Last week, the Edible Streets team from Oxford Brookes University headed to the OPT awards at St. John’s College, where they were delighted to be recognised within the ‘Community Impact’ category. The judges commended the planters’ design and positive contribution to the streetscape, the depth of collaboration with the local community, and last but not least the incredible crop on the residents’ beautiful ‘Ingrid’ almond tree (hands off). ‘Community Impact’ is a new category for the Awards this year, but it’s one that’s central to the OPT’s objectives of protecting, enhancing, and promoting broad public access to Oxford’s amenities and green spaces. We hope Malford Road’s Edible Street will continue to have a positive impact for local residents, and will help pave the way for other community growing initiatives across the city.
Despite being a relatively small scheme, it took a huge amount of collaboration to make this project happen. We’d like to acknowledge the wide range of people at Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council – the Tree Service, Highways and Public Health – who helped to cut through some very sticky red tape; as well as the contractors and suppliers who made the scheme a reality – Gaiaveda Gardens, North Oxfordshire Topsoils, and Border Hardwood Ltd. Biggest thanks of all of course go to the residents themselves for their generally wonderful enthusiasm and commitment to the project!
At Sow Space we appreciate the importance of collaborating with communities, clients and contractors on all scales of projects. If you have a project in mind, get in touch to learn more about what we have to offer.