Key Points
- Community Land Rights: Community groups made up of five or more people living in Hackney have the right to apply for taking over unused council land and growing fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers through a newly launched pilot ‘Right to Grow’ scheme.
- Allowed Sites: Allowed sites include land around council buildings, roadside verges, and vacant green areas. Parks belonging to the borough are not included in the list of locations that the scheme covers.
- Procedures: Participants are supposed to obtain official permission from the council before doing any activities. In order to protect people’s health, food growing should be done on raised beds or grow bags only.
- Application and Finance: Participation in the scheme is free of charge; however, groups should be prepared to find the necessary money and construct garden sites independently of the council’s assistance.
- Pilot Scheme: At first, only 10 applications will be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis. Permissions will last for six months and will then be reviewed.
- Background: The scheme belongs to the mayor of Hackney, Zoë Garbett’s Who Owns Hackney campaign – an audit of municipally owned land.
Hackney (East London Times) September 11, 2026 — Groups of local residents across the London Borough of Hackney are being given the formal right to claim unused council-owned land and transform it into community gardens, following the launch of a new pilot scheme by Hackney Council.
As confirmed in the council’s scheme guidelines, the initiative—known as the ‘Right to Grow’ pilot—allows groups of five or more people, including informal collections of neighbours, to apply for permission to cultivate vacant public land. Participating groups can utilise these spaces to grow fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
Eligible plots include unused land around council-owned buildings, roadside verges, and vacant green spaces scattered across the borough. However, established public parks are explicitly excluded from the scheme. Before any planting or site preparation can begin, groups must submit a detailed project application to the council so officers can inspect the location to ensure it is safe, free from developmental constraints, and suitable for agricultural use.
What are the financial and operational rules governing the new pilot scheme?
While applying to the Right to Grow scheme is entirely free, participating groups will have to cover all setup and ongoing maintenance costs independently. As detailed in the official municipal guidance, Hackney Council will not provide tools, materials, training, or financial subsidies to successful applicants.
Furthermore, strict health and safety conditions apply to the physical management of the plots. To prevent soil contamination risks, any group intending to grow edible crops must use raised beds or grow bags rather than planting directly into the ground.
The scheme is currently structured as a pilot project, with the council approving up to 10 applications in its first phase on a first-come, first-served basis. Successful groups will receive an initial six-month land-use permission. At the conclusion of this period, council officers will evaluate how effectively the group has managed the space before deciding whether to extend the tenure. Town Hall officials have indicated that further application rounds will follow if the initial phase proves successful.
Why is the Right to Grow scheme being launched in Hackney now?
The pilot scheme forms a core element of the Who Owns Hackney campaign, spearheaded by the Mayor of Hackney, Zoë Garbett. The campaign functions as a comprehensive municipal audit of land use and ownership across the East London borough, intended to identify vacant or underutilised public assets and unlock them for public interest projects.
As highlighted by campaign organizers within the Hackney Right to Grow coalition, the wider ‘Right to Grow’ movement is an initiative designed to reduce administrative red tape and provide urban communities with equitable access to land. Hackney is amongst a growing cohort of London local authorities adopting the framework, following similar policies enacted by Southwark Council.
Campaigners have noted that urban food-growing projects play a key role in improving local biodiversity, addressing social isolation, and boosting mental and physical well-being. By simplifying the application process and providing clear parameters for public land use, the Town Hall aims to foster community resilience and establish a direct framework for residents to shape their local environment.
Background of the Right to Grow initiative
The ‘Right to Grow’ movement originated as a grassroots campaign pioneered by environmental and community groups across the United Kingdom, notably led by the national organisation Incredible Edible alongside regional bodies such as Capital Growth. The core objective of the movement is to address the systemic barriers that urban residents face when attempting to access land for non-commercial food production. Historically, local communities seeking to cultivate unmanaged public land encountered complex legal frameworks, costly lease arrangements, and opaque bureaucratic structures that discouraged local stewardship.
In response to growing public demand for local sustainability projects and the rising cost of living, several UK local authorities began exploring mechanisms to streamline access to municipal property. Southwark Council became the first London borough to formally adopt a Right to Grow policy, creating a blueprint for other urban councils.
In Hackney, local activists and food networks established the Hackney Right to Grow coalition to lobby the local authority for formal land-use rights. The coalition organised public meetings and community mapping exercises—including ‘Plant Out Days’ using digital mapping tools like what3words—to identify suitable plots of unused land. The introduction of the pilot scheme by Hackney Council marks the formal integration of these community-led demands into municipal policy, bringing local land-use procedures into alignment with broader London-wide urban agriculture strategies.
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Prediction: How this development will affect local residents and community groups
The launch of the Right to Grow pilot scheme is expected to have several distinct impacts on residents, community organisations, and the broader borough environment in the short and long term.
For local residents, particularly those living in high-density housing or flats without private gardens, the scheme provides a structured, legal pathway to access outdoor space and cultivate fresh produce. By requiring minimum group sizes of five people, the initiative naturally encourages neighbourhood collaboration. This is likely to foster stronger local social cohesion, reduce urban isolation, and provide accessible recreational activities that benefit physical and mental health. However, because participating groups must self-fund their gardens and manage all ongoing upkeep, the burden of maintenance rests entirely on local volunteers. Consequently, the long-term viability of individual plots will depend heavily on the sustained engagement and financial resourcefulness of the participating neighbours.
For community organisations and local environmental groups, the scheme offers a valuable framework to expand grassroots climate action without encountering traditional administrative barriers. If the initial 10 pilot plots prove successful, the council is likely to expand the initiative in subsequent rounds, potentially creating a network of micro-community gardens across Hackney. This expansion could enhance local urban biodiversity, reduce localized heat island effects, and improve the visual amenity of previously neglected streetscapes and council-owned verges. Conversely, if groups struggle to maintain their plots or encounter financial shortfalls, the council may face challenges regarding abandoned raised beds, requiring clear policy enforcement during the six-month review phase.
