News on HS2 in Bucks & Oxfordshire

We recently launched a pilot project called Growing Spaces , a community engagement project to build mini allotments and vegetable growing boxes, to create new planted areas for local primary schools across Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Ten schools were invited to take part in the pilot because of their proximity to the construction of the railway.

The Growing Spaces project is part of HS2’s commitment to tailored community engagement projects and creating a Green Corridor alongside the railway.

To deliver the project, we’re working with a small social enterprise called Growing Ideas, set up by an experienced science teacher and engagement specialist with a mission to deliver engagement and educational sessions in schools. The focus of the Growing Spaces project is to teach the importance of nutrition, as well as the practical skills and the science behind growing fruit and vegetables.

Each engagement day with the schools involves pupils filling their specially designed allotment box with soil and planting their own collection of seeds and saplings. The pupils learn through interactive activities about how plants grow, how to maintain them and the importance of nutrition in their diet.

Steeple Claydon School was one of the first schools to take part in the project and you can watch a short film about their experience below.

We’re aiming to roll out the scheme to other schools along the route and continue our ongoing engagement with local communities.