Broomhouse Market Garden

Grantee: Broomhouse Centre

What we set out to achieve

Broomhouse Market Garden will be a mini community home farm run on a social enterprise model based in Broomhouse, a deprived area in the SW of Edinburgh. It will be a base of operations for community gardening activities across the Broomhouse and the SW of Edinburgh, and a volunteering, training and work experience scheme for the local retired and unemployed people.

We have applied to the Housing department in City of Edinburgh Council for a tract of unused land behind the “shops: and the council fully support the idea of a project going ahead, especially as the neighbours are fully in support.  The Council is keen to see a community greenspace project developed in Broomhouse, are willing to look at a partnership project with us and could / will co-fund.

Community Enterprise Market Gardening

The Market Garden site would accommodate three polytunnels which would be managed by a community gardener and a team of volunteer/ trainees to grow fruit and vegetables for sale or good causes in the local community. Produce could be routed through adjacent community food initiatives.

The Home Farm would support the set-up of distributed community growing sites across Broomhouse and SW of the city on a similar model to Growing Communities in Hackney and Granton Community Gardeners in the North of Edinburgh. We have identified other sites that will be added to the portfolio as demand requires.

Base for Community Gardening Operations

The Home Farm would be a stepping stone for the set-up of a Neighbourhood Garden in Broomhouse, in 2018/2019. It would provide a base for cultivation of plants and the pre-fabrication of sheds and other structures.

The site will have a large purpose built shed for the storage of tools, a venue for workshops, such as ‘Men’s Sheds’, and the fabrication of timber structures.

The Site

The site for the Home Farm is in Broomhouse adjacent to Broomhouse Market. It is approx 325m², and is owned by the Council. The Council have indicated the site is available. The site does not currently have any servicing, though we believe electrical and water services would be possible. The site is surrounded by a palisade fencing, a new gate would be installed to create access from Broomhouse Market.

Where did the idea for the project come from?

As a direct result of a health needs assessment carried out in the area in 2009 the organisation secured funding for a Community Health Hub providing daily health drop-in sessions, cooking on a low budget classes, exercise classes, walking groups and recently a Time Banking Project.  This extends this activity and concept.

How the community has helped us develop our ideas

We have carried out a community participative design and development exercise through a door to door survey to measure demand and capacity of the residents. We have identified potential sites and determined which community greenspace interventions would work best for the neighbourhood.

How our project fits into the bigger picture

The project fits into the vision of building strong and resilient communities, throughout SW Edinburgh, through growing. green spaces and food. We believe that through working collaboratively we can achieve more to improve our health, wellbeing and environment, and provide opportunities for everyone to thrive. Our aspiration is for improved food and economic systems that are healthier and fairer to people and planet.

Where we would like our project to lead us

We’d like this to be the catalyst to run a resident-led initiative to grow food locally and improve diets, while raising awareness of food miles, food waste, recycling and energy consumption.