As London prepares for the mayoral elections in May 2024, The Orchard Project, as part of A More Natural Capital coalition, is working to get urban food growing firmly on the candidates’ agendas.
Twenty environmental organisations have set out a manifesto which includes 10 calls to action to help London transition to the cleaner, greener and more resilient city it needs to be to face the climate and ecological crisis.
“It is imperative that green action is prioritised in London,” says Kath Rosen, CEO, The Orchard Project. “This is a perfect opportunity to get the message across to all the candidates that the environment matters to people living and working here. We’re pleased to have our voice included in this call, with a push for more community orchards in the capital.”
The 10 priorities mayoral candidates are being asked to support are:
- Grow local food – support the creation of 150 new community orchards and six new large community-farms
- More trees for London – plant 1,000 hectares of new tree canopy cover by 2030
- New places for nature – support the creation of at least 10 major new parks or nature reserves for London by 2030
- Defend our green spaces – stand up to threats to London’s Green Belt, Metropolitan Open Land, ancient woodland, registered parks or gardens
- Fair funding for nature – call for sufficient government and local authority funding for London’s green spaces
- More village greens – encourage local authorities and publicly-spirited landowners to register more sites as town or village greens
- Roll out rain gardens – support sustainable urban drainage to reduce flood risks
- Garden streets – create 1000 garden streets or street parks by 2030
- People-friendly streets – support and showcase best practice in creation of new low traffic neighbourhoods
- Walkable London – get more people walking by implementing the London Leisure Walking Plan and rolling out the Footways Network
Our particular focus is on using mayoral influence over councils and funding rounds to help establish more orchards and other food growing sites in London, and to better protect existing sites. If you would like to help support our work towards this aim, find out more how you can donate to our cause.
As well as the climate and biodiversity benefits, having more farms and orchards would create new green jobs, provide education and volunteering opportunities, and help build stronger communities.
Keeping trees and other plants in the ground is a more effective climate action strategy than any new planting, which takes time to make an impact on the climate. This is why we are also calling for greater protection of existing growing sites for the future.
Read the full manifesto.
Want to help support our work to create and restore more community orchards in the capital? Donate to help restore and create more of these amazing spaces…