Food Forest Public Consultation

Thank you to members of our community who participated in the food forest planning consultation that we held at the Katherine Road Community Centre. It was a well-attended event with positive contribution from local people. 

We kicked off by outlining what makes a food forest, explaining the benefits, why they should be included within our green spaces, the advantages over conventional food growing and how they combat climate change. 

We discussed how we make the space work, outlining the steps to implementation and how to get involved.

Then we moved onto design planning, looking at plant selections and possible alternatives. We spoke about the practical considerations governing which plants are suitable and where they might be placed.

We have already created a prototype design as part of the funding application process. This allowed us to see what could work with space, light etc. and to create a basic costing. 

The consultation process gave us the opportunity to discuss where we could change the provisional plant selection, with thought given to practical considerations, such as soil type and moisture levels. 

There was really useful feedback on plants which could be introduced into the system, to perform additional ground cover functions. These ideas will be taken forward! The rest of the design was approved by the public to be taken forward from the prototype stage. 

Now we just need to get moving, turning our work together into a reality!