Camden’s Food Growing Programme – Creating community Through Growing
Camden's Food Growing Programme was established in 2024 with the aim of embedding food growing in the borough and expanding the reach of food growing across the community. It supports community organisations, and partners across the borough to create more opportunities for people to grow food together, in parks, on housing estates, in schools, and other shared spaces.
The Food Growing Programme is a programme within Camden’s Food Mission, aiming to ensure every person in Camden has access to nutritious, affordable and sustainable food.
New food growing spaces
Over the past year, three new food growing spaces have been established across the borough, each shaped by the people who will use them and with the aim of understanding how to best deliver community gardens in Camden.
Mill Lane Open Space
A set of abandoned planters transformed into a welcoming community garden, co-designed with local partners including the Parks team, Mill Lane Garden Centre, and Emmanuel Primary School. The space features five new recycled plastic planters, a compost area, a toolbox, and water access. Pupils from Emmanuel helped paint the fencing making their mark on the space.
The space is a safe haven for adults with learning difficulties who contribute to the upkeep and maintenance of the space. You can find out more about the Mill Lane Garden Centre and Mill Lane Community Garden by clicking on this link.
Southfleet, St Silas Estate
A large disused area which had been unused for over 15 years and previously locked off due to anti-social behaviour has been reimagined by local residents as a collectively managed growing and community gardening space. Co-designed with the TRA, the site now features eight raised beds at different heights - including disabled accessible planters, a new water connection, a tools storage box, and a small greenhouse. The TRA and gardening team run regular sessions where the beds are managed collectively.
Westcroft Estate
Building on the CommuniTrees programme run by Think&Do Camden, which established a community-managed orchard on the estate, a group of residents from several nearby blocks have formed a multigenerational gardening club. The food growing programme funded recycled plastic raised beds, which were assembled by community members during a build day.
Food Growing in Camden Schools
Two experienced community gardeners worked closely with Brecknock Primary School and Richard Cobden Primary School to identify opportunities to embed food growing in the curriculum and make better use of their existing outdoor spaces. The support was in three phases. The first phase was to analyse existing works and opportunities at each school through a set of site visits. Phase two was to develop a plan for each school, including best use of space and seasonal growing plan and recommendations for materials and equipment. Finally, phase 3 worked on delivery and engagement where schools were supported to implement the recommendations and workshops supported teachers and students. Both Camden schools are working towards further expanding food growing on site, in particular the food growing programme is supporting Brecknock primary school to develop a new food garden to support cooking lessons on site.
Seeds in libraries
In summer 2025, a trial seedbank opened at Camden Town Library — in partnership with OmVed Gardens, who run an established seed saving network. Residents could take seeds for free, alongside information about how to grow them. The design of the seedbank was developed through a community session involving young people, which brought in new voices and created a real sense of ownership.
The pilot was successful enough that seedbanks are now being rolled out across all nine Camden libraries. Library staff from each branch attended a half-day training at OmVed Gardens to learn how to manage them.
Roots to Neighbourhoods Fund
The Roots to Neighbourhoods Fund offers grants of up to £4,000 to support community gardens and food growing spaces across Camden, helping partners establish new spaces, expand existing ones, or run arts and outreach projects that connect residents with food growing. The fund prioritises participatory design and directly supports to expand the existing vibrant and diverse food growing community in Camden.
Successful applicants include:
Sudan Women's Skills Development
Somers Town Community Association (delivered by volunteer residents)
Kenbrook House TRA
Bringing growers together
Two events have brought the food growing community together to celebrate what's happening across Camden and spark new connections: a gathering at CastleHaven in November 2024, and an event at London Zoo in spring 2025. These events have lead to the creation of an informal food growers network in Camden.
Behind the scenes
Alongside visible projects, the programme has been working to strengthen the foundations: mapping and tracking food growing spaces across estates, parks, formal sites and schools, updating the allotment waiting list, and supporting ongoing coordination across teams.
A comprehensive design guide has been developed to ensure the likelihood of success for future Camden supported and led food growing spaces. This includes practical design requirements for food growing spaces and also includes best practice in resident engagement and clear agreement principles for new food growing spaces.
