The Association was awarded a grant of £273,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food scheme at the end of 2008. This is the first national grant to be awarded by Local Food and it is by far the biggest grant ever for the Association. It marks an exciting and important new phase of our work to make permaculture widely known and used across Britain.

‘Permaculture LAND’ is a four year, England-wide project to create a permaculture learning and demonstration network supported by online services and information. Building on twenty-five years of excellent work by local practitioners, demonstration projects will include permaculture designed home gardens, community gardens, public spaces, allotments, smallholdings and farms.

Alongside the demonstration network, LAND will:

• support new and existing projects through one to one support, regional training and skill sharing events;
• create case studies and online services such as a new directory with volunteer opportunities and an offers and requests system to allow sharing of materials, tools and skills
• support local practitioners to engage new people in food growing and permaculture through local talks, short courses, visits, volunteering and practical activities.

A very big thank you to all the projects, members and supporters who helped with the development of the application and provided letters of support.

Other info about the Permaculture LAND Project

Full title
Permaculture LAND project: supporting local food through permaculture Learning And Network Demonstration.

Aim
To support and enhance the food growing and land design skills and knowledge of permaculture practitioners and the general public through the development of an England wide permaculture learning and demonstration network.

Project outcomes

1. NETWORK: Create a publicly accessible permaculture based learning and demonstration network with at least 80 land-based member projects by end of year four.

2. LEARN: Host 25 regional and national skill sharing and training events for new and existing practioners by end of year four.

3. OUTREACH: Enable and support practitioners to deliver 40 introductory courses and 40 local presentations, with at least 800 attendees by and of year four.

4. VOLUNTEER: Enable and support member projects to provide at least 1125 volunteer opportunities for local people and itinerant learners by end of year four.

5. VISIT: Support 25 groups to visit demonstration projects in year 2, year 3 and year 4, totalling 75 groups over three years.

Total budget and funder
£390,000 over four years including in-kind contributions. The majority of funding (£273,000) is coming from the Big Lottery Fund. The Association is providing match funding in year one, and we are still working to secure funds for years 2-4, if you can help with this do contact Andy Goldring.

More information about the Local Food scheme and Big Lottery Fund:

Local Food: has been developed by a consortium of 16 national environmental organisations, and is managed on their behalf by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT). Supported by the Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces programme, Local Food will distribute grants to a variety of food related projects to make locally grown food more accessible. www.localfoodgrants.org

The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT): Is a registered charity, incorporated by Royal Charter, to promote conservation and manage environmental programmes throughout the whole of the UK. It has established management systems for holding and distributing funds totalling more than £20 million annually to environmental projects across the UK.

The Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces programme was launched in November 2005 to help communities enjoy and improve their local environments. The programme funds a range of activities from local food schemes and farmers markets, to education projects teaching people about the local environment.

The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. www.biglotteryfund.org.uk