Good Food Local: The North East report

In our annual Overall and Beyond the Food Bank tables and series of good food maps, we shine a light on each council's approach to food partnerships, household food insecurity and the wider food system. This year is the first time that the North East has participated so the scores mark the beginning of the councils’ journeys to ensure good food for all.

What does the report cover?

The measures align with Sustainable Food Places’ six key themes. There is also an emphasis on diversity, equality and inclusion to encompass work on this topic across all six key themes.

Food governance and strategy - looks at council action on taking a joined-up approach to food through food partnerships, policy and strategies.

Food growing and other community food action - assesses council action to support more people to grow their own food, increase land available for growing, as well as build a local good food movement and platform community voices.

Healthy food for all: addressing food poverty - reviews council action to address household food insecurity looking ‘Beyond the Food Bank’, with a focus on tackling the root causes of poverty and increasing dignified access to good food.

Healthy food for all: stemming the tide of unhealthy products and championing healthier food - from schools, workplaces and communities to catering, high streets and advertising, our measures encompass areas that affect the lives and health of local communities.

Sustainable food economy - reviews how councils are joining up work on improving the local economy and regeneration, with the availability of affordable, healthy and sustainable food including any work undertaken under the Good Food Retail agenda.

Catering and procurement - assesses one of the key areas where councils can act to reduce food-related emissions, and promote climate and nature-friendly food while supporting local economies and promoting healthy food.

Food for the Planet – looks at commitments and actions taken on food to tackle the climate and nature emergency including signing up to the Every Mouthful Counts Toolkit and managing food waste.

How does the report help councils take action?

The data is a valuable resource to support councils and food partnerships to identify where to take action on critical food issues that affect the food system as a whole.

By illustrating clearly where councils are making progress, and areas that might need more capacity and resource, this data helps councils make the case to continue to take action on food.

It also includes case studies to share good practice and in future years it will include a league table to celebrate achievements and benchmark performance year on year to give a wider view of progress.

Survey approach

Following the success of our Good Food Local approach in London, Sustain designed a survey to collect the information used and scored in this report. We developed the questions based on our decades of close work with councils on food issues and by engaging with North East partners to tailor the questions to the local setting. External partners and feedback from councils were used to shape criteria. All councils in the North East were invited to complete a survey and self-report on action taken and future plans as well as data from external sources.

The scoring and maps show three levels of action based on survey responses: foundations, good practice and leadership. For some measures, we identified actions to indicate a council’s progress level; for some measures, it was the total number of actions taken that was used to determine the level.

The scoring tables provide an overview of council performance in each theme, indicated by colours, with the darkest colour indicating leadership and the lightest colour indicating a foundational score.

Case studies

Celebrating the good work taking place across the North East is an important part of this project. We have worked with several councils to put together inspiring case studies to showcase the innovative work they are doing to help residents to access healthy, affordable and sustainable food.

All case studies

What's happening in your council?

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Overall table
Which councils are showing leadership on joined-up action?

Beyond the Food Bank table
Which councils are leading the way in addressing food poverty?

Good Food maps
Explore the Good Food Local North East data in detail.

Recommendations for action

A summary of short, medium and long term recommendations to support councils to take action on food.

Food Governance and Strategy

Support the development of a food partnership and food strategy covering all key food issues. This should be developed in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders.

Food Growing and Other Community Food Action

Ensure there is a lead council officer for food growing, a clear route for residents to access public land, and support to set up community gardens and develop the skills to grow food.

Ensure good food is celebrated across the council’s communications channels and through a variety of publicly accessible events and projects, and support community food initiatives to develop and thrive.

Sustainable Food Economy

Put in place a Good Food Retail Plan to improve access to healthy, affordable food in the local authority area.

Catering and Procurement

Having targets or standards for procurement that ensures the food under the council’s control reflects a planetary health diet, as well as supporting nature-friendly farmers and those with ethical and environmental credentials e.g. having meat free days, serving organic, local and/or seasonal produce, and using verifiably sustainable fish.

Food for the Planet

Include timebound, specific and measurable targets on food in climate action plans, and assign capacity to act on these commitments.

Healthy Food for All: healthier food environments

Assign resource to develop a healthier food advertising policy for the council following good practice.

Use planning strategies to manage new hot food takeaways.

Overall table

Healthy Food for All: tackling food poverty

Strengthen and embed cash-first approaches to reducing poverty, including providing crisis support via cash payments and increasing income maximisation via advice services.

Implement measures to increase uptake of free school meals and holiday food provision for all potentially eligible families, including use of opt-out automated enrolment processes, working to ensure that these are healthy and sustainably sourced, and support campaigning towards healthy school food for all.

Develop a target-driven action plan to increase uptake of Healthy Start cards and vitamins, including training for frontline staff and targeted outreach using postcode-specific uptake data.

Urgently review food provision for people seeking asylum, particularly with regards to food safety standards and infant feeding, and bring together relevant council teams and local partners to improve access to food and kitchens.

Resource nutritious meal provision inside and outside of the home for older and disabled residents, and ensure strong referral pathways into services.

Support development of community food projects which go beyond emergency food provision linked up with wraparound support services.

Beyond the Food Bank table

The results table is best viewed on larger devices.

This project is coordinated by Good Food Local at Sustain, to celebrate and encourage action by councils on good food issues, spanning policy areas which sit under several council departments.

We are grateful to Impact on Urban Health for providing the funding that makes this work possible and to the Association of Directors of Public Health North East for their in-kind contribution.

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