Community Land Bank

Overview

The concept of a Community Land Bank is simple - to support access to unused land for either temporary or long term gardening use by community groups.

The Community Land Bank would negotiate for land, hold it and then release it to user groups under legally enforceable contracts, attracting charitable funding as appropriate, and facilitate transfers of tenants (community gardening groups) across a portfolio of land holdings. The Land Bank would also arrange insurance and ensure legal and technical compliance. In effect, it would be a safe pair of hands in which both land owners and users could trust.

FCFCG is the lead body behind the Community Land Bank idea, consulting with a range of stakeholders.

FCFCG is holding exploratory discussions to pilot Community Land Bank schemes in several local authority areas. Local private and public sector landowners (which could include councils, NHS and private developers) will be asked to work with the Federation to identify possible sites and link them up with community groups looking for land.

Preliminary Research

FCFCG has already conducted preliminary research into the Community Land Bank idea. This demonstrated support for the idea from a broad range of stakeholders. It would also have a useful role in mediating between the suppliers and users of land, especially in negotiating quality leases and ensuring that management issues would be dealt with. This would create security and confidence in the lease process for all.

The research also found that public sector bodies and social landlords would not want to release land purely for private use, but would want the use of the land to fit in with their own objectives, such as health or education.

The need for land for local people to cultivate seems destined to grow further, fuelled by the economic downturn and growing unemployment, as well as increasing concerns over climate change, well-being, health and knowing where your food comes from.

The research study, which included interviews with a diverse range of organisations including land users and land owners, met with strong interest from the public and voluntary sectors, but private sector organisations were reluctant to take part in the process.

For more details, the executive summary of the research is available to download below:

Community Land Bank exec summary

More Information

The Community Land Bank is still in its development stage, so all current information on it is contained on this page. If you have an interest in the Community Land Bank, for example if you are a large organisation wishing to make land available for community growing, then please email Jeremy Iles at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it