There’s a problem that’s been bugging me for as long as I’ve been involved in local politics, and I think I’ve finally found the answer.
The problem is the way that the estates in east London look so scruffy, due to the gardens on the ground floor of blocks being untended and often overgrown with weeds. When I first became involved with Labour campaigning I thought this indicated that the demand model of social housing was a failure. People who buy their homes or pay private rent wouldn’t pay for a garden if they didn’t want it, but in social housing they just get given a garden when they have no interest in tending it. However, I was corrected by the fact that people with mobility issues are housed on the ground floor, people for whom it can be harder to maintain sometimes large green spaces.
Thinking about how to solve this, it occurred to me that there are many people in central London who have green fingers, but live in a flat with no garden. I’m one of those people, and although I’ve turned the landing outside my front door into a rather nice jungle, I’m still frustrated that I don’t have some direct light to grow my own vegetables under.
Looking at the untended gardens on the estates, I considered a system that could bring together gardeners and gardens, but it seemed an expensive and bureaucratic solution, so I never tried to push it forward. It was only recently when I was watching the TV show ‘Escape to River Cottage’ that I came across a technological answer to the problem.
The TV show was promoting a website they had developed called Landshare. The website promised to bring together landowners with people who wished to cultivate the land. Although their intention was to help people come together in the country, I saw no reason why this shouldn’t work just as well on the estates of east London.
Landshare has since grown to 66,000 members in this country. Looking at London you can see that the red pins representing people who would like to find a plot, massively outnumber the green pins of people offering. The huge numbers of untended gardens in Tower Hamlets are held by the elderly and infirm, so it should be no surprise that these tenants are not logging on to Landshare. They need some help.
The way I approached the problem was to put a very brief motion to my Labour party general committee explaining the issue and suggesting that the council should appoint an officer to the task of bringing people together. Since we live in times where council officers are being shed rather than hired we’ll have to wait and see, but Tower Hamlets tend to have the knack of finding resources for the elderly, as demonstrated by the recent news story of Liz Kendall’s study into homecare, which found that we are the last council to continue to offer this service for free.
We’re still at a very early stage with this idea, but as we talk about it, the added benefits are coming to light. In Tower Hamlets we’ve already noticed that getting Meals on Wheels down to £2 per meal has resulted in there being absolutely no personal contact with the elderly person, as the delivery staff dash in and out in their effort to stay on schedule. It may well be that Landshare is a good way of providing some personal contact between the elderly person and a member of the community. I’m sure the council would insist that each person applying to have a garden will need a CRB check but that’s just £27. Besides, as a solicitor, I’ve never known a burglar to register for gardening opportunities in their search quarry, so I don’t see this as a potential problem.
As I said it’s still early days for this project, and I don’t know if other parts of the country have the same issues as high density Tower Hamlets, but I wanted to share the idea with like-minded Labour people from other parts, and Progress is where the ideas seem to be happening these days. If there is sufficient interest, maybe Progress can provide some kind of forum for us to swap experience and develop best practice? In the meantime, I’ll report back once the project has become a reality.
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Dan McCurry is a member of Tower Hamlets Labour party
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oh if only – but here say in Kensington/North Westminster one hears people saying ‘we were told it (garden space) it was a “visual amenity only” ie had to be tidied by caretaker etc. Also there are always cases of ‘your dog did its business on my daffodils type of thin – which can lead to a ruck or a punch up. Kids not allowed to play there -but obviously play spaces for young children are often provided as a separate area,its slightly older kids that have no provision (hence Dianne Abbott recently saying let them play footie in the street )
Then there are those who like to pile up stuff that others consider an eyesore but to them its just their bits and pieces ,one often sees that collected around individual doors on estates,I don’t mind that personally –
you know the kind of thing,an old chair to sit in some crazy bits and bobs people don’t want to throw away,some pot plants etc.it can look quite picturesque and round Portobello with some older residents the ‘powers that be ‘ have obviously taken the soft approach but you could see on large estates managers would be led to be more strict ,having concerns over rats,obstructions to pedestrians,handy weapons I’m afraid (yes I have seen one bunch of boys chasing another with bits of wood) So,sorry to go on- but yes management issues with sometimes difficult people – on both sides ie council/residents.
oh if only – but here say in Kensington/North Westminster one hears people saying ‘we were told it (garden space) it was a “visual amenity only” ie had to be tidied by caretaker etc. Also there are always cases of ‘your dog did its business on my daffodils type of thin – which can lead to a ruck or a punch up. Kids not allowed to play there -but obviously play spaces for young children are often provided as a separate area,its slightly older kids that have no provision (hence Dianne Abbott recently saying let them play footie in the street )
Then there are those who like to pile up stuff that others consider an eyesore but to them its just their bits and pieces ,one often sees that collected around individual doors on estates,I don’t mind that personally –
you know the kind of thing,an old chair to sit in some crazy bits and bobs people don’t want to throw away,some pot plants etc.it can look quite picturesque and round Portobello with some older residents the ‘powers that be ‘ have obviously taken the soft approach but you could see on large estates managers would be led to be more strict ,having concerns over rats,obstructions to pedestrians,handy weapons I’m afraid (yes I have seen one bunch of boys chasing another with bits of wood) So,sorry to go on- but yes management issues with sometimes difficult people – on both sides ie council/residents.
Sounds great but I fear it may be one of those ideas that looks simple on paper but becomes complicated quite quickly, as you say not least because of CRB checks.
What I would advise is don’t let bureaucracy stop you – it may be a lengthy and arduous process and sometimes people will say something can’t be done but really they just don’t want to look into it because it will mean more work for them! Hopefully you’ll meet some open minded people willing to work around any obstacles that crop up.
Keep us posted, it sounds like a fantastic idea where applicable. I registered on Landshare to check it out a while ago – nearly got my work signed up to an allotment!
Good luck with this Dan. Just a few thoughts:
Does it have to be ‘official’ – how about getting cards put in newsagents, articles in the the local newspaper, talking to local communitiy groups who can link with the elderly residents who would like their garden tended?
It might be worth talking to Age Concern (now just called Age?) – they have a gardening scheme for elderly who wanted to employ a gardener and Age Concern have a list of gardeners and approved rates. I assume they were CRB checked but they could advise the need to do so and possible offer a service manageing the checks. The may even have some funding!
Don’t assume that private home owners all care for their gardens and that public sector tenants don’t – there are plenty of privately owned (and rented) houses with deglected gardens. Sometimes one person doing their garden can prompt the neighbours to do theirs.
See if you have a guerilla gardeners group locally (or even not so locally)- I sure they would welcome working on someones garden especially if it helps the elderly.
When leafletting your constituents how about having a bit in which asks if any elderly people are interested in making their gardens available.