Provide your feedback to the City of Sydney by 3 November, 2026

Friends of Chippendale are seeking support to protect their long-standing Sustainable Chippendale Footpath Gardens and compost project, which has been operating for 18 years and, up until now, has been supported by the City of Sydney.

The Sydney City Council’s Community Gardens team is currently seeking feedback about the new draft Community Greening Framework. However, Friends of Chippendale are concerned that the City’s decision to exclude composting from verge gardening is a step backwards from the highly respected approach hitherto championed by the City, and they are asking the community to provide feedback to council in support of streetside composting.

Chippendale’s registered footpath gardens, with their composting areas, have been well documented and shared widely among community composters across Australia, including through LOCCAL, as an example of a highly successful model of localised composting.  The collaboration with Council over close to two decades has been particularly valued by our network.

LOCCAL’s position

The Local Community Compost Alliance (LOCCAL) has submitted feedback to the City (see letter below) encouraging it to keep streetside composting in the Community Greening Framework. We support the amendment to paragraph F proposed in Friends of Chippendale’s submission, which would read:

“Existing composting options may continue to be used.

Existing and new composting is permitted in footpath gardens to enable soil and garden beds to be maintained at no or lower costs to gardeners.

Existing and new compost installations are permitted in footpath and verge gardens, subject to performance standards. A composting system complies with this policy where it is constructed from rodent-resistant materials, maintained in an operable condition that prevents vermin access, and operated to prevent offensive odours.”

As the national alliance for community composting, LOCCAL continues to support initiatives that provide successful models for others to learn from, and we commend Sustainable Chippendale for the example it provides.

To see more details from the Friends of Chippendale’s submission, read Michael Mobbs’ blog post: Please support Chippendale’s footpath gardens — Michael Mobbs’ Sustainable House

Please support community composting in our cities!

The framework is on public exhibition and open for feedback until 3 November 2026. You don’t need to live in Sydney to show that the whole country is watching this decision.

How you can give feedback on the draft community greening framework:

• Email or post your feedback. Please include your name, contact details, and quote “Draft Community Greening Framework– Submission” in your correspondence. You can give your feedback by email to sydneyyoursay@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au or post to: Senior Community Engagement Coordinator, City Engagement. City of Sydney. 456 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000