the head with the heart and the hands by

offering a mixture of practical, networking and

theory-based activities, presentations and workshops.* Host events at growing projects where possible or

include site visits so that topics discovered come alive &

feel relevant.

* Design time fornetworking - whether its through long

breaks or facilitated sessions.

Well organised, friendly, easy to network, great &

interesting speakers... I left feeling really skilled and useful

from the discussions Id had and the possible opportunities

Id potentially found. Thank you so much!

Landowner Jill Strawbridge

Conferences:Launch event, Great Bow

Wharf, Langport, 7th

December 2009 attended by

61 people

Spring Conference,

Genesis Centre, Taunton,

27th April 2010, with over 114

attendees

Time2Connect,Victoria Community Centre,

Bridgwater, 16th October

2010 with 56 local people &

practical workshops

Growing Connections in

South Somerset, 28th May

2011 at the Magdalen Project

near Chard with 48 people

Growing Connections in West

Somerset, 10th October 2011

at the Dunster Tithe Barn with

over 42 attendees

Incredible Edible Somerset

Summer Conference,

St Dunstans School &

Paddington Farm,

Glastonbury, 14th July 2012

with over 100 people

8

Many local food projects are site-specic, for example an

allotment or community garden or farm. By contrast, networksare about cross-pollination of ideas, sharing inspiration, news

and examples. As in a garden, in bigger systems there are

nutrient ows with sinks and sources. Some areas are rich in

access to land and skills and other areas are less so. Therefore

creating an effective network is about supporting the owbetween both. Networks can help connect the dots, providing

corridors and linkages between fragmented groups and

projects. At the same time no one size ts all ways and

means differ in rural and urban settings and all are unique to

place, effecting methods of engagement and relationship

building.

Somerset Land and Food, as a county-wide focused access to

land project, has attempted to connect isolated projects into

a more cohesive whole by:

* Developing relationships with community groups and projects,parish, town and district councils, mental health

charities, churches, Transition groups, schools, local food

producers, distributors and anyone else who supports this

agenda.

* Mapping projects and people both online and face to face via

showcases and soapboxes whereby groups and individualscan promote their projects.

* Launching the social networking site Incredible Edible

Somerset which seeks to provide communications infrastructure

for these diverse groups.

* Ensuring an even geographical spread of venues for eventsand support to projects.* Publishing a monthly Somerset Local Food Update

e-newsletter to strengthen this emerging network

Network Building


10/12

RecommendationsThese recommendations are intended to serve anyone thinking

of setting up a similar access to land project either in Somerset

or further aeld. They also act as a roadmap for where future

efforts should be focused to progress access to sufcient landand training in Somerset to build resilience against food

poverty, changing climatic conditions and the fragmentation of

our communities.

While some of the necessary actions can be carried out bysmall, charitable organisations such as Somerset Community

Food (see below for specic actions we will undertake), the

movement must broaden and include players at every level.

1. Increase widespread st ra t egic understanding ofland and f ood issues and sca le up t he means f oref f ect ive act ion to be t aken

An issue of great concern for the Somerset Land and FoodProject has been the lack of strategic allies. The invisibility of

players actively concerned about food security and food poverty

in general, and access to land issues in particular, is very

worrying.

Action: Local leaders must catalyse a wide range of

inuential partners to become engaged in the creation of a

clear, strategic and co-operative plan for how Somerset can

feed itself in view of bigger picture trends and the shadow of the

food footprint of the city of Bristol. (See map on page 4)

2. Invest in high qualit y low cost skills t ra iningand priorit ise young people, low income f amilies,j ob seekers and ot hers in f ood povert y

Most of our farmers are at retirement age and only 3% are

under 35. At the same time we face both a skills crisis and atremendous opportunity. Investment should be prioritised to

support young people, low income families and the

un/under-employed to gain the skills and experiences they needto help feed their dependents and wider communities. Learning

opportunities need to be accessible both geographically and

nancially.

Action:Funders, policy makers and agencies in Somerset

with interests in public health, mental health and well being,skills for life, employment training, community and adult

education and sustainable development champions will reap

multiple economic, job creation and therapeutic benets by

responding proactively and co-operatively to the task of training

and skills development in the area of growing food.

building, district councils, as strategic planners and community

leaders, must reserve sufcient land for this purpose.

Action: All district councils to follow the example of

Taunton Deane Borough Council by developing land usepolicy and strategies that recognise the need for more allotment

space but also acknowledge that building houses with

insufcient private gardens or other allocated space for growing

food in new developments is short sighted and will onlyexacerbate current provision decits.

Action: Community food networks to lobby for the use of

surplus, vacant and derelict Local Authority and other

publicly owned land for both commercial and community

based food production.

4. E ncourage landowners t o release more landf or communit y growing

With more than 1100 Somerset people on waiting lists for a plot

to grow food on, there are clearly opportunities for more

landowners to release land. With 10 hectares of land being

brought into cultivation during the last 3 years, there is muchknowledge to transfer.

