Belfast calls for urban farmers and gardeners to make city centre greener
7th Aug 2023
A grant of up to £50,000 is being made available to create a city centre social farm or garden in Belfast.
Belfast City Council is seeking expressions of interest from Belfast based small businesses, community groups and schools to create a temporary city centre social farm or garden for a period of around 18 months.
Councillor Clíodhna Nic Bhranair, Chair of Belfast City Council’s City Growth and Regeneration Committee, said: “Our Bolder Vision for Belfast includes encouraging a greener, less polluted city centre – so we want Grey to Green proposals to focus on urban farming, social gardening, or a community food growing initiative, possibly on a council owned site. We’ll be supporting the project we fund through our Advisory Group’s expertise – and we’ll be encouraging proactive community engagement to create a sense of ownership.
“We’re looking forward to seeing greater biodiversity in the city centre being achieved through the introduction of plants, flowers, bug hotels and bird boxes. This is also a great opportunity to raise awareness about food growing, nutrition, and how they link to our health and wellbeing.”
An online information session is being held on Thursday August 10 at 6:30pm and those interested in attending should email belfasti@belfastcity.gov.uk to receive a registration link.
The Grey to Green demonstrator project is a key action arising from last August’s Belfast Healthy Cities ‘Greening the City’ workshop and is part of the ‘Greening the City’ Advisory Group’s ongoing work.
The deadline for expressions of interest is 5pm on Monday, August 21 and projects must be completed by February 29, 2024.
For further information, go to www.belfastcity.gov.uk/greytogreen
ENDS
Editors’ notes:
Organisations represented on the Greening the City Advisory Group are:
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- Belfast City Council
- Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
- Belfast Healthy Cities
- Belfast Hills Partnership
- Department for Infrastructure
- EastSide Partnership
- Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful
- Northern Ireland Environment Link
- Northern Ireland Housing Executive
- Outdoor Recreation NI
- Public Health Agency
- Queen’s University Belfast
- RSPB NI
- Social Farms and Gardens
- West Belfast Partnership Board
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