#UK - #GuerillaGardening: how you can make your local area greener without getting into trouble
Published: October 4, 2023
Excerpt: "Can you be prosecuted?
"It’s important to remember that much of the unused or abandoned land that is potentially suitable for guerilla gardening in towns and cities throughout the UK is owned by local councils. Common examples of such locations include broken pavements with missing slabs, wasteland and the central areas of roundabouts.
"Although much of this land is already open for the public to walk over, actively gardening on it would become an act of trespass.
"The law of trespass sounds scary. However, gardening on this land would be a breach of civil law rather than a crime. This means that most guerrilla gardeners are unlikely to receive a fine or a criminal record.
"Landowners do have the legal right to use 'reasonable force' to remove trespassers from their land. But, fortunately, it seems most councils have ignored guerrilla gardeners, having neither the time, money or inclination to bring legal action against them.
"Colchester Council, for example, were unable to track down the identity of the '#HumanShrub', a mysterious #EcoActivist who restored the flowers in the city’s abandoned plant containers in 2009. The shrub returned again in 2015 and sent a gift of seeds to a local councillor.
"In other areas of the UK, the work of guerilla gardeners has been cautiously welcomed by local councils. In Salford, a city in Greater Manchester, there is a formal requirement to submit an application and obtain permission to grow on vacant spots in the city. But the local authority tends not to interfere with illegal grow sites.
"There seems to be an unwritten acceptance that people can garden wherever they want, given the abundance of available space and the lack of active maintenance. This also offers the additional advantage of saving both time and money for the local council.
"You should still be careful about where you trespass though. In some areas, guerrilla gardening can lead to unwelcome attention. During the #MayDayRiots of 2000, for example, guerrilla gardeners were accused of planting #cannabis seeds in central #London’s #ParliamentSquare.
"Gardening at night may draw the wrong attention too, particularly if you are carrying gardening tools that might be misunderstood by the police as threatening weapons."
Read more:
https://theconversation.com/guerilla-gardening-how-you-can-make-your-local-area-greener-without-getting-into-trouble-213037
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/NHZyu
(she/her) 
