Dear Everyone,

Thank you so much for continuing to sign and share the petition to keep a Community Farm in Newham. Signatures continue to rise daily.

On 7th September, Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz’s Cabinet unanimously voted to close Newham City Farm. Despite lack of consultation and engagement with the community prior to this decision, it did not come as a surprise since the Council budget for the farm was already “deleted” in Spring 2021.

However, our campaign is only just beginning, we are not losing heart and we are not going away! A team of passionate professional and community representatives with diverse very relevant experiences have united to continue the campaign. We have many realistic but extremely exciting ideas about how we as a community can make a farm work for the community, including seeking sponsorship.

We sincerely hope that the Mayor and Council will engage with us to do just that, preferably with support, including financial, from them. 

We are entering a period in which the Mayor and Council say that they will seek community consultation for how we wish the farm area to be regenerated as part of a Beckton greenspaces masterplan. We know from our own interactions with the local community that the majority of people who will be voting to re-elect their ward councillors in May 2022 or not absolutely want a farm to be at the heart of these green spaces. It can be a unique, safe, enclosed, managed space with the potential to benefit and engage so many groups of our community.

We need this community consultation and engagement to be led and informed by the community and this is what the Save Newham City Farm campaign team aim to do.

You can follow our activity and progress and add supportive suggestions on the King George V Park Friends Facebook page and on social media #savenewhamcityfarm

Please continue to support the campaign, share the petition and follow how we’re getting on.

Best wishes,

The Save Newham City Farm campaign team