Creating a Sustainable Food System in Brighton and Hove

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• Creating a Sustainable Food System in Brighton
  and Hove
• Clare Devereux, Food Matters
• Vic Borrill, B H Food Partnership

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Brighton and Hove

• Falls in the 25 most deprived LAs
• Health generally worse than the national average
• A quarter of all children live in low income
  households
• Population is more likely than average to
  experience mental health problems
• Wage level below the national average
• 8 million visitors a year
• 400 cafes and restaurants
• Positioned between the sea and the downs
• City Council owns 11,000 acres of farmland

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Putting food on the agenda

• History of community food work
• In 2003 mapping exercise to see what was
  happening food shed
• First spade to spoon conference
• Vision, aims and establishment of food
  partnership
• Spade to spoon strategy
• Service level agreement with the PCT
• Harvest B H
• Strategic policy work

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Ingredients for success

• PCT that recognised the wider determinants of
  health supported development of FP/Strategy
• champions within local authority elected
  member and officer(s)
• Rooted in the community residents and groups
• Secure funding base from service level agreement
• NGO organisation to offer expertise, support and
  facilitation
• Lobbying for policy change to support food work
  being a thorn in the side
• Isnt enough to just deliver need more root and
  branch policy

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The Brighton Hove model of a Food Partnership

• BHFP not for profit / politically neutral.
  Company limited by guarantee
• Remit healthy and sustainable food
• Driving forward delivery of the citys food
  strategy
• Combined role of influencing / lobbying, capacity
  building, supporting networking and service
  delivery
• Broad membership base 740 individuals and
  organisations
• Board of directors elected from the membership /
  by the membership. Plus appointed members from
  key statutory services and Food Matters.
• Funded via grants from NHS Brighton Hove
  BHCC, Big Lottery Local Food and various trusts.

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Delivering high quality services

• Community Nutrition Service / Healthy Weight
  referral service
• Community Cookery Project
• Harvest Brighton Hove
• Love Food Hate Waste Community outreach
  programme
• Information - website, City Food News, events,
  stalls
• Service delivery keeps us connected with
  residents and grounded in the issues of the city
• Provides funding
• Complexity can be challenging but reflects the
  reality of food work

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Linking themes and agendas
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Supporting partnership working

• Provide networking opportunities
• Knowledge hub
• Targeting services
• Replicating what works
• Seek funding for partnership work eg Harvest
  Brighton Hove
• Size of Brighton Hove makes this possible
• Getting harder as services get squeezed

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Keeping food on the agenda locally

• City wide partnerships
• Responding to consultations
• Political lobbying Ask Your Candidate exercise
  prior to local elections
• Championing community food projects
• Fostering champions within other organisations
• Independent but work hard at productive
  relationships with partners
• Work with all political parties
• Careful balance between campaigning and sources
  of funding
• Takes time
• Willingness to be opportunistic

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Key issues

• Need for strategic framework for food work
  locally
• Cant do it alone need Government to also have
  strategic framework
• Research agenda to support sustainable food work

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Next steps getting serious

• Need to move into next phase more focused
  action to achieve maximum gain
• How to feed a city
• Increase amount of sustainable food produced in
  the city
• Opportunities
• green administration
• City owned farms
• Public procurement

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• www.bhfood.org.uk
• www.foodmatters.org
• Thank you