LANDSHARE GOES APP!

September 3, 2010

Author: Tim

Photo credit: River Cottage

Our friends at Landshare have sparked a nationwide revolution over the last year and are about to go even further in the iPhone app community.

There are currently 2 growers to every 1 plot offered and the new app from River Cottage is set to empower the public to take action!

councils will be held to legal task to provide allotments
100,000s of acres of “wasted” space around UK to be identified

The new features use app functionality at its best:

using the camera with geocoding technology
giving users live access to expert growers for instant advice
extending accessibility and engagement of tools with social application – the Landshare App is free to download

The app also gives users direct access to the core Landshare tools – extending its ability to match growers to land, through a postcode driven map and listing database, and more. Already, Landshare has seen more than 3,000 acres of land offered and matched in every region of the UK. It has been cited by the House of Lords, New Local Government Network, the international Wikinomics team and most recently – the Food Ethics Council – as changing the landscape in food accessibility and security.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall spearheads Landshare and says of the new App:

“Landshare has always been, literally, a ground-breaking initiative but now it’s set to really push the agenda. We know there are 100,000 people on council waiting lists for allotments in England alone, with up to 40 year waits, plus a significant amount of waiting lists that are actually closed! This app will ensure that councils can no longer shut the door to their legal duty to provide. Landshare has been at the forefront of the debate on land use and accessibility – it is unacceptable to say that the land is not available because most of us pass derelict land in our travels every day. By bringing attention to the scale of space that is already on our doorsteps with “LandSpot”, we hope to help enable this potential to be realised and for much more land to be made fertile.”

The Landshare app launched on 6th August 2010 and can be downloaded free at www.landshare.net/iphoneapp

Users without iPhones can also engage in the new tools at http://www.landshare.net/