Enfield Council will soon officially launch Garden Enfield, its market gardening project which aims to combine community growing with large scale food production to create 1,200 jobs and generate income. Ultimately the initiative aims to establish Enfield Council as a major supplier of fresh food in London and dramatically increase the amount of communal land that is being used to grow produce. Becoming a food supplier would create jobs and bring revenue into the council, enabling it to minimise the impact of ongoing budget reductions, protect front line services and create opportunities, training and wealth for residents.

The Garden Enfield project also aims to provide sustainably grown fruit and vegetables across the borough and reduce the distance food consumed in Enfield travels.

To date it has established three acres of land set for vegetable growing at Forty Hall Farm, helped 10 schools start growing their own vegetables for school dinners with another 15 due to join the scheme later this year and launched a Vegetable Box Scheme serving 30 customers a week.

Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Business and Regeneration, Cllr Del Goddard, said: “These ambitious but feasible plans, when realised would put Enfield at the forefront of food production in London. This scheme is good for the environment, reduces the distance our food has to travel between the field and our plates and will help to create hundreds of jobs.

“It also gives our schools, residents and businesses the opportunity to grow their own fruit and vegetables so our borough is more self-sufficient and far less dependent on imported food than it is at present.”

A conference on March 5 will taking place at City Hall from 4pm and will feature speakers including Cllr Del Goddard, Rosie Boycott, Chair of the London Food Board, Enfield Council’s Chief Executive, Rob Leak, Gary Taylor, Lee Valley Growers Association Steve Dowbiggin, Principal, Capel Manor College, Julie Brown from Growing Communities and Julia Clarke from Prince of Wales School.

The main aims of the project are:-

• Re-establishing large scale commercial food growing in the Borough
• Establishing an organic food box scheme
• Establishing a centre of excellence for food growing and technology
• Providing training to teachers, parents, pupils and site managers so they can use spare parcels of land for growing fruit and vegetables with a view to selling seasonal fruits and vegetables to the public at pop-up stalls
• Providing work experience placements to secondary school students in the horticulture industry
• Working with allotment holders to redistribute excess produce.
• Establishing food growing projects in 10 primary and five secondary schools over the next year benefiting around 300 children.
• Creating apprenticeships and providing volunteering opportunities.