The green zone

Regeneration & Renewal, 19 October 2009

A Hackney orchard created by residents

Three years ago, Butterfield Green in Hackney, east London, was almost completely submerged under a tangle of weeds and ivy. According to local residents, it was a no-go area: crime was rife and parents were nervous about letting their children play there. The layout was also complicated and did not lend itself to community interaction - the park was difficult to cross and there was no obvious central space.

Then, in 2007, the local Shakespeare Neighbourhood Residents Association (SNRA) made it a priority to regenerate the park and create a safe and accessible facility for people living nearby. With support from Hackney Council Parks Service and Growing Communities, a Hackney-based social enterprise that sets up sustainable food projects in community gardens, the group cleared a section of the green and planted 37 apple trees, each one sponsored by Butterfield Green residents for around £20.

Two years on, the Orchard Group - a sub-group of the SNRA tasked with managing the project - has made the orchard the focal point for a number of community activities, such as an annual fair, gardening workshops and planting days. There is a small herb patch in a corner of the orchard, two community notice-boards funded by the London Woodland Grants Scheme, three benches built by a local carpenter and purchased with a £2,000 grant from Groundwork East London, and a path linking the orchard with the rest of the green. The council has cleared the entire park and provided a water pump for gardening and a footbridge over a potentially hazardous pile of boulders. The space has been considerably opened up and the orchard acts as the north-west entrance to Butterfield Green.

The result of all this work was a commendation in the British Urban Regeneration Association (Bura) 2008 Awards for Community Inspired Regeneration. The awards are sponsored by the Department for Communities and Local Government and aim to identify community-led projects that are helping to tackle exclusion and improve the lives of local residents.

However, members of the SNRA have expressed concern that a new parks service team at Hackney council is not as dedicated as the previous one, and that funding difficulties brought on by the recession may hamper the sustainability of the project.

Regeneration & Renewal visited the orchard with Catherine Miller, London regional officer for the Federation of City Farms and Community Orchards. We asked her for her views.

- How well has the orchard been integrated into Butterfield Green?

I think they've done it well. The orchard is on the edge of the park, so it doesn't dominate and visitors are encouraged to walk through it to get to other areas of the green. This means it is inclusive rather than appearing like private property. A facility is much more likely to attract vandalism if it seems inaccessible. I think they've managed to enhance the space rather than drastically alter it, and this is important in a community-based project where huge change might upset people.

- What do you think of the activities held there?

They are one of the major strengths of the project. The group has formed links with local schools and organised activities for teachers, children and their families. I was particularly impressed by the worksheets distributed to schools around Butterfield Green. They are beautifully designed and encourage teachers to bring pupils to the orchard and help them learn about different species of apple trees and wild flowers. Events such as the tree pruning workshops, summer fair and autumn apple-picking days are a fantastic way of engaging the whole community and giving people the chance to learn skills they might not gain otherwise.

- How much has the orchard contributed to community cohesion?

It provides a place for people of different backgrounds and ages to meet. Compared to other garden projects I have seen, this one reaches out to a huge range of people and consciously avoids excluding anyone. When we spoke to people running the project, they were keen for the orchard to develop with support from all the residents. They said they had debated the possibility of smartening up the path and putting up signs telling people to pick up dog waste, but decided against it for fear of placing restrictions on a space that was meant to be owned and cared for by everyone. Having said that, a community project depends initially on the passion and expertise of those that started it, so it is up to them to instil pride in others. On a general note, Butterfield Green is clearly a much nicer place than it was ten years ago, and this is reflected in rising property prices and growth of cafes and shops in the area.

- Annie Wilson and Pat O'Leary, the project's head coordinators, have used the expertise of other local community bodies. Has this collaboration worked?

They are certainly clued up about forming partnerships - both to obtain funding and advice. They secured start-up money from Growing Communities and Groundwork East London and, as a result, the project cost them virtually nothing to launch. They also involved young people in the project by seeking help with gardening and tree-planting from a local youth group called The Tree Musketeers. They are also working with the local council estate's tenants association, holding meetings in their resource centre. In my opinion Annie and Pat showed a lot of initiative teaming up with these organisations.

- What about the relationship with the local council?

The coordinators said they were in the process of submitting a maintenance plan to Hackney council, appealing for more regular communication between SNRA and the council parks team, which can only be a good thing. However, they did express dissatisfaction with the council, saying it lacked interest in the development of Butterfield Green and took a long time to get anything done.But I think these are fairly standard complaints against a local authority. The group doesn't seem to require too much additional support from the council.

- How highly do you rate the environmental success of the orchard?

That's difficult to judge because conservation is not the principal aim of the project. It's not meant to be simply aesthetically pleasing, either. A typical local authority park, managed for members of the public to passively enjoy, will be more manicured. A community garden is managed with the aim of involving people in every stage of its development, which means you can't judge the project on the quality of the apple trees, for example. The point is to allow anyone - even if they do not have previous experience of gardening - to take part.

- Do you have any concerns about its long-term sustainability?

This is contingent on the wider economy and it will be harder if the project coincides with budget cuts. It may be beneficial to team up with charities that have regular volunteers and paid staff who can take responsibility for running activities. However, the foundations are in place. I was particularly impressed by the group's idea of generating small-scale funding by setting up stalls at community events and selling plants, secondhand books, bric-a-brac, tea towels and cards, in order to buy garden tools and seeds. The group is right to concentrate on empowering local people so that they have a vested interest in seeing the project do well.n

There are inherent problems with integrating something new into a space that already has a variety of user groups and purposes.