Machynlleth could see a new community garden as a proposal was brought forward at the latest town council meeting.

A proposal for a new community oriented market garden in Machynlleth by Ecodyfi was brought to the town council at their most recent meeting on October 28.

The council was presented with a proposal for the garden to be at Lodge Field, in the vicinity of Y Plas next to the new cemetery.

Chris Higgins from Gardd Lledfair, gave a presentation on the market garden proposal to be set up on part of the land currently leased to the owner of Llynlloedd Farm, which Ecodyfi said they had “met recently with” and had “communicated he would support the establishment of a new market garden set up for community benefit”.

The proposal asked the council for a lease on the piece of land, with organisers saying that if permission is granted to take advantage of available funding, preparatory work could take place at the site before the end of 2024.

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Describing their aims, Ecodyfi said in the proposal: “Following initial discussion at a full Machynlleth Town Council meeting on September 30, a new social enterprise (Gardd Lledfair Ltd) associated with the Biosphere has been established to take responsibility for running, maintaining and developing the market garden.

Organisers of the initiative added that they hope the garden will grow vegetables for the local market, explore options to work with Ysgol Bro Hyddgen and horticultural training in the area as well as more “community supported agriculture”.

On the possibility of funding the garden, Ecodyfi added: “Accordingly, if the town council permits this development to go ahead in a timely fashion, we should be able to free some funds to immediately begin establishing the market garden.

“There is also the possibility of some private financing to help get the garden started.

“Beyond this, it seems likely that policy changes encouraging sustainability and resilience will result in more grant funding being available for initiatives like this, especially when activity is proposed within the context of related food system developments in the Dyfi Biosphere.”

Following the presentation, it was decided that a Memorandum of Understanding, an agreement between two parties to indicate a common line of action, would be set up to circulated at the council’s next meeting.