Residents at a supported housing scheme in Southborough will soon be growing their own food after turning their lawn into a vegetable patch with a little help from their housing associations.

The seven self-contained flats in Chestnut Close are owned by Town & Country Housing and support for residents is provided by Moat.

To give residents a helping hand, staff from Moat and Town & Country dug over the plot, directed by Susan Westlake, from Transition Tunbridge Wells, who is a gardening expert and mentor. In a few weeks time the residents will be able to start planting their vegetables.

Several residents came up with the idea to turn the garden into an allotment area to get them involved in a therapeutic and constructive project.

Town & Country’s local housing manager, Ed Thompson, and Community Development Manager, Dawn Grant, helped residents Katie Newell and Kent Young to prepare the soil. In addition, staff from Moat’s executive team, sales and marketing and tenancy support services also participated as part of Moat’s community day project that sees all Moat staff spend at least one day working in the community each year.

Gerri Scott, executive director of housing and customer services at Moat said: “This is the first year that all Moat staff are taking part in a community project that will benefit residents and I am delighted to be a part of it. I am so pleased that I had the opportunity to work alongside our residents to lay the groundwork for a garden that will not only provide them with locally grown vegetables, but also give them a stronger sense of community by working together to create something they can call their own.”

Dawn Grant said: “We are pleased to be able to support our residents with this excellent project. We have been working with Transition Tunbridge Wells for nearly a year matching garden owners to growers in the Garden Share Scheme and Community Allotment project and it is fantastic that Susan Westlake can give them the specialist help and support to ensure they can make the most of their garden.”

People are referred to Chestnut Close through the Joint Assessment Referral Scheme at Tunbridge Wells Council and receive weekly support around tenancy related issues. They tend to live there for two years or so with the aim of gaining greater independence and later moving into their own accommodation.