We’ve just learned that the City Council will not be agreeing to the City Farm in Cherry Hinton Hall, citing the Folk Festival as the main reason. Obviously this decision is a huge disappointment to us, and the hundreds of people who have supported the project, but we thank the council for properly considering and thoroughly investigating the City Farm in Cherry Hinton Hall and we know that the decision has not been taken lightly.

So, what next for the City Farm project? Well, we are in the very early stages of discussions regarding another site in Cambridge, which is very exciting. We continue to meet with partner organisations, and the city council, and will continue to post updates here.

The full feasibility report is available here:

http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/democracy/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=5220

The decision is finalised in a council meeting on 30th June.

On Saturday 26th February, we’re organising a day trip to London to visit a couple of City Farms: Freightliners Farm and Stepney City Farm. It should be a very inspiring day out, and suitable for adults and accompanied children. We’ll meet at Cambridge train station at 9:10am and should be back by 18:30. This is a joint trip with Transition Cambridge’s Farming Friends group. Please let us know if you are coming by sending an email to info@cambridge-city-farm.org.uk.

The City Council have just engaged an external consultant to provide a detailed report on the City Farm for councillors to make a final decision on in June 2011. During February and March, the consultant will be analysing information already available (such as that collected during last summer’s public consultation which showed a high level of support for the City Farm in Cherry Hinton Hall), as well as having further meetings with us (and others). This is really positive news for the project, and we are very much looking forward to this next phase.

At a meeting of the City Council’s Community Services Scrutiny Committee today, councillors voted to accept their officers’ recommendations and commission a full feasibility study into establishing a City Farm, examining Cherry Hinton Hall and any other possible sites in the city. This will look in detail at all aspects of a City Farm, and will enable a future council committee meeting to make a final decision on whether to site a City Farm at Cherry Hinton Hall, or whether an alternative site is an even better prospect. Two children from The Spinney primary school came to the council meeting, and spoke very confidently and eloquently in favour of the City Farm, on behalf of their school and other local children.

This decision is brilliant news for the City Farm, and we are very much looking forward to working with council officers on the feasibility study. We thank the councillors on the committee for their support.

It was also agreed to conduct a project appraisal for the Cherry Hinton Hall Masterplan. As the Masterplan and City Farm decisions are interlinked, councillors will make a final decision on the former propagation area once the City Farm feasibility study has been prepared.

All this is happening thanks to the fantastic support the City Farm gained in the recent consultation. Once again, a huge thank you!

The report detailing the results of the consultation is now available from the City Council’s website. Some fantastic comments about the City Farm/Community Garden project. It’s quite a long report, but well worth reading if you are interested. The City Council decide on 14th October how they want to proceed, both with the City Farm and the other changes to Cherry Hinton Hall.

As part of our efforts to visit and learn from many other City Farms, during August we visited Heeley City Farm in Sheffield. Founded over 25 years ago on an area of derelict land a couple of miles from the centre of Sheffield, Heeley City Farm is now a firmly established part of the local and wider community, with around 50 staff and volunteers. With a café, plant stalls, animals small and large, wildlife area, and large vegetable growing area there’s always plenty going on. Even the local councillor holds her surgeries in the café. A recent addition is an eco-refurbished house that demonstrates many energy saving enhancements (solar heating, etc). Unfortunately there was so much to see in the farm itself that it had closed by the time we got there – something to see on the next visit, perhaps! So what was the highlight? For me it was the small animal house, where the wheel-spinning antics of a couple of them caused great hilarity. The children said they enjoyed “all of it”, but were very taken with the pig, and again really enjoyed the vegetable garden which had lots of companion planting for attracting beneficial (and deterring un-beneficial!) insects. All in all, a great City Farm, with loads going on.

Just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who supported the City Farm in the council consultation. It will probably be a few weeks before the council decides how to proceed but we will be sure to post the results here in due course, and what that means for the City Farm. During the consultation period, volunteers from the City Farm project talked with hundreds of local people and there has been a huge excitement about the possibility of a City Farm in Cherry Hinton Hall. As reported previously, BBC local radio invited us to talk about the project on-air, and we were also featured in the Cambridge Evening News and Cambridge First newspapers. We were also also able to leaflet around 1000 local households, thanks to many willing volunteers.

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire asked us to appear on their drive time show last Friday, which of course we were more than happy to do! If you missed it, you should be able to hear it here until Friday 3rd September: http://beta.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p009j4xv/Antonia_Brickells_Drivetime_Show_27_08_2010/. It is at about 1 hour 40 minutes into the programme (I would find out the exact time but I don’t want to hear myself on the radio!). I thought that Antonia (the presenter) was great and obviously really interested in the project and the link in with local food production.

On Saturday 24th July, 3 volunteers from the City Farm and Community Garden project joined our Transition Cherry Hinton partners on a stall at the local groups fair. Other stalls included local WI, Friends of Cherry Hinton Hall, local churches, and even a knitting group!

This was the first day of the consultation on the future of Cherry Hinton Hall. So, what was the general response to the City Farm project? Very positive I would say. Many people thought it sounded fantastic and wanted to lend their support during the consultation. The highlight of the day for me was when the Mayor of Cambridge, Sheila Stuart, visited us and was extremely positive and encouraging about the project. And the delicious food from Kerala, of course! We gave out loads of flyers, newsletters and project information.

At long last, the consultation on the future of Cherry Hinton Hall park is happening! The City Farm is an alternative vision and proposal for the former propagation site supported by many local groups and individuals. The Council’s “Masterplan” is certainly not a “done deal” – it is now your chance to have a say and (hopefully) support our project to create a community-run City Farm and a beautiful and productive fruit and vegetable garden on the derelict former propagation centre site. Our proposal document gives fuller details of what is proposed for the City Farm, but please ask us any questions you like by email. If you do support us, please, please, fill in the City Council consultation survey and let the council know this. And please tell your friends to tell them as well! Please note that the City Farm does not form part of the Masterplan itself, and is not on the drawings, but appears in a question towards the end of the survey.

The survey can be found here: www.cambridge.gov.uk/chhconsultation/.

We’d be really grateful if you’d drop us a short email note (info@cambridge-city-farm.org.uk) to tell us that you’ve supported the City Farm in this way (obviously you don’t have to – the important bit is telling the council!). Thanks for your support.