Access to Land - Bristol Food Producers

Access to land is a pressing issue for many new entrants and those looking to expand their business.

Land Seekers

We have re-launched a rolling survey for people who are looking for land to grow on in and around Bristol. We are using this to identify support needs for new entrants, to lobby land owners with a clear demand, and wherever possible to match growers with suitable land. If you’re looking for land, please fill in this short survey here.

We have analysed the results of the survey from 2016. You can read the full analysis in our report.

We put any land opportunities we are aware of on our Land Opportunities list, which we aim to update regularly.

Land Owners

We need you! Whether it’s a publicly owned half acre plot in the city centre, to a 10 acre unused field in a private estate – please get in touch. Complete this landowners survey and/or get in touch with Harley on bristol.land.access@gmail.com

We are approaching other land owners in Bristol to discuss their plans and needs. We hope to develop processes with us to match land seekers with pieces of their land. If you are a land owner and interested in the benefits of leasing it to a grower, read our document with more information.

Fringe Farming – the potential for peri-urban food growing

Over the last three years, we have been part of a national project exploring peri-urban growing. The project has been run by Sustain, Shared Assets and the Landworkers’ Alliance, as well as partners in Bristol (that’s us!), Sheffield and Glasgow. As part of this work in 2021, we held a stakeholder meeting and produced a briefing summarising our research and learning about the issue of access to land. This briefing also included key asks of Bristol City Council.

They have recently produced a Fringe Farming toolkit full of useful information on three barriers:

Accessing land for agroecological food production
Understanding how the planning system works for fringe farms
Gaining local authority support for fringe farming

Have land?

Useful Resources

Please visit our Finding land for growing page within our Resource Directory for information on looking for and leasing land for your project or enterprise, working with landowners and legal issues.