Case studies: London

Barking and Dagenham: growing opportunities

From January to July 2023, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham commissioned School Food Matters to deliver food growing and enterprise programmes to schools across the borough. Eight primary schools and three secondary schools completed the Young Marketeers Programme, which saw students and teachers learning how to grow vegetables at school, prepare vegetable stalls and sell their organic produce at Barking Market. The secondary schools also visited Dagenham Farm to see commercial horticulture in action. Through selling a range of fresh produce, the students raised £236 for a local food charity supporting food insecure families, and a further £227 was raised by the secondary school pupils to support food education work. After taking part, students have a better understanding of how food is produced, and the nutritional benefits of different foods, as well as increased cooking and gardening skills.

The council also worked with Flipside, a local LGBTQ+ community organisation, and the Peer Support Group, a community group for young people experiencing mental health issues, to co-develop a two-year food programme. The programme supports young people who may experience barriers to getting involved in community projects to participate in activities related to food. This summer, a group of 21 young people visited Dagenham Farm to take part in harvesting seasonal vegetables and cooking it at the community centre, supported by local food entrepreneur, Healthy Mind Healthy Grind.

Hounslow: funding local community food action

Hounslow Council have distributed thousands of pounds in grants and in-kind support to local community projects. For example, £30,000 was awarded to the Health Means Wealth community allotment, which supports residents with learning disabilities and mental health concerns to access free growing spaces and develop new skills. The Community Development Team is supporting the Beaver’s Children Centre to regenerate an outdoor area at the Hub Community Centre into a community garden, to teach families about food growing and provide them with fresh healthy produce. Hounslow also coordinates an Environmental Champion Programme, connecting 100 environmental groups and individuals, and offering monthly workshops led by Groundwork around food growing and wildlife friendly gardens. Project support, advice and specialist gardening tools are available to support champions. 

The Council has supported the Centre for Food Policy to recruit 10 local residents as researchers exploring the challenges of feeding their families healthy meals in the context of material, financial and social constraints. The resident researchers are working with local and national-level policy stakeholders to co-create policy recommendations based on their experiences. The council also has a Community Connectors group of just over 100 residents who have volunteered to raise awareness within their neighbourhood and community about a range of health and lifestyle issues, including raising awareness of the healthy start scheme.

Kensington and Chelsea: Investing in alliance work and wraparound support

The food poverty alliance in Kensington and Chelsea provides food support across the borough via organisations in the heart of the communities they serve. They provide a range of activities and opportunities for resident engagement, health and wellbeing and referrals into advice agencies as well as food support. Some organisations provide advice on issues at a hyper local level and specialised services, such as the Food Bank in Earl’s Court which provides support to refugees, and the Community Market in Lancaster West which supports residents with substance dependency and mental health issues.

Kensington and Chelsea Social Council is the local umbrella organisation for the voluntary and community sector in the borough and they are contracted by the Council to co-ordinate the food partnership and support residents to reach council and community based support services. They commenced delivery of the Community Resilience Support Programme in November 2022, with funding from the council, hosting several community events offering advice and support to residents. The approach evolved in April 2023 into an ‘Advice in Community Settings’ model with advice provided at Food Banks and community sessions.  Alongside this, money-worries training has been delivered by local advice agencies to 60 people across 50 stakeholders to improve support to residents, with ‘top-up’ training where necessary.  Estimations by the service providers show thousands of interactions from residents with the services per annum.

Barnet: prioritising nutrition for asylum seekers

The situation for asylum-seekers in hotels is extremely challenging, with many issues being raised about the quality of food provision.  Barnet Council has set up a catering working group to look at how to improve food quality in hotels.  Barnet has hired a Health Ambassador for asylum-seeker and refugee support.  The Neighbourhoods and Community team has developed an asylum seeker health action plan which includes sections on food and nutrition as a priority area. This will contribute to a wider migrant health action plan in the future. A pilot project offered a diverse group of asylum-seekers a chance to come together, pick a dish that was meaningful to them to cook and eat together. The sessions also aimed to foster communication and integration between communities.  Though the pilot only had funding for 3 sessions, these were joyful events for all involved.  In Barnet the Healthy Start vitamin scheme has been extended to residents in the hotels across the borough so they can access vitamins at their nearest Children’s  Centre. This has been heavily promoted with the voluntary organisations working within the hotels to promote with families. 

