Spring / Summer 2010
As of the end of April Sustain are no longer formally involved with the Good Food for Camden programme. If you would like to read the Good Food for Camden: the healthy and sustainable food strategy please click here. If you would like to join the Good Food Partnership or if you have any queries please contact Rachel Hindley at NHS Camden Good.Food@camdenpct.nhs.uk.
If you are interested in finding out more about how to go about writing a food strategy for your area please contact rosie@sustainweb.org or suzanne@sustainweb.org.
Autumn 2009
The strategy and action plan have now been signed off by NHS Camden’s board and the Council’s Executive. The launch took place on 10 October and featured a series of food-related events across the borough.
The Camden Good Food Partnership met for the fifth time in September. The meeting was the best attended yet, and gave an opportunity for a preview of the final strategy, on which we received very positive feedback.
NHS Camden has asked for a revised version of the Buying Good Food for Camden Manual, having decided they would like it to appeal to businesses that are already keen to, or are using, sustainable produce. A timetable for this is currently being negotiated.
Summer 2009
NHS Camden and Camden Council are working with Sustain project officers to develop Good Food for Camden: The healthy and sustainable food programme. It will help local people, especially vulnerable, disadvantaged and lower income communities in Camden to buy, eat, and dispose of food in a way that helps both their health and the environment. The launch of the strategy has been scheduled for 10 October.
The Camden Good Food Partnership met for the fourth time at the beginning of June. All the meetings have been well attended, and at this event there were presentations about the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, and about Soil Association Food for Life catering mark.
A manual that combines the reasons for buying sustainable produce with a directory of producers from across Camden, London, and further afield has been completed,
Finally, Enfield, Islington and Southwark have been so impressed by the emerging Camden food strategy that they have asked Sustain and the steering group for information to help them develop their own food strategies.
Spring 2009
NHS Camden and Camden Council are working with Sustain to develop Good Food for Camden: The healthy and sustainable food programme. It will help local people, especially vulnerable, disadvantaged and lower income communities in Camden to buy, eat, and dispose of food in a way that helps both their health and the environment.
Over the past few months, Sustain project officers Rosie Blackburn and Anna Terzi have coordinated the public consultation, which received over 300 responses.
The strategy is now complete and is being presented to the NHS Camden Commissioning Executive and to the London Borough of Camden's Corporate Sustainability & Waste Board for approval. We plan to launch the strategy in the summer. The steering group is also developing an Action Plan. It identifies practical ways to implement progress on six main themes.
Sustain has provided secretariat services for the steering group and sub-groups. All meetings have been well attended and we have had very positive feedback from the attendees.
Rosie has been developing a toolkit of sustainable suppliers in and around Camden to be distributed to local community groups and businesses. The data will also be given to Camden Council so that they can use it on their “Find your nearest” web facility.
Winter 2008/09
Good Food for Camden: the healthy and sustainable food strategy aims to make Camden’s food system more healthy and sustainable for everyone. In the long-term, the aim is to tackle health inequalities and obesity in the borough and improve health and the environment in general.
A steering group, composed of senior representatives of NHS Camden and Camden Council, has been set up and has regular monthly meetings. It oversees the development of the programme and ensures commitment in both organisations.
A preliminary consultation process was conducted during October/ November 2008 to identify the likely areas where energies can be directed in Camden. Relevant stakeholders involved with food, health and sustainability in the borough were contacted, which allowed Sustain to gauge people’s feelings about the programme and strategy and their opinions about food priorities in Camden.
The preliminary work also included a review of relevant research, policies and project documents at local, regional and national level. The results of this pre-consultation were fed into the first discussion document that was presented to the steering group.
The programme is now at its consultation phase which will run for 12 weeks from December ’08 to 6th March ’09. The consultation is open to anyone working or living in Camden and is particularly relevant for businesses, third-sector organisations, community groups, Camden residents and policy-makers.
For more information please contact Rosie Blackburn.
Call 0207 837 1228 or email rosie@sustainweb.org
To register your views online please visit www.camden.gov.uk/consults, or for more information please visit http://www.camdenpct.nhs.uk/. You might win a free meal for two at Konstam, Camden’s most sustainable restaurant (conditions apply).
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