[Wera Hobhouse talks to members of Bath Organic Group. Photo credit Wera Hobhouse.]
This summer, Bath and communities across the UK have experienced exceptional heat and increasingly challenging growing conditions, a stark reminder that climate change is not a distant threat, but something already affecting people and communities locally.
For Bath’s community gardens, allotments and smallholdings, this extreme heat has brought a range of challenges. This week Bath MP Wera Hobhouse visited Bath Organic Group’s garden, alongside ward councillor Paul Roper, to see how volunteers are adapting to changing weather and to discuss the important role community gardens can play in helping Bath become more resilient to climate change.
Established in 1990 as a demonstration garden for organic growing methods, Bath Organic Group is now a thriving, volunteer-led community garden. It provides a welcoming space for people to learn, share skills and grow seasonal food, while showing how community-led projects can help create greener and more resilient neighbourhoods.
During her visit, Mrs Hobhouse heard how, due to the heat, crops have been bolting, withering or failing before they can mature, while pests and diseases have become more prevalent as winters become milder and growing seasons shift. Prolonged heat has also rapidly dried out soils, increasing pressure on water supplies and making it harder for volunteers to keep plants healthy.
The heat has also affected the people who keep these spaces running. High daytime temperatures, humidity and warmer nights have made it unsafe and exhausting for volunteers to work outdoors, limiting the hours in which essential gardening work can be carried out.
The Bath MP also saw how Bath Organic Group has been working to build climate resilience from the ground up. The group and other gardens represented in the Bath Area Growers Network provide shade, wildlife habitat, healthy soils that retain and filter water, and resilient sources of local food, while also creating greener spaces that can help cool urban areas.
However, the group also highlighted to Mrs Hobhouse the further support they required to ensure Bath’s community growing spaces can withstand future heatwaves and other climate impacts. This included:
- Investment in climate-resilient infrastructure, including large-scale rainwater harvesting.
- Protection and expansion of allotments and community growing spaces.
- Stronger national support for organic and agroecological farming.
- Integration of local food networks into climate adaptation plans.
Eve Gleeson, a volunteer for Bath Organic Group, commented:
“This summer has been a real test for community growers. We’ve had crops struggling in the heat, soil drying out quickly and volunteers having to work around dangerous temperatures.
“These gardens are more than places to grow food. They are helping Bath stay cooler, greener and more resilient. With the right support, they can do even more.”
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, commented:
“Climate change is not a distant threat; we are seeing its effects here in Bath, and our local growers are on the frontline.
“Our community gardens and allotments are doing much more than growing food; they are helping Bath adapt to the changes we are seeing, but they are increasingly under pressure from extreme heat and drought.
“I was pleased to visit Bath Organic Group and hear directly from local growers about the challenges they face. We need to give these spaces the support they need to continue this vital work, and I will continue to champion climate resilience and local food growing in Parliament.”
