Landshare is a fantastic opportunity for football and other sports grounds to make use of their space and promote healthy lifestyles. Providing a growing space for local residents can improve links with the community, and bring more people into the club. Getting sports players involved in growing their own healthy, fresh food and veg can improve their health, fitness and performance, and give them vital skills for their career after football. Giving your staff the chance to grow their own food can lead to increased job satisfaction and better health, saving you money on staff turnaround and health insurance costs.
Choose your setup
If you’re a sports club interested in setting up a growing space, there are different ways in which you can do it. If you have an area of land that would be suitable for a group of people to grow on, you can list it on Landshare as an opportunity for a community group to take it on as a community growing space. The group would then be able to bring in local schools and other groups to enjoy and learn at the site.
If staff and players at the club are enthusiastic about growing their own food, it’s a great idea to provide some plots or a communal growing space for them. Read our company case study to find out more about how providing a growing space can benefit your company. Of course, if your staff are also athletes whose performance you depend upon, there are even more benefits.
It’s a good idea to offer space to the local community. Local growers can bring expertise to the site, and help keen the momentum going.
Planning
If you’re planning a major change of use for your site, or building structures like raised beds, sheds and greenhouses, you may need to check whether you need planning permission. The need for planning permission is decided on a case-by-case basis. Visit the government’s Planning Portal to find out more.
Insurance
Your plot will probably require public liability insurance. Speak to your current public liability insurance provider to check whether your insurance already covers the plot. If you need to get additional cover, it could be added to your current insurance. Alternatively, NSALG can offer insurance for allotments to members.
Funding
There are lots of places to turn to for funding for grow-your-own projects. The Big Lottery and Local Food are both good starting points. The Everton FC growing project attracted funds from their local Primary Care Trust and the Football Foundation. Your local council may also be able to help you access local authority funds.
Create your Landshare listing (and check for responses)
Use Landshare to create a listing for your space. You can list is as a single space and specify that you’d like a group to approach you, or you can list allotment plots individually. Even if you’re letting the plots to staff, using the website can help you manage and advertise those plots, and keep track of who is on which plot. It’s also an important way to find community growers for your site.
Once you’ve created your listing, it’s important that you respond to any requests to grow. You’ll receive a notification by email of any new applications on your plots. Add info@landshare.net to your address book to make sure that you receive notification emails.
Keepy-uppy the good work
Once you’ve created your site and found your growers, you can keep momentum going by blogging on Landshare about your scheme (you may even make it into our newsletters), and organising get-togethers for your growers on the plot. The food that’s grown can be taken home by the growers or used in the café or staff canteen, and excess can be shared with the wider community.
Advice for sports fans – get your team involved
If you’re a fan of a local team or club, you could help create growing opportunities by encouraging your club to follow the lead of Everton FC, who created growing opportunities for local families at Goodison Park. Helping your club’s players access fresh fruit and veg could improve your team’s performance, so it’s win-win for you and your team.
Contact your club to suggest that they start growing. You can email them a link to this toolkit, or print off a pdf version. You could even start a petition to show how many local fans want to see food-growing introduced, and get your local newspaper or TV station to spread your message. If you write about your efforts on Landshare, we’ll help promote you too, through our newsletter, facebook page and twitter.
Next: Read the Everton FC case study.