Action: Progressive landowners to extol the social and

commercial benets to their peers of releasing land for

community food production. Case studies need to be widely

disseminated along with clear guidelines including opportunitiesfor landowners to meet and share success stories with a wider

audience.

9

3. E nsure suf f icientland is reserved f orcommunit y basedf ood product ion

In 1997, NSALG

recommended that there

should be 20 full sizeallotment plots (250

square meters) per 1000households. More

recently, they have up-

dated this to 60 plots per

1000 households to reectlatent demand. In light of

the recent announcement

that 1500 square miles

are required for house

Can You Dig Itproduced

by the National LocalGovernment Network

reported that in 2007,

Britain had 12,710

hectares of vacant

browneld land. 85%of this land is located inurban areas or within 500

metres of a built-up area

precisely where

growing spaces are in

highest demand.


11/12

Like gardeners who prepare the soil, the Somerset Land and

Food project has created rich conditions for growth for the

community food networks in Somerset. Three growing seasonshave passed and each one has brought new yields, challenges

and diverse harvests of learning.

In April 2012 Somerset Community Food won 12 months further

funding from the Big Lotterys Local Food Programme until

October 2013 to sustain the impact of the project and supportthe changes necessary to create a tangible legacy.

Building on the groundwork laid with staff time and resources

over the last 3 years, Incredible Edible Somerset is the

projects exit strategy. Four key aims are in place for 2013:

Aim 1 - E nable the emerging net work t o becomeest ablished & independent , visible & connect ed

Incredible Edible Somerset is a new social networking site with

huge potential to stimulate capacity building and knowledge,

resource and skill sharing. A space for user-led content to be

created, groups can raise their proles, advertise their eventsand individuals can offer and search for skills.

Somerset Community Food will scale up communication

and knowledge transfer infrastructure, by recruitingmembers to the social networking website, publishing the

Somerset Local Food Update, creating an access to land

handbook and supporting audio video material.

Aim 2 - Max imise grassroot s part icipat ion &knowledge t ransf er wit hin communit ies

There is a missing generation of skilled growers. Therefore

a network of location based mentors is required to broadencapacity for face to face work and to negotiate the geography of

Somerset.

Somerset Community Food will work with Garden Organic

to train a team of skilled local people to act as Master

Gardeners in each district of Somerset where there is known

demand and need. A mobile exhibition will also be developed

to tour libraries, pubs and village halls to promote local growing

opportunities and to increase public participation.

Creating a Lasting Legacy Aim 3 - Develop comprehensive t ra ining mat eria lsSomerset Community Food will:

* Adapt and diversify current training models to better meetthe needs of our communities in a more bespoke way e.g.

develop training packages for mental health service users,

young people, non english speakers, time-poor families, as well

as formore experienced growers and projects who are seeking

more advanced training on food processing and community led

trading.

* Develop resources to share research, case studies and

methods for accessing land with diverse audiences such as

councils, health authorities, schools, mental health charities and

housing associations. One aspect of this is creating a series of

short lms.

Aim 4 - E xplore t he development of a t rainingenterprise as our ex it st rat egy

Somerset Community Food will seek to increase access to

food growing and related training by:

* Conducting market research and training needs analysis* Creating a forward planning group from existing and new

stakeholders

* Accessing social enterprise training

* Exploring the feasibility for a site based training centre

10

Designing for the FutureWe live in challenging times. Every month there are 6 millionnew mouths to feed on the planet. Commentators at every level

are wondering how we can secure food supplies for ourburgeoning global population without further destruction of our

environment, pollution of our water supplies, compromising

of our health and disastrous impacts on the most vulnerable

peoples in other parts of the world, a billion of whom go to bedhungry every night.

This reality will only be sharpened by the damaging effects of an

unpredictably changing climate, the

volatility of energy and other agricultural input prices and

ongoing austerity measures.

Debates rage about the best ways to transform our food system

but, simply put, each one of us can make a difference by

learning how to grow some part of our own food. But to do thiswe will need:

* Access to land. Not everyone has the privilege of their own

garden and therefore we must make sure that sufcient land is

reserved and leased for community based food production.

* To enable massive re-skilling. We must develop effectivemeans to bridge the gap created by a missing generation of

skilled growers by rapidly learning and transferring knowledge

about how to grow food.

* In addition we must choose to support our local producers

to stay in business - the very business of feeding us!

Incredible Edible Somerset is emerging as a network of

ordinary people keen to learn and share their skills,

knowledge and experience. Join us!


12/12

Somerset Community Food

33a High Street

Glastonbury,

Somerset BA6 9HT

Tel : 0300 365 0360

Email: [email protected]

www.somersetcommunityfood.org.uk

www.incredible-edible-somerset.ning.com

Registered charity number: 1107311.Limited company registration number: 4290175
http://www.somersetcommunityfood.org.uk/http://www.incredible-edible-somerset.ning.com/http://www.incredible-edible-somerset.ning.com/http://www.somersetcommunityfood.org.uk/

SLAF Lessons Learned Report

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