Written by Santa Pedone of Reclaiming our Spaces It is well known how grassroots community organising often falls into fragmentation and in so doing it weakens the potential impact of any well thought-through campaign. It was from this awareness that the Reclaim Our Spaces (RoS) coalition, was initially born. On 25 June 2016 a number…
Our lives are shaped by the spaces in which we live. When we give away important community space for another transient pop-up cafe or block of luxury flats, we give away part of our lives. We give away London’s cultural and community history. The planning system is not currently equipped with the policies required to protect…
As part of the ‘Just Space Conference – A Community Led Plan for London’ on the 4th of February, 2016, the Community Food Growers Network (CFGN) hosted a panel with speakers from across London’s community food sector on the following topics: 1. What could policy makers do to expand your work? 2. What are the…
Just Space is developing proposals for what should be in the next London Plan – a vision and planning policies for London for the next 20 years. All the London Plans since the GLA was created in 2000 have been drafted by the Mayor and Londoners have only been able to comment, not initiate proposals. This time London’s community groups are insisting that they influence the formative stages: identifying London’s problems and needs and formulating policies. Just Space will be submitting a draft plan to the new Mayor during their first days in office in May 2016.
This time last year UCL students working with Just Space approached different organisations to research what policies should be in the ‘Food Production’ section of the draft plan. These included organisations such as the Community Food Growers Network, Capital Growth, Federation of City Farms and Gardens, Women’s Environmental Network, the London Permaculture group and Friends of the Earth.
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