Market town sowed seeds of revolution with ‘grow local’ gospel

But that’s exactly what happened in the West Yorkshire market town of Todmorden, where slowly but surely a gospel of locally produced and home-grown food has captured the imagination of the world.

Incredible Edible Todmorden is one of a number of case studies included with the report, which calls on residents to work out what makes their town special and pull together to celebrate it.

It began when two friends started planting vegetables in their front gardens and handing them out for free as a way of highlighting the issue of food security at a time of climate change and global strife.

Suddenly, vegetables were sprouting on unused patches of land throughout the town – a kind of “guerilla gardening” which the locals couldn’t fail to notice.

It was a great use of empty land and a civilised protest against bureaucracy, local authority strategies and endless trails of paperwork. “We don’t ask permission. It takes too long and anyway we’re improving the place,” Pam Warhurst, Incredible Edible’s co-founder, said at the time.

The infectious enthusiasm of the volunteers snowballed into a community effort with everyone from the local police station to the old people’s home involved in growing. The local High School serves its own produce, grown in a commercial sized polytunnel, in the canteen.

A local social landlord, Pennine Housing, got in on the act by giving out free seeds, running cookery demonstrations and changing its own rules to allow tenants to keep chickens.

The council has bought into the vision and offered expertise. It has adopted policies to enable community land to be converted into growing.

As the project grew, businesses in the town started to benefit from more visitors and a form of “vegetable tourism” was born.

Today, an ambitious green walking route is planned which will link all the main sights of the town, as well as the shopping streets.

Whether seen as a food revolution or a survival strategy, Incredible Edible Todmorden has given the town a new lease of life.