Page 2605 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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I turn to item (d), providing additional resources to support people to help coordinate the expansion of community gardens, grants to help meet the costs of new community gardens, and gardening/food growing training, open to all members of the community and a support person to help coordinate the expansion of community gardens in the ACT. The government will consider further advice from the working group concerning the provision of resources to help coordinate the expansion of community gardens in the ACT. However, I note at this stage that the advice provided to me is that there are currently insufficient requests for community gardens to warrant the employment of a dedicated community gardens coordinator, even in a part-time position.
I can advise the Assembly that the government will commission a community gardens demand and community benefits study. This study will provide a clearer picture for policy makers of who uses community gardens and why. It will document the current demand, estimate future needs and identify preferred geographic distribution of gardens across Canberra. Of particular interest will be evidence of the relationship, if any, between increased residential densities and community garden usage.
Turning to the issue of grants to help meet the costs of new community gardens, as the government has previously advised, there are several existing grants programs that a community garden group is eligible to apply for, including the ACT health promotion grant program, the ACT community support and infrastructure grants program, the ACT tenant-initiated grants program, the ACT environment grants program and the ACT seniors grants and sponsorship program. Community garden groups that apply to the existing funding programs are required to demonstrate community need in the context of existing supply and to compete with other proposals in demonstrating community benefits.
Turning to the issue of gardening/food growing training open to all members of the community, the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate administers community partnership funding to key community environmental organisations in the ACT, including the Canberra Sustainability and Environment Resource Centre. The centre offers courses in sustainable organic gardening, providing the skills necessary for plot holders in community gardens or for those gardening on their own land. These are offered at a modest fee. Gardening and food growing training is also provided by COGS, which has convenors able to advise new groups on the methods of establishing gardens, managing gardens and methods of growing.
Turning to the issue of item (e) in the resolution, improving existing assistance available to public and community housing tenants to be involved in community garden projects, the Community Services Directorate continues to administer tenant-initiated grants to fund public tenants either individually or collectively to establish or to assist with maintaining a community garden on public housing properties. Since 2006 Housing ACT has funded 97 tenant-initiated grants, including 20 garden projects that received assistance of $58,916. The gardens that were funded in the past year were located in public housing complexes in Griffith, Lyneham, Fisher, Dickson and Phillip.
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