Community group shuts gardens over council dispute

A food and climate organisation is shutting down part of its operation after a dispute with the local town council.

The Cherwell Collective said it was closing its community gardens in Bicester because the authority had not provided it with land use agreement, which would help the charity secure further funding.

Its founder and director, Dr Emily Connally, said she was "heartbroken" and accused Bicester Town Council of denying the charity "the basic minimum support it could give".

A spokesperson for Bicester Town Council declined to comment.

Cherwell Collective is a non-profit organisation based in Kidlington which runs community larders and aims to reduce food waste.

Its Harvest@Home project teaches adults and children to grow their own food at community gardens in north Oxfordshire.

The charity said it had invested about £60,000 since 2020 into improving green spaces in Bicester, including community gardens on Garth Park and Grebe Road.

However, Connally said without a land use agreement from Bicester Town Council that would formally recognise the charity's right to work at the sites, it could no longer afford to run them.

She said councillors agreed in 2022 to give her organisation the agreement but nothing has yet been provided by council officers.

It would also allow them to secure further funding, insure their workers and make plans for the future, she added.

"In spite of multiple attempts to engage the council and secure this agreement... they just haven't done it," she said.

"We've just come to a point where our leadership has realised we're never going to have that agreement in hand and we can't stay operating in those areas without it."

The staff member responsible for coordinating work and volunteers at the gardens, Amanda Bloom, had stepped down, Connally said, and would not be replaced.

"We wish the community and Bicester Town Council the very best," she said.

"Amanda has worked in good faith and delivered excellence in spite of not having the basic minimum support the council could give.."

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