We got taken to visit Rijnvliet Edible Neighbourhood, a brand-new neighbourhood being built on the edges of Utrecht. As part of the development of the estate, they co-designed the idea of an edible neighbourhood with the local community.
Everything was planted to be edible, have a use or biodiversity value; front gardens covered in fruit bushes, verdant vegetable-based verges, schools surrounded by snacking, winding paths to participate in picking, edible ‘edges everywhere! They had a ‘no grass’ policy, but instead areas to sit on were planted with flowers attractive to pollinators. ‘Food-forest rangers’ were trained to help engage the community and to help look after the plants.
It got me thinking, what would an Edible Brighton look like? What about all the little bits of grass everywhere that serve no practical purpose, have very little biodiversity, but need constant mowing to keep them neat and tidy? Aren’t there loads of spaces we could be growing food for us as well as the birds, butterflies and bees?
We have lots of thriving community gardens in parks, allotments and tucked into hidden corners across the city, could we join them up to create wildlife-friendly edible corridors?
We know we need to capture more carbon, increase our much-depleted wildlife and provide for the growing number of people living with food insecurity. Edible planting schemes can be one solution to all these problems.
After many years working at the Food Partnership, I know that it is not as simple as just putting a few plants in the ground. There are lots of things to consider; permission, access to water, soil quality, topography, the weather and ongoing maintenance. I have also heard many reasons why people might not want to have a community garden near their house; increase in bees, fruit falling on cars, children playing noisily, doesn’t look neat and tidy, no-one is going to look after it, it will get vandalised, it will take longer to maintain the area etc So we can’t assume that everyone would be up for the idea, but I think most of these things can be worked through with community co-design…
Incredible Edible have started a campaign called ‘Right to Grow’ this is asking councils to make it easier for communities to be able to grow food in appropriate places in our cities. Could we have a ‘Right to Grow’ in Brighton?
