Volunteers use neglected city land to feed community

Volunteers and community workers are turning neglected patches of grass into thriving food-growing spaces in East Sussex to feed local communities.

At Wellsbourne Community Garden in Whitehawk, Brighton, new planting beds are being prepared from unloved grass scrubland to grow crops including tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, garlic, carrots and beans throughout the year.

The produce will be shared with the Whitehawk Family Hub, while residents are also encouraged to help themselves directly from the garden.

"People are seeing us growing and realising how easy it is," said community coordinator Lucy Mitchell. "Anyone can come and use the garden, volunteer, or just pick what's available."

Brighton & Hove City Council has signed up to the Right to Grow movement, which aims to make it easier for communities to access and use unloved public land.

Community gardener Jools Lawton said there was "huge potential" across the city.

"There are many underused areas, they just need to be mapped and opened up so communities can grow food," she said.

Elsewhere, grassy banks around high-rise flats on Albion Hill are also being transformed.

Resident Nawal Al Baraze grows about 70% of her own vegetables to cook with outside her house and at the local community garden.

Long-time community grower and garden designer Stephan Gehrels said unused land was a "missed opportunity".

He has planted about 300 fruit and nut trees in the city and worked with schools and charities to create more usable gardens.

"It just makes sense to grow food on land that's not being used," he said, warning that the UK's reliance on imported food is unsustainable.

The Havens Community Food Cooperative, which redistributes fresh food from supermarkets and farms which would otherwise go to waste, said it had provided £2m worth of produce to those in need.

It rescues the food and donates it to foodbanks while also giving local people a chance to pick it up at community pantries across Newhaven, Peacehaven, Saltdean, and Brighton and Hove.

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