Newham: joining the Sustainable Food Places network

Sustainable Food Places was pleased to welcome Sustainable Food Newham to the network this year. Newham already has a strong track record through the Newham Food Alliance of partnership working with grassroots and community organisations that span the geography, food cultures, and social need in the borough, collaborating effectively with the council and other anchor institutions. The partnership has been set up to create a specific space for joined up work on the sustainable food leadership.

Southwark: award-winning food partnership

Southwark Food Action Alliance (SFAA) has been awarded a Sustainable Food Places Bronze Award. With the Public Health team sitting on the partnership’s steering group and providing funding for its coordination, the council have strong ties to SFAA and the work it delivers. SFAA is made up of about 90 groups, including several who work closely with people with lived experience of food insecurity, such as Parents and Communities Together (PACT).

A huge amount of work has gone into achieving the Bronze Award, including input from the council. Southwark council has approved a Right to Food plan which sets out how it will implement the commitment to becoming a Right to Food borough. This includes a range of actions, such as a community grants programme, championing the London Living Wage, supporting frontline and Council staff to act as champions for dignity and implementing a “no wrong door” approach to signposting to further support.

Merton: Going for Gold

Merton has a high level of breastfeeding support available to residents including peer support groups, 121 breastfeeding clinics and a specialist clinic led by an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. Merton council holds Stage 3 full re-accreditation with the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, with all Health Visitors trained to meet required standards Merton Health Visiting services are embedded within the Children’s Centres, with staff trained to support all households with breastfeeding, as part of their progress towards a Baby Friendly Gold award. Merton takes a holistic approach to breastfeeding, with the support and message of Baby Friendly linked in with family hubs, borough work on healthy weight, the Southwest London infant feeding strategy, midwifery, and voluntary services. Merton’s infant feeding services were shortlisted for a Nursing Times award in 2021, awarded a place on the National Institute for Health Research improvement leader fellowship, and the specialist breastfeeding clinic was showcased at the UNICEF annual Baby Friendly Initiative conference in 2022.

Wandsworth: Supporting school food

Wandsworth council is working to ensure all children in the borough have access to good, nutritious food through their new School Food Strategy and accompanying action plan. This work includes expanding eligibility criteria for free school meals, targeting additional support via breakfast and afterschool provisions, and supporting schools to get the maximum pupil premium funding that they are entitled to using the low-income family tracker (LIFT) the Council has invested in, which will support movement towards a simplified ‘auto-enrolment’ system. The strategy also highlights work on food education for students, and food sustainability.

In 2023 Wandsworth awarded a new catering contract following the adoption of a model specification from the charity, School Food Matters. The aims of the school meals service for Wandsworth include providing high quality, healthy and sustainable food, increasing school meal uptake, adopting a whole school approach to healthy eating, ensuring a motivated and valued workforce, and embedding sustainable practices. Caterers are also required to deliver food that is inclusive, with foods that reflect diverse communities, allergies and intolerances catered for, and requirements for SEND children being met, allowing everyone to thrive.

Camden: Bolstering holiday activities and food funding

Camden’s HAF programme offers free holiday clubs for children in receipt of benefits-related free school meals. In Summer 2023, 2,724 children were supported with hot healthy meals and enriching activities across four weeks, meaning 35% of Camden’s FSM eligible children took part. Camden’s delivery partners, such as youth clubs and charities, faced high demand for places, far outstripping the number on offer. Therefore, Camden Council invested an additional £100,000 to supplement the HAF programme across Summer and Winter 2023 and Easter 2024, in recognition of the increased pressures faced by families, and the rising demand for the HAF programme.

In total, 329 more places were made available to FSM eligible children in Summer 2023, compared to the previous year, primarily attributed to these additional funds. The Camden HAF programme focussed a substantial part of their investment on supporting children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), increasing the number of places offered to children requiring one to one support or a specialist placement by 33% in Summer 2023 compared to Summer 2022. Watch the HAF Summer 2023 video.

Tower Hamlets: healthy advertising success

Tower Hamlets are supporting around 250 families experiencing food insecurity to access affordable fresh produce via Children’s Centres and GP surgeries. The vouchers provided via GP surgeries are for participants with a physical or mental health condition who are also experiencing food insecurity. Evaluation reports from the first-year show that the vouchers provided by GP surgeries have reduced participants experiencing mild to moderate food insecurity from 70% to 29%, increased fruit and vegetable intake, and improved physical and mental health outcomes. These projects are delivered with Alexandra Rose Charity and Bromley by Bow.

In May 2023, Tower Hamlets introduced a Healthier Advertising policy to restrict the advertising of products high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) through the Council. It aims to reduce exposure to unhealthy images that are often targeted at children, young adults and people living in more disadvantaged areas.

Lambeth: fruit and veg on prescription

Lambeth Council has commissioned a Fruit and Vegetable on Prescription scheme targeted at residents at risk of high blood pressure and on a low income.  The Public Health team has been working with the A.T. Beacon Project and Alexandra Rose Charity to develop the intervention, which consists of weekly health advice, wrap-around support, and blood pressure checks, alongside the collection of an £8 voucher with an additional £2 for each household member.

The project has increased the variety and consumption of fruit and vegetables eaten by the target group. Wellbeing and stress levels, including financial worries have improved; healthy behaviours increased; and health conditions improved. Findings show that 71% of participants have improved blood pressure readings, 62% increased activity levels and 100% have reported an increase in happiness levels. The scheme is also helping to improve the local economy by spending the vouchers at local food markets.

As part of the School Superzone programme, Lambeth Council is also working with local convenience stores to increase the range and sales of healthier, affordable food and to accept the Healthy Start vouchers. 

Redbridge: food that serves the community

During some community engagement events Redbridge council found that Bangladeshi communities did not feel well served by existing healthy cooking interventions, which did not focus on traditional cooking or ingredients. In response, the council established the Bangladeshi Healthy Eating Project: a programme of six cooking and dietary workshops aimed at empowering participants with knowledge and skills to cook healthy Bengali meals. Each week, 23 participants cooked a healthy version of a meal they had selected and received dietary advice, including the basics of a balanced diet, understanding Type 2 Diabetes, and the nutritional values of Bengali foods. The programme was found to successfully increase knowledge of Type 2 Diabetes and encourage healthy food and drink swaps including reducing sugar intake. 100% of participants reported increasing their knowledge of how to cook healthier meals, and they also reported they would pass on the healthy eating messages to friends and family. There is evidence that residents who have Bangladeshi ethnicity are at higher risk of experiencing particular long-term conditions, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, so this intervention targets benefits towards high-risk groups. 

Greenwich: training and investment for good food

Greenwich has a Good Food Retail Group comprising of partners from environmental health, economic development, public health and GCDA (a local social enterprise). The aim of this partnership is for partners to understand each other’s roles and responsibilities relating to the good food economy agenda and work collaboratively to improve their good food retail offer. This year, there has been public health investment into the economic development and environmental health teams to build capacity for good food retail work, and the partnership has helped good food be considered as part of broader economic drivers such as Community Wealth Building.

The economic development team has worked hard to relocate and protect the continued delivery of the main Woolwich fruit and veg market as the town centre undergoes regeneration, for example through reducing costs for local traders. The Woolwich market traders have also been supported to transfer over to the digital Healthy Start card scheme.

