Buying food that has been produced locally means it will have travelled less distance, creating less pollution.
Buying from local greengrocers, markets and independent shops helps local businesses to thrive. It also keeps money circulating in the local economy. This helps to maintain the unique character of our towns and villages and protects jobs for local people. You will also tend to travel less to do your shopping, which keeps your carbon emissions down as well.
Go green-fingered
Try growing some food for yourself:
- In your garden.
- On an allotment rented from the Council.
- As part of a community growing initiative.
- Even on your windowsill.
You do not always need a lot of space to grow food. Many vegetables and herbs can grow very well in tubs or planters. There are several options:
Allotments
The Council have several allotments available. These can be rented to individuals to produce vegetables and fruit crops for use by themselves or their family.
For more details, see: Allotments.
Gardens
Is there Council-owned land next your property? If you want to rent it to create or extend a garden area, we can help. Please contact us.
Community Growing
We are keen to build on the success of Incredible Edible Todmorden.
We encourage local people to get involved in growing their own food and have advice on how to get started. We can also make suitable Council land available for you to grow food on, with the Community Growing Licence. This is intended for groups of people who want to work together to create edible growing spaces for community use. It can also be made available to individuals or households.
For more about this and contact details for your Neighbourhood Coordinator, please read:
For more on how to apply, useful links and contacts, please read:
Help finding land
Is there Council land you want to use? Do you need help to find available land in Calderdale? Our community growing areas map will help you. For more on this, please contact your local Neighbourhood Coordinator.
Land that is 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. The soil may be unsuitable for food growing or there may be conservation rights associated with that piece of land.
- Health and safety concerns. Such as grass verges near highways or where there are visibility and access requirements.
- Planning concerns. Land identified in the Unitary Development Plan for a specific use.
- Service concerns. Currently in use by a Council service or an issue has been identified that could affect them.
- Legal issues. Restrictions due to covenants, title of the land, lease arrangements, grazing rights and more.
How to obtain a licence
When you apply for a licence to use Council land for community growing, we will need:
- An agreement in principle to the licence itself. We will send you a copy of the licence, so you can see what it entails. You will need to confirm that you are happy to go ahead.
- 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 showing:
- what you would like to grow and 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/ holders must maintain this. It must have:
- a minimum limit of indemnity £5,000,000 for any one incident;
- and no limit on the number of claims that can be made in any one year.
*Options for insurance:
- Are you part of a constituted community group? You may already have the third party liability Insurance cover that you need.
- Do you have home contents insurance? You may be covered through the Personal Legal Liability section of your policy. This can cover your actions as an individual.
- Are you are a social housing tenant? Your landlord may offer a Tenants Home Contents Scheme. This can include Personal Legal Liability that covers your actions as an individual.
- Are there other local gardening groups or 'Friends of' groups? Ask them if they can recommend an insurance company to use. Also consider allowing your group to buy-in to extending their insurance to cover you as well.
Scheme participants must make they meet the insurance requirements of the licence. We would always recommend that you contact your insurance provider and tell them about your project. This is to make sure you are covered by your policy.
For insurance companies that cover this type of activity, read the 'Useful Information' in:
Useful links
- Markets. Find out where your nearest local market is.
- Garden Organic. The new name for the Henry Doubleday Research Association. 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 on Fairtrade products.
- Love Food Hate Waste. This is the 'Waste Not, Want Not' of the modern day. It gives handy tips, advice and recipes for leftovers to help everyone waste less food.