Todmorden News

Award Success For Incredible Edible Todmorden

A community project which is helping people grow their own fruit and veg is celebrating today after winning a Yorkshire Post Environment Award. Incredible Edible Todmorden was presented with the Community Award by Climate Change minister Ed Miliband and BBC1 Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury at a prestigious ceremony in Leeds last night. The Community Award was sponsored by Yorkshire Water.

The scheme was up against dozens of innovative businesses and community groups across the region. Incredible Edible Todmorden aims to increase the amount of local food grown and eaten in the town and surrounding area. The ultimate aim is for the town to be self sufficient in vegetables by 2018.

The project is supported by Calderdale Council under the Community Land Use Proposal and Calderdale Incredible Edible Growing Guidance. Calderdale Council is unique in drawing up formal proposals to support such a scheme. The agreement will enable the Council to work in partnership with groups and individuals across the borough, to make it easier for them to free up land to grow their own produce.

Businesses, schools, farmers and the community are all involved. The awards ceremony was attended by a variety of groups involved in the scheme, from the Probation Service to schools, Northern Rail, members of the community and Calderdale Council Street Wardens. The scheme has seen vegetables and fruit springing up everywhere, with public flower beds being transformed into community herb gardens and vegetable patches. Projects include:

• Britain’s first railway station community vegetable beds, in the car park at Northern Rail’s Todmorden station
• A whole school approach to growing quality food at Todmorden High School, with a commercial poly tunnel bursting with edibles
• Six primary schools all with incredible parent-led growing groups
• 2 community orchards on council-licensed land
• Permission to grow food in the new Todmorden health centre
• Local food marketing project
• The development of small home aquaponic systems
• An ‘every egg matters’ marketing campaign.

Councillor Ian Cooper, Calderdale Council’ s Cabinet Member for Community Services, said:-

“It really is incredible how this scheme has encouraged people all over the Upper Calder Valley to start growing their own fruit and veg. Incredible Edible Todmorden is an example to communities across the country of how they can really make a difference by working together, and planting small seeds that grow into big changes.”