Good food, stronger communities: the SFP network heads to Westminster to champion a resilient future

The Sustainable Food Places annual Day of Celebration and Action takes place this year on the afternoon of Monday 23rd November in the Jubilee Room of Westminster Hall, London.

The event brings together SFP member food partnership representatives, community leaders, MPs, and government officials. It gives food partnership and community representatives a chance to strengthen their relationships with their parliamentary representatives, discuss food-related issues that matter most to their communities, and advocate for policy interventions that ease the cost-of-living burden, address food insecurity, and build long-term local resilience.

The central focus of this year's event, under the theme "Good Food, Stronger Communities: a Resilient Future", is putting civil food resilience and emergency planning at the heart of national, regional, and local policy. Drawing on our Civil Food Resilience Briefing and wider evidence across the network, we are calling on Government to give Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) statutory remits to plan for household food security, establish funded Local Food Resilience Committees in every local authority area, and recognise food access in emergency planning. This follows the recent National Audit Office report warning that food sector resilience remains untested, and an Open Letter signed by 34 SFP food partnerships alongside leading academics.

This year is a pivotal moment for food systems, as English devolution, public food procurement reform, and growing momentum around a national Good Food Bill offer prime opportunities to scale local best practice. From pioneering initiatives like Food Resilient London, the Bristol Food Disaster Risk Planning Project, and the Dyfed-Powys Civil Food Resilience Project, local food partnerships are proving that place-based action boosts national food security, public health, local economies, and thriving ecosystems.

The Sustainable Food Places Network brings together pioneering food partnerships from towns, cities, boroughs, districts and counties across the UK that are driving innovation and best practice on all aspects of healthy and sustainable food. Sustainable Food Places is a partnership programme led by the Soil Association, Food Matters, Sustain, Food Sense Wales, and Nourish Scotland. It is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.