A huge thanks - and congratulations - to Sydney City Council for its visionary and very effective, lightly touching policy allowing road and footpath gardening without approval.
This policy is an example of leadership that makes an immediate difference and empowers communities generally, including composting to cut highly-polluting food waste.
Since the early 2000s the Council’s community gardens coordinators and the council’s media team have strongly supported and promoted the Sustainable Chippendale Gardening group and a Council video showing that support is on the Council’s website.
The group has a Facebook page.
Typically, the use of a footpath or footpath garden verge requires approval from a local council which will be the owner of that land. This project faced both regulatory barriers and solutions to use of the public footpath and footpath garden verge.
One solution is an inspiring and leading example of successful regulation, the Sydney City Council Footpath Gardening Policy which allows self-approvals for composting, and reads:
“Residents and businesses in the City of Sydney do not need approval to install planter boxes or carry out gardening on a public footpath as long as they comply with policy criteria, outlined in the footpath gardening checklists. The criteria ensure any planter boxes or gardening on public footpaths respects other uses of the footpath and maintains access and amenity.”
• New, light-coloured path drains to new agricultural drainage pipe covered by geofabric so the rain from the Council building drains to the soil and the plants (yet to be planted) can get water where they need it at their roots. More photos and details here.
In July 2019 the community and Council collaborated to keep rain where it falls to irrigate road gardens. Simple, low cost drains irrigate the gardens from below the plants by draining water from adjoining Council buildings and at the same time stop stormwater running down the street gutters to pollute the Blackwattle Bay harbour waters. More information on the joint project is here.
In 2020 the then Minister for the Environment, Mat Kean, inspected the footpath gardens.
• Some of the edible plants in one block at Chippendale
• Signs help locals and passers by recognise and harvest plants
• A community composting option in the footpath gardens
The composting options in the footpath gardens have resulted in over 300 kg of household food waste being composted each week. That’s avoiding over 450 to 2100 kg of carbon pollution a week had the food waste been put in the Council’s waste bins.
Thank you, Sydney City Council.