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• Action: Create a London 2012 Food Legacy

“There is so much that local councils can do to promote a better food environment, and indeed I see it as their duty to do so, for the benefit of the people they represent. Whether it’s good planning decisions to improve access to healthy food, nutrition standards for school meals and hospital catering, or promoting healthier catering in local businesses, bit by bit we can improve health prospects for everyone.” Professor Tim Lang of the Centre for Food Policy at City University London, and member of the London Food Board

The London Plan, published in July 2011, provides the framework for the capital’s development up to 2031. London Boroughs’ local plans need to be in “general conformity” with the London Plan, and its policies guide decisions on planning applications by councils and the Mayor of London. London’s planning team worked with the Mayor’s food programme and London Food Board to integrate opportunities for healthy and sustainable food into the London Plan.

This resulted in specific commitments and opportunities that could benefit Londoners, if London Boroughs put them into practice through local plans:

• Policy 7.22 on land for food could be used to provide more land for community food growing and commercial food production. It states that: “The Mayor will seek to encourage and support thriving farming and land-based sectors in London, particularly in the Green Belt” and that “use of land for growing food will be encouraged nearer to urban communities via such mechanisms as ‘Capital Growth’.” In addition, “Boroughs should protect existing allotments,” and should also “identify other potential spaces that could be used for commercial food production or for community gardening, including for allotments and orchards”.
• London Boroughs are explicitly encouraged to help create a market for food that is locally produced, with the London Plan stating that: “The Mayor’s Food Strategy provides more detailed information on local food production. The implementation priorities of the Food Strategy have recently been reviewed and initiatives are being progressed that will develop the markets for local food. For example, encouraging public sector procurement of local and sustainable food and engaging with managers of wholesale markets on mechanisms for local food sourcing.”
• London Boroughs are explicitly encouraged to support community food growing by supporting Capital Growth: “Capital Growth aims to transform the capital with 2,012 new food growing spaces by 2012. The scheme identifies suitable patches of land around London and offers financial and practical support to groups of enthusiastic gardeners or organisations that want to grow food for themselves and for the local community. These spaces also help to compensate for the lack of statutory allotments in inner and central London. London Food, the Mayor’s advisory board will continue to encourage the development of the land-based sector in London.”
• Policy 4.9 on small shops could be used to support a diverse and thriving local food retail sector. It states that: “In considering proposals for large retail developments, the Mayor will, and Boroughs should, consider imposing conditions or seeking contributions through planning obligations where appropriate, feasible and viable, to provide or support affordable shop units suitable for small or independent retailers and service outlets and/or to strengthen and promote the retail offer, attractiveness and competitiveness of centres.”
• Policy 7.1 on building London’s neighbourhoods and communities could be used to support thriving high streets and neighbourhood amenities with food at their heart. It encourages a commitment to a good quality environment with character, and social and community infrastructure (including green spaces) that should “enable people to live healthy, active lives; should maximise the opportunity for community diversity, inclusion and cohesion; and should contribute to people’s sense of place, safety and security”, meeting “the principles of lifetime neighbourhoods” (a new core concept in the Plan).
• Policy 3.2 on improving health and addressing health inequalities, which could be used to promote wider availability of healthy and affordable food. It states that: “The Mayor will take account of the potential impact of development proposals on health and health inequalities within London” and that “new developments should be designed, constructed and managed in ways that improve health and promote healthy lifestyles to help to reduce health inequalities”.

“Planning authorities have a vital role to play in helping secure a fair and sustainable future for London’s residents. Supporting local food growing and a diverse retail sector, including local markets, can all help towards that aim.” Jenny Bates, London Campaigner, Friends of the Earth, and member of the London Food Board

Good Planning for Good Food

Historically, our towns and cities have been built around the supply and distribution of food. Today, planning can affect the food and farming system in many ways. The 2011 report Good Planning for Good Food investigates what planners and other professionals can do to help create a more sustainable food and farming system. They can (www.sustainweb.org/localactiononfood/food_and_planning/):

• Protect and increase both the number and the diversity of types of food retail outlets – such as small shops and markets – locally, and within easy walking distance of communities, or by public transport. 
• Create and protect food growing spaces in and around a locality. Allotments, community growing spaces and a range of other under-utilised public and private space could be used to increase the availability of healthy and sustainable food by expanding the space allocated for food growing. Such spaces can also enhance the quality of productive green spaces in neighbourhoods thereby contributing to biodiversity.
• Discourage food waste, and stimulate productive and/or environmentally benign ways of using unavoidable food waste.
• Support jobs in the food and farming sector by encouraging small- and medium-sized food enterprises (SMEs), such as markets and on-site farm shops, and local and regional distribution infrastructure.