Candidates back our call for a food partnership in Knowsley
Labour party candidates Sean Donