Grow Blackpool: Impact and Learning

Grow Blackpool:Impact & LearningA report for Groundwork Lancashire West & WiganApril 2013

Jon Kedwards:impact | messagingwww.jonkedwards.co.uk

Grow Blackpool:Impact & Learning

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1. Introduction

Grow Blackpool is an initiative managed by Ground-work that aims to deliver health outcomes through the provision of food growing and community gardening sessions. The project has three broad aims.

• To give people the opportunity to learn more about producing their own fruit and vegetables and boost their personal health and wellbeing;• To develop and rejuvenate local allotments and community gardens;• To increase the amount of fruit and vegetables produced and distributed locally.

The project’s main funding has been 190K awarded by the Big Lottery Fund via the North West Healthy Living Network. Additional continuation funding was secured for a further six months activity, and additional sources of funding have been ‘bolted on’ to the project to achieve additional outcomes such as the physical implementation of new community garden spaces.

This report assesses the success of the initiative so far, attempts to learn lessons and makes recommendations for future delivery.

The following data has been reviewed as part of this work:• Outcome data collected as part of the agreement with the NW Healthy Living Network;• Questionnaires filled in by volunteers and schools;• Feedback from key stakeholders;• Interviews with staff; • Best practice from other community gardening initiatives.

2. The Grow Blackpool Story

2.1 Project need and design

Poor physical and mental health is well documented in Blackpool. From the 2009 Blackpool Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA): Levels of Obesity are 26.4%, physical activity levels (7.4%) are a third of the national average of 24.3%. There are 11,400 people in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) representing 9.9% of the population, nearly twice the national average. People with learning difficulties or mental health problems make up about 30% of DLA recipients, (approximately 3,000 people aged under 65). Amongst the growing population of older people (34% of the population), the two most common mental health problems are depres-sion and dementia.

Blackpool has a higher than national proportion of peo-ple living in hostels or low income families in cramped Victorian terrace properties who have no access to garden space, which itself has a negative impact on mental health and wellbeing. The suicide rate in Black-pool in 2007 was the worst rate nationally and is 5 times higher in men than women. The town has high levels of substance misuse; an estimated 2,325 residents are considered problematic drug users.

When the Health Inequalities National Support Team visited NHS Blackpool they found high drop-out rates from cardiac rehabilitation physical activity pro-grammes and recommended a care pathway approach to improve this. Grow Blackpool was conceived as a sustainable activity option which could be used as an exit route to existing services.


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Boosting skills was also a consideration. 23% of the working age population claim a work related benefit. Community gardening was to be used as a method of motivating people and teaching useful life skills as well as providing an vehicle for improving mental well being, physical activity levels and promoting healthy eating.

This approach mirrors that of the wider portfolio of projects funded through the NW Healthy Living Centre. The aim was to use a community development ap-proach to build the personal and social assets which facilitate improved wellbeing. 1

2.1 Activities delivered

2.11 Community sites

Grow Blackpool began in late 2009. Initially the project was offered a community plot at Cherry Tree allotments which was formally launched in April 2010.

The project began by running two open sessions every Wednesday. Over the following two years the number of sites expanded to five (Cherry Tree allotments, David Slack allotments, Lostock Community Garden, Gorton St Community Garden and the Secret Garden). By 2012 the project was delivering at least three regular time-tabled sessions each week.

The sites have evolved to reflect the needs of the local people that utilise them. For instance, the David Slack Community Allotment is focused on maximising fruit and vegetable production in a small plot and is main-tained by regular volunteers whereas the Secret Garden is a very private wild garden with flowers, vegetables,

1 North West Wellbeing Portfolio, Impact & Insights, 2012, p10

meadow, coppice and pond areas shaped by the people with dementia and their carers who use the garden.

Sessions are designed to be informal and welcoming. Participants are encouraged to get involved with the work that needs doing, and over time,are able to learn about and contribute to all aspects of food growing such as building raised beds, sowing seeds, turning over vegetable beds and planting out.

In carrying out these tasks participants undertake physical exercise, learn about healthy foods, and gain mental wellbeing benefits from working as part of a group in a supportive social setting.

As well as basic allotment tasks, activities have also in-cluded outdoor crafts such as willow weaving, building of bird boxes and other nature habitats, plant identification and even beekeeping. Additional community-based activities have taken place away

Figure 1: Map showing main Grow Blackpool sites


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from the main sites, such as the promotion of grow-ing along a number of streets in the South Beach area, engaging local businesses such as B&Bs.

The team has developed a process from initial engagement to handover of the site that aims to both change behavour and create a sustainable model of working:

1. Attract people to get involved in growing2. Teach growing skills3. Demonstrate health benefits4. Get people physically active5. Make it sustainable6. Improve the area7. Create an asset for people to be proud of 8. Encourage people to run the site by themselves.

2.12 Schools

In addition to the regular sessions the project has sought to engage with a younger age group via local schools. Grow Blackpool has worked with 15 schools with a range of different needs. At some, activities were delivered on existing school garden sites, while others lacked plots so sessions were delivered outside of the school environment.

2.13 Care Homes

A further setting for interventions by Grow Blackpool has been seven local care homes, including two that care for people with dementia. Residents have been encouraged to take part in growing activities within the grounds of homes, with activities designed around their capabilities.

2.13 Businesses

The project also worked with local businesses in the South Shore area, utilising additional funding sourced via Groundwork’s partnership with United Utilities. Sixty businesses – mainly Bed & Breakfast accommodation – received hanging baskets to beautify the area. Business owners were also encouraged to start growing produce within their grounds.

This part of the project was a good example of the ‘ripple effect’ that community garden initiatives can have. A small proportion of the local guest house owners attended simple gardening sessions, but their success in growing and greening their properties has meant that neighbouring properties have sought to copy their efforts, even though they didn’t get involved in the official Grow Blackpool activity.

2.14 Governance

Grow Blackpool has been overseen by a multi-agency steering group comprising statutory and voluntary sec-tor partners. This group monitors the overall direction and performance of the programme, and advises on maintaining links with strategy and best practice.

3. Evidence of Impact

Over the three years of the programme a variety of techniques have been used to measure the impact on beneficiaries. This has included questionnaires, feedback forms, and one to one discussions with par-ticipants, supported by carers or case workers where appropriate. Participants are also asked to complete a diary monitoring form that tracks their personal pro-gression against ten statements on a five point scale.


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3.1 Overall quantitative outcomes

The overall original target for the initiative was to en-gage 2400 beneficiaries over a three year period. This was exceeded by some 20%, with 2884 total beneficia-ries.

Participant data is based on self reported attendance sheets. Total figures are shown in figure 2. It is signifi-cant that achievements relating to mental wellbeing far exceed original expectations.

Actual total Target total DifferenceTotal beneficiaries

2884 2400 120%

Physical activity 2222 2300 97%

Healthy eating 2356 2400 98%

Mental wellbeing 1499 1000 150%

Figure 2: Overall figures

Sessions were designed to achieve a number of pre-determined outcomes, ranging from achieving regular physical activity to reducing social isolation.

Regular project participants were asked to fill in self-assessment tracking questionnaires at intervals to allow tracking of health and wellbeing improvements. They were asked to score themselves out of five against statements such as “I have energy to complete physi-cal activities”, “I am confident in my diet being within healthy guidelines” and “I am feeling optimistic about the future”.

Analysis of this data shows an improvement against all statements. On average, participants scored one point more highly after being involved with Grow Blackpool.

3.12 Physical Activity

The original targets and actual achievements against physical activity outcomes are shown in Figure 3. The programme failed to hit those targets by relatively small amounts. 2030 people were helped to achieve regular physical activity:

Actual Target DifferenceBeneficiaries to achieve regular physical activity (PA1)

2030 2400 85%Over 55s will achieve improvement in strength, co-ordination and mobility (PA4) 274 500 55%

Figure 3: Physical activity outcomes

The tracking questionnaires show that 59.1% of ben-eficiaries saw a health improvement in terms of their ability to carry out physical activities after becoming involved with Grow Blackpool (Figure 4). Figure 5 shows the results for the individual questions in more detail.

A particularly high percentage of people (76%) showed an increase against the statement “I have energy to com-plete physical activities”.

Figure 4: Physical activity, tracking questionnaire results


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3.13 Healthy Eating

The original targets and actual achievements against physical activity outcomes are shown in Figure 6. The programme failed to hit those targets by relatively small amounts. 2343 people (81% of total beneficiaries) improved their awareness of healthy eating while 1885 (65% of total beneficiaries) increased their consumption of fruit and vegetables.

Healthy eating Actual Target Difference

Improve awareness of healthy eating (HE5)

2343 2400 98%Increased consumption of fruit and vegetables (HE6)

1885Increased involvement of pro-duction of fruit and vegetables (HE8) 2336 2400 97%

Figure 6: Healthy eating outcomes

The tracking questionnaires show that 56.8% of benefi-ciaries saw a health improvement in terms of healthy eating after becoming involved with Grow Blackpool (Figure 7). Figure 8 shows the results for the individual questions in more detail.

Figure 5: Physical activity, tracking questionnaire, detailed results. Coloured bars show amount of positive or negative change over the duration of the programme.

Figure 7: Healthy eating, tracking questionnaire results

Figure 8: Healthy eating, tracking questionnaire, detailed results.Coloured bars show amount of positive or negative change over the duration of the programme.


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3.14 Mental Wellbeing

The original targets and actual achievements against mental wellbeing outcomes are shown in Figure 90. A significant over-achievement was made in this target. 1424 people (49% of total beneficiaries) were people with mild to moderate mental health difficulties who received support from the programme.

Actual Target DifferenceSupport people with mild to moder-ate mental health difficulties and improve their health and wellbeing (MH10)

1424 500 285%Reduce the impact of isolation (MH11) 1311 1000 131%

Figure 9: Mental wellbeing outcomes

The tracking questionnaires show that 61.7% of beneficiaries saw a health improvement in terms of mental wellbeing after becoming involved with Grow Blackpool (Figure 10). Figure 11 shows the results for the individual questions in more detail.

3.15 Beneficiaries with the worst healthNot all of those who took part in Grow Blackpool had a poor level of health. To judge the effectiveness of the programme amongst those most in need, it is necessary to focus on those who self-reported a worse level of health.

Figure 11: Mental wellbeing, tracking questionnaire, detailed results. Coloured bars show amount of positive or negative change over the duration of the programme.

Figure 10: Mental wellbeing, tracking questionnaire results


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If we examine the physical activities tracking questions and focus in on those people who started the programme self-reporting scores of just one and two against at least one question (41% of the total), the per-centage that showed an improvement is much higher at 79%. This is shown in Figure 12. This is broadly repli-cated for the other two themes.

There are also a greater percentage of people show-ing a self-reported improvement of two points or more against specific questions – for example 46.1% show an improvement by two points or more against the statement “I have energy to complete physical activities” compared with 28.7 of all beneficiaries. Where Grow Blackpool has attracted participants with poor levels of wellbeing, evidence shows that a significant impact has been made.

3.16 Group questionnaires

Group questionnaires were used when working with groups (such as schools, or the youth offending team) over a short period of time. Figure 13 shows a summary of the results, based on those who filled in a survey at the end of the sessions.

3.17 Who took part in Grow Blackpool?

66% of beneficiaries were aged under 24, with 13% aged 25-64 and nearly 16% age 65 or over. Nearly 10% did not divulge their age. These figures underline the programme’s success at engaging with local schools.

57% of regular participants in Grow Blackpool were male and 43% female. The vast majority of regular participants were White British, with just two regular participants from other ethnic groups. While Blackpool’s ethnic minority makeup is small, at 7.86%, it has seen significant growth in recent years, especially in terms of new migrants from eastern European countries. Many of these migrants are seasonal workers so are likely to be harder to engage in this type of initiative.

63% of regular participants scored themselves at just one or two against at least one of the statements in the tracking questionnaires when they started involvement with Grow Blackpool, indicating some level of poor physical or mental health or poor diet.

3.18 Value for money

Grow Blackpool has a cost per outcome of £19 and a cost of £57 per beneficiary engaged. This puts it well within the ‘value for money’ range outlined by the NW Healthy Living Network.2

2 North West Wellbeing Portfolio, Impact & Insights, 2012, p46

Figure 12: Mental wellbeing, tracking questionnaire results from those self reporting poor health


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3.2 Beneficiary stories

Ken’s storyNorth Park Pocket Garden has seen an under used com-munity space turned into a community garden, with an orchard, veg plot and various other planting. This community garden has been a real success with 2 local schools, local residents and the local reassurance team taking part. Below are a couple of stories from North Park.

Ken is retired and when his house was demolished as part of a regeneration scheme he was rehoused into one of Blackpool’s tower blocks. This process had left him isolated and depressed. Close by, Grow Blackpool developed the North Park Pocket Garden, turning an underused community space into a community garden

with an orchard and vegetable plot. This gave Ken a venue to rekindle a love of gardening, from which he has progressed on to Grow Blackpool’s main allotment site.

The project has enabled Ken to get out and meet new people, reducing his isolation. He has increased his physical activity through gardening and also by cycling to the allotment weekly.

Janet’s storyJanet first attended a Grow Blackpool session in June 2010 at the Gorton St Community Garden. She worked hard and contributed to the garden, winning a highly commended prize at Blackpool in Bloom. Janet moved on to volunteering at the new larger sites of Cherry Tree

Figure 13: Mental wellbeing, tracking questionnaire results from those self reporting poor health


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Community Garden and David Slack Allotments where she could learn new skills.

Eventually Janet’s confidence grew and she obtained her own allotment plot. Although it was a big step it wasn’t big enough and she soon wanted a bigger more derelict plot so she could put her own stamp on it. In late 2011 she finally was given an ideal space, where she has built her own raised beds, installed her own pathways and sheds and now grown ample produce for friends and family.

The impact on Janet’s health has been visible – she has lost weight and has reduced her smoking significantly. Her confidence has increased to the extent that she has played a leading role in the development of a local school allotment and is far more engaged within the local community.

Other beneficiary outcomesThe wealth of case study material collected by Grow Blackpool illustrates outcomes for individuals including: • Improvements in social interaction reduction in isolation;• Increase in happiness;• Greater ability to focus on see a task through to completion (particularly for those with learning difficulties);• Greater focus on health and wellbeing in general, through a better diet and reduction in smoking;• Increased motivation to seek out training and/or employment. • Increased community cohesion, through intergenerational activities and through differently abled people working together.

“I started because I was out for work for a year and had been getting down, shutting myself away from every-one. I wanted to make a difference and see something through from start to finish.

“I’ve learnt new skills, it’s helped with wellbeing and am much happier when I attend. Sense that you’re help-ing others just be listening and talking. I’ve improved health and fitness by eating healthier foods and riding a bike to and from sessions”Regular volunteer

3.3 Evidence from schools and other stakeholders

Consultation with partners has included asking groups and organisations who have participated in Grow Black-pool to complete a written questionnaire about their experience of the project, what they have learnt, what benefits it had for them and how the service could be improved.

Schools found that engaging with the programme brought benefits to pupils far beyond simply gaining additional knowledge about food and growing. Pupils were observed to be happier, more focused and better at working in a group.

“Pupils are able to work together more positively... it’s helped with social cohesion [Grow Blackpool has made us more aware of how learning outside the classroom can change lives. It’s helped with social cohesion and the pupils are happier”Denise Gough-Jones, Speedwell Centre


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“I have seen pupils have greater empathy for others and a better ability to work as a team and persevere with a task... we want to build on what we have done so far and get more pupils involved.”Tina Milner, St George’s School

At the opposite end of the age spectrum, the proj-ect has had particular success at working within care homes. Gardening activities have proved particularly beneficial in the context of working with people with dementia. The sensory experience has often triggered memories and proved a useful form of therapy accord-ing to staff:

“Tom was going to help out with planting some herbs but asked if he could paint the raised beds with wood-stain instead. He was remembering memories from several years ago of painting and that he was quite good at it. He worked away for over two hours and re-ally enjoyed it. Many residents stated that they enjoyed the scent of various flowers they worked with or saw in the garden. Smell is a powerful stimulus which can im-mediately evoke strong memories and is such is highly therapeutic for dementia sufferers.”Beth Sheridan, Sheridan Care

Other partner comments collected include:

“The project provides local people with an alternative solution to improving their health and wellbeing as an alternative to more traditional methods. The project is very accessible and has produced some excellent results.

“This is largely due to an extremely committed and motivated project team who are very passionate about the project and its development, always looking for

new ideas and approaches to encourage wider partici-pation and engagement.”Lynne Saggerson, Manager, Volunteer Centre Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde

3.4 Environmental impact

Grow Blackpool has made physical environmental improvements at a number of sites around the town, improving a total of 2582 square metres over four years. A summary can be seen in Figure 15.

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 Total

The area of land improved in square metres.

137 400 1880 165 2582

The area of land main-tained or actively managed in square metres.

100 1740 280 2120

The number of trees planted

29 80 664 92 865

Figure 14: Environmental improvements

The initiative has also sought to teach some basic principles relating to permaculture and sustainable development amongst participants. Food growing has been used as a vehicle to bring sustainable develop-ment to life.

4. Practical project learning

4.1 Challenges

Solo project deliveryIt was found to be very challenging to deliver activities successfully with a single trainer/supervisor. Sessions ran much more smoothly with additional support, whether from a teacher, additional member of staff or an experienced volunteer.


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Changing mindsIn some of the communities the project worked in it took longer than expected to engage many local peo-ple. Attitudes such as ‘waste of time doing that here’, ‘it’ll get wrecked’, ‘you can’t grow things in Blackpool’ were commonplace. Often people are not convinced until a project has proved its staying power. Seeking out those who will become community ambassadors is crucial to battling negative attitudes.

This was replicated in dealing with some parts of the public sector. While some individuals and teams just ‘got it’, others had entrenched attitudes and proved to be blockages.

Capturing impactAlthough the data collection forms provided by the NW Healthy Living Network were felt to be useful, staff are clear that many outcomes were not properly captured. This particularly relates to outcomes such as increased community cohesion and development of social capital.

Multiple sitesWhile having lots of sites with regular activities has helped to attract beneficiaries from a larger area, managing sessions, tools and equipment has proved operationally difficult. Fewer sites, with taster sessions/short courses happening elsewhere could be an easier model.

Developing long-term volunteersEvidence from evaluations by long-term volunteers shows a desire to learn more new skills beyond the core growing activities, eg green woodworking and bush-crafts. Keeping long-term participants interested while also providing activities designed for the inexperienced can be challenging.

4.2 Successes

Regular, but flexible sessionsHaving regular, timetabled sessions at the different sites made a big difference to retaining participants – but it was often necessary to have contingency plans in case of circumstances such as bad weather. It’s better to run sessions come rain or shine rather than have gaps dur-ing which people drift away.

Tailoring sessionsSessions needed to be tailored to the particular group to achieve the best outcomes. Different types of activi-ties were delivered on some of the different sites to fit with needs of regular participants. Individuals have had vastly different needs and expectations and these need to be identified early in the engagement process.

Growing people and handing over responsibilityLong-term volunteers gain skills and experience that means they are as well-placed as staff members to run sessions and pass on their knowledge. Letting go of control and handing over sites to the community is helping to develop sustainability.

Discovering useful settings for activitySome types of organisations and groups were par-ticularly easy to engage with and provided access to a wider group of beneficiaries. Schools were particularly enthusiastic and they allowed the project to make quick wins in the early stages. Local bowling clubs proved to be an excellent way of engaging with older people.


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5. Conclusion

Grow Blackpool has proved itself to be a successful model of improving health and wellbeing through the provision of regular growing activities. It attracted a larger number of beneficiaries than originally specified and can show some impressive results in terms of self-reported health improvements – particularly for mental health. Beneficiary and stakeholder feedback is over-whelmingly positive, clearly demonstrating the value of Grow Blackpool both to those who have taken part and partner organisations who have referred clients to the project.

There is evidence of a wide ranging and long lasting im-pact on some individuals. Grow Blackpool has helped to build personal and social assets to help sustain change, facilitate wellbeing and maximise people’s capabilities.

The initiative has also been successful in its stated aim of developing and improving local community gardens and allotments with five new gardens now existing as community venues for local food growing. One of these has been taken over fully by the community and is demonstrating sustainability.

The final aim, that of increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables produced and distributed locally didn’t form part of the formal funding arrangements and as such has not been measured effectively. The project can point to a greater number of people growing their own food, a greater interest in local food and sustainability amongst those individuals, and some evidence of a cascade effect to others.

6. Recommendations

6.1 Refine the offer to health commissioners

The success of Grow Blackpool provides a platform to engage with the new NHS Blackpool Clinical Commis-sioning Group and the local authority as it takes on new public health functions. Grow Blackpool should develop a more targeted service offer that clearly meets local need, focusing on the strength of the evidence base relating to this type of project. That means both high-lighting Grow Blackpool’s own data and putting it into a wider context of evidence relating to similar types of interventions elsewhere. The offer needs to demon-strate it is planned, implemented and evaluated with a theoretical underpinning in order to give Commission-ers of services greater confidence.

Given the strength of the data, it would seem particu-larly appropriate to target Blackpool Council’s new responsibility for public mental health services.

6.2 Develop new income streams with schools and care homes

The success of the initiative in engaging with both schools and care homes has provided a wealth of case study information and knowledge about ‘what works’ in these settings. This puts Grow Blackpool in a strong position to develop paid-for services targeted at these sectors.

6.3 Have a greater focus on food security

The issue of food security is increasing in profile. Brit-ain imports 40 per cent of all food consumed and the proportion is rising. The threat to British food supplies is potentially “disastrous”, according to the Global Food


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Security programme3, which is run by the Biotechnol-ogy and Biological Sciences Research Council, and backed by the government.

Agriculture Minister David Heath recently told the media that the future prospect of the public “digging for survival” was “not overstating it by a lot”.4 Grow Blackpool should seek to develop a strand of work that focuses on promoting food security within local com-munities to create resilience in the face of this long-term trend.

Recent changes to levels of benefits have led to anec-dotal reports of people being forced to skip meals5 and soaring levels of demand at some food banks.6 Food insecurity is already here for many.

6.4 Link Grow Blackpool to skills develop-ment initiatives

Community gardening can offer a route back towards employment. As Grow Blackpool’s own evidence shows, it can improve mental wellbeing and self-confidence – essential for participation in the labour market. Evidence shows that other transferable and techni-cal skills can be developed through urban growing7. Greater linkage between the Grow Blackpool project and Groundwork’s wider employment services could provide additional income streams and provide more tangible outcomes for unemployed participants.

3 http://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/issue/uk.html4 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9996129/Britain-may-need-to-dig-for-survival-minister-says.html5 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/poorest-set-for-perfect-storm-on-benefit-cuts-the-lowpaid-disabled-and-jobless-will-be-hit-hardest-8555225.html6 http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/soaring-demand-for-sheffield-food-banks-as-benefit-cuts-bite-1-55853697 Roots to work: Developing employability through community food-growing and urban agriculture projects, Sustain, 2011

6.5 Improve measurement of success

Grow Blackpool should design alternative methods of capturing successes in any future iteration of the programme. This could include building in frameworks relating to Social Return on Investment (SROI) and de-veloping more effective ways of recording the stories of beneficiaries over time.

6.5 Develop ways of engaging more deeply with targeted groups

A criticism that can often be made of open-access well-being projects is that they can attract the already well rather than those most in need8. Grow Blackpool can show that 63% of beneficiaries scored themselves at a low level according to statements about their health when first becoming involved with the project. This figure could be improved by designing initiatives that better target groups with particular health conditions, with stronger partnerships with GPs and other local care services. Given Grow Blackpool’s evident success in making an impact on mental wellbeing, targeting those with mental health problems is recommended.

6.6 Consider developing Grow Blackpool as a town campaign

Grow Blackpool’s wider aim of increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables grown and distributed locally can’t be delivered by one small team. More thought should be given to how the Grow Blackpool brand could be used to front a wider campaign around food growing in the town that brings in more organisations and com-munity groups. Inspiration can be taken from other successful initiatives such as Incredible Edible Todmor-den (IET) that have successfully inspired a DIY approach within local communities and through that challenged

8 Target Wellbeing: Portfolio Report, 2012, p14


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institutional barriers to greater local food growing and encouraged the development of a greater local food culture. The IET approach of ‘propaganda gardens’ in high profile public spaces could be a starting point to enthusing other groups to taking part in a Grow Black-pool campaign. 9 Campaigning activity would likely have the knock-on effect of raising the profile of core Grow Blackpool activities and attracting additional beneficiaries.

6.7 Consider alternative approaches to delivery

Spreading intensive Grow Blackpool activities over mul-tiple sites has proved logistically difficult. Developing one site as more of a central hub that could be a show-case for a wider variety of crops and activities could be beneficial. This, coupled with a greater emphasis on the development of ‘micro gardens’ led by volunteers could help to spread the work of Grow Blackpool with less intensive input from a central team. The provision of a basic level of support to create many garden sites was the principle behind the successful Capital Growth initiative in London. 10

9 Compendium for the Civic Economy, NESTA, 2011, p8610 The impact of Capital Growth on community food growing in London, Sustain, 2013


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Grow Blackpool: Impact and Learning

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