Oldham residents will gain daily access to Britain’s largest urban farm and an adjoining eco-park when Northern Roots opens its public facilities on 19 September. The charity says the site will link sustainable food production, cultural activity and nature-based health services for local people.
The Story in Pictures
The project reclaims a 65-hectare parcel in Oldham that once held two cotton mills, two coalmines and an industrial railway. Over time around 24 hectares of that land became a tip; Northern Roots and Oldham council have spent five years transforming the plot into a mixed-use community complex.
The new campus houses a cafe, shop, production kitchen, performance space, a forestry skills centre, outdoor play areas and an urban farm where visitors can buy seasonal produce grown on-site. Chef and restaurateur Mary-Ellen McTague has a leading role in shaping the food offer, which the charity highlights as a practical link between producers and the neighbourhood.
Northern Roots says it has built seven activity programmes to attract different groups and to create routes for sustained participation. Those pathways underpin the Natural Health Service, a nature-based programme commissioned through Northern Roots by NHS England. The Natural Health Service began as a six-month pilot in 2023 with patients from the Hill Top GP surgery in Fitton Hill, offering activities such as foraging, bushcraft and mindful noticing outside clinical settings.
Independent NHS research published in 2025 reported that participants in the Natural Health Service improved their wellbeing scores by an average of 8.15 points on the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, and the project generated an estimated £4,940 in social value per participant. Northern Roots points to those figures when arguing for nature-based interventions as part of local health provision.
Community members who started on the programmes now work on site as champions and staff, a development the charity frames as crucial to long-term stewardship. “We wanted to look at what this land could do for Oldham, rather than simply seeing it as land that needed maintaining,” said Anna da Silva, founder and chief executive of Northern Roots. Former participant Faiza Awan said, “It’s really important to have something for everyone,” while Louise Gibbs added, “There’s just so many doors to come in through Northern Roots, and then to continue development.”
With the public opening set for 19 September, Northern Roots will focus on sustaining community engagement and demonstrating that reclaimed post-industrial land can deliver environmental, economic and social benefits. The charity positions the Oldham site as a model other towns could adapt when seeking alternatives to maintenance-only futures for large derelict plots.