Good food business training is delivered by GCDA, and their training kitchen is used for a diverse range of food start-ups and entrepreneurs to develop and test recipes before going to market.  HAF providers also received training to reach the council’s standards relating to healthy, sustainable, safe, affordable and culturally appropriate food, and have been supported to procure from local businesses. As part of the Sustainable Food Strategy, the council has committed to develop a Cultural Food and Advice service which is focused on ensuring culturally appropriate food and support is readily available within the borough.

Southwark: improving choice and promoting access

Southwark council are expanding on Good Food Retail work in the borough to ensure that healthy, sustainable and diverse food is available to all. They have mapped the 40 convenience stores taking part in their Good Food Retail Scheme for provision of food from diverse cultures, and are now working to engage five more Afro-Caribbean stores to support them to provide both culturally appropriate and healthier foods.

All convenience stores participating in the scheme are supported to implement and promote healthier food options, as well as the Healthy Start scheme, increasing residents’ options of where to spend their Healthy Start card and keeping more of this money in the borough. This year, the council committed to funding the programme for a further 3 years, expanding the number of stores involved by 20 each year (up to a total of 60), and working to incorporate more sustainable and culturally appropriate food options to the "100 lines list" that has so far been developed.

Southwark are also part-funding the Rose Voucher scheme to increase access to fresh fruit and vegetables, with 80% of beneficiaries coming from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background. Rose vouchers are promoted by market traders, and the council is working to increase the number of traders promoting and accepting Healthy Start cards.  

Barking and Dagenham: bringing local food to kids

In Barking and Dagenham, the Sustainable Meals Healthy Futures Campaign has been promoting the value of sustainable catering to schools. The council-owned caterer, BD Together, are a Food for Life Silver accredited caterer and a London Living Wage employer that cater for 44 schools.

Barking and Dagenham has worked with local, organic wholesaler the Better Food Shed and BD Together to deliver seasonal, organic produce to all HAF organisations along with seasonal recipe cards. In Summer 2023, they partnered with Made in Hackney to run a plant-based food and nutrition training session for 20 people from 10 HAF provider organisations and develop plant-based recipes tailored to demographics of the borough, to accompany the seasonal produce they delivered. Feedback was that the clubs had more confidence to deliver creative nutritional activities that helped support children to understanding of the importance of healthy eating, with a focus on plant-based food.

BD Together work with a range of local suppliers and are planning to pilot purchasing produce for school meals from the Better Food Shed after good feedback from the HAF programme. They are also developing an apprenticeship programme to get more catering and hospitality trainees into school kitchens. Level 2 Production Chef apprentices will experience working in real school kitchen environments while developing their knowledge at local further education institution Barking & Dagenham College. Trainees will benefit from an enhanced curriculum at the College that champions the three pillars of sustainability and diverse world cuisines. The apprenticeships are part of BD Together’s strategic plan to raise awareness of school cheffing as a great career choice or pathway to other parts of the industry; and of the College’s plans to provide progressive food and hospitality FE training.

Waltham Forest: gold-plated catering

Waltham Forest Catering provide catering services to 42 primary schools across the borough, working hard to support the council’s climate goals. They developed the Autumn-Winter menu for this academic year with the support of ProVeg, winning a Gold School Plates award for their work. They are also working with ProVeg to develop a tool to measure the carbon impact of their increasingly plant-based menus. The catering team have a variety of strategies for encouraging pupils to eat the plant-based meals on offer. As well as running multiple events such as ‘Save the planet day’, the catering team host taster sessions of new plant-based dishes in schools. They have developed two cartoon characters, Forest Eco Rangers, to help promote the meals, and Omari Mcqueen, a teenage plant-based chef, has demonstrated recipes to primary school pupils. The Forest Green Rangers football team will be holding workshops in four primary schools in January to promote and introduce the wider benefits of plant-based living.

The council has drafted a Green Events Guide that states events should source from environmentally conscious caterers and to better consider how much catering is required, and plan how any surplus food will be used, for example donated to food banks.