Boosting biodiversity on Lambeth Estates

Incredible Edible Lambeth supported six estates to improve their biodiversity from June 2024 to May 2025.

They co-designed a range of interventions with residents, which included installing wildflower meadows, bulb planting, food-growing support, and workshops. 

The Challenge

Lambeth has many open spaces, but many (especially on housing estates) are “green deserts” with minimal planting and acres of grass. Food growing offers numerous benefits for both people and the environment, including improved access to healthy, culturally relevant food, enhanced community engagement, and enhanced mental and physical well-being.

Incredible Edible Lambeth supports a resilient network of 550 individual food growers and 120 community groups growing food together in Lambeth’s public spaces.

Food growing strengthens equal access to healthy and culturally appropriate fruit and vegetables in the most vulnerable communities. Food-growing spaces support adaptation to climate change by harvesting rainwater, reducing heat through tree planting, and reducing waste by composting food scraps, turning them into a valuable resource. They create the most biodiverse spaces in the borough.

An explosion of food growing in Lambeth (and London) in 2012 was nurtured by the Mayor's Office grants - creating an Olympic goal of developing 2012 food growing spaces in London. As a group of food growers, we came together to provide more support and a voice in policy-making, ensuring that food growing would thrive in the long term. IEL exists to nurture a localised food network, providing an abundance of affordable, nutritious fruit and vegetables, with a food-growing space within 100m of each Lambeth home. 

Action Taken

In 2024, IEL secured funding from the Changing Lives Fund and partnered with Lambeth Council, Froglife, Open Orchard Project and the South London Botanical Institute to deliver food growing projects across six Lambeth housing estates:

• Benton’s Lane: Moore House
• Holderness Garden
• Moorlands allotments
• St Martin’s Estate Community Gardening
• Palace Road Estate Residents’ Association
• Angell Town Estate

The six sites were selected based on their low biodiversity and existing engagement with resident groups. IEL delivered activities such as workshops on food growing and habitat creation, as well as orchard walkabouts, art workshops and gardening sessions.

The funding also allowed the team to equip the estates with plants and tools such as wheelbarrows, water butts, bug hotels, benches and planters.

Moorlands Estate 

Moorlands Estate is home to the Nature Garden Allotments, which are tucked away behind the community centre and run by residents. The garden, which Kathleen set up over twenty years ago, is home to a large pond, 16 growing beds, fruit trees, and is a haven for wildlife, including butterflies, bees, frogs, and foxes. This year, IEL helped run a Nature Fun Day, a plant giveaway, and a volunteering day with corporations. During August 2025, weekly sessions were held on-site, and Pantry workers began growing vegetables in the garden. They are installing signage to enhance access for residents to the garden.

The Results

Overall, the project delivered 24 events, working actively with 324 residents from Lambeth. By creating new, easily accessible food-growing areas, the team helped strengthen community skills, awareness of biodiversity, and intergroup connections.

At the end of the project, participants reported that they felt the project had improved biodiversity on their estates, with 66% indicating that they had new or improved areas for wildflower planting, food growing, and access to new or improved gardening materials. All groups stated that they felt they had better connections to other groups that could support them, as well as new community engagement skills. Only one group felt that they had more volunteers at the end of the project, highlighting the challenges of building capacity on estates - especially in just one year.

Challenges and learnings

One of the main issues with the project was the timing of the funding, as it did not align with the food-growing season. This required the team to conduct much of the initial engagement before winter and then reconnect with residents in early spring, which slowed the process of building trust. The limited funding duration also restricted the impact, as it was not possible to embed the skills across multiple planting seasons.

It was also very clear that one of the biggest limitations will always be resident capacity, with them either lacking the time or resources needed to commit to food growing. For future projects, the team will focus on offering structured, closed activities and then invite other estates to learn more before implementation. Connecting with existing local initiatives, such as composting clubs, can help ensure long-term support that will strengthen capacity and broaden skill development.

IEL hopes to continue delivering similar projects across Lambeth, such as training hubs in estates, like the one in Myatt’s Field Park greenhouse, and developing programmes specifically for vulnerable groups.

If you need support with your food growing, get in touch with our network coordinator, Charlotte Dove - [email protected] (opens in a new window)