Sheffield glasshouses to be used to grow affordable food

The glasshouses have been in the Sheffield park since the 1980s

Glasshouses in a Sheffield park are set to be used to grow affordable food for local people, councillors have agreed.

The city council said the structures at Norton Nurseries in Graves Park would be restored and a new operator found to grow food in the space.

At a recent charity trustee sub-committee meeting, it was agreed the new operator must enable fairer access to affordable food for the community.

A licence was granted to commission an operator for up to five years.

The glasshouses, which were opened in 1983, were originally used as a greenhouse, to grow and supply bedding plants for Sheffield parks.

This stopped in the mid-1990s amid high running costs and dwindling demand for bedding plants.

Now, however, they are underused and at risk of falling into further disrepair, the council said.

The new operator must work to supply fresh food at a fair price for the community

Broken panes will be repaired and gutters cleaned before being handed over to an external partner to run.

Selina Treuherz, ShefFood partnership coordinator, said: "There are very few examples nationally of a local authority finding spaces for community food-growing and working alongside them, so it's great that Sheffield is taking the lead in this way.

"In the context of increasing levels of food insecurity, the climate crisis, as well as difficult trade agreements, we are increasingly needing to find ways to develop local food infrastructure.

"Finding a space for the city to increase its growing capacity means that we will have a more resilient local food system."

Ian Auckland, chair of the committee, said: "The report today is to give authority for officers to go out and find somebody to occupy this wonderful space again, and put it back into use, get the community into this space, growing food."