Meeting of minds

Equally, few grassroots schemes have been as successful as the Incredible Edible Todmorden initiative, a past winner of a Yorkshire Post Environment Award and which has seen the whole community embrace the concept of grow-your-own fruit and vegetables.

It is, therefore, particularly fitting that the Prince of Wales should choose to visit this ground-breaking initiative as part of his week-long tour of the country next month to endorse, and celebrate, those projects that find themselves at the forefront of Britain's sustainability revolution.

It will very much be a meeting of minds. But, with the Prince's unyielding enthusiasm and influence, there's no reason the Todmorden initiative cannot grow and be implemented across the country. For, in many respects, the residents involved were embracing the "big society" principle years before David Cameron coined the phrase during the election.