Far from trying to rectify these safety and accessibility issues, the University is infactually claiming they never intended for water to be used for preparing food and drinks, and that accessibility is up to an acceptable standard.
To add salt to the wounds, University management proudly
lists Roots as an achievement in its Sustainability Strategy and Reports. In this, they claim they have a ‘key commitment’ to: “actively support the production and
distribution of sustainable food on campus via our... student run Roots
allotments"
For the last two years Roots gardeners have sought solutions through diplomacy only to be met with resitance.
Management have agreed to look into many proposed solutions but then simply ignored them, or made unjust excuses based in money saving interests.
We ask that you stand with the Roots gardens as a measure of solidarity against University greenwashing, against corner cutting profiteering, against lying and deceptive behaviour that is both unprofessional and derogatory to all students.
Our demands for justice at the Roots Gardens are as follows:
Install a safe drinking water tap on site to ensure safe, accessible food and drink provision, as was always stated in the design needs
Respond publicly to the findings of the failed accessibility audit
Deliver an accessible route to the allotments
Include the Roots allotments on the updated campus maps.
Commit to indefinitely protect the Roots and surrounding sustainability project sites as a conservation area, alongside the forest food garden, the chalk grasslands and the 'love your scrub' rewilding site.
Agree to a memorandum of understanding to be created to define responsibilities between Roots, the Students’ Union and the University.
Allocate a University Staff member to be appointed as a direct point of contact, who has responsibility for supporting Roots as part of their job description, and sufficient authority and experience to do so effectively.
Offer a budget to meet their sustainability commitments, so that we can afford to continue putting on educational workshops on sustainable food and living at Roots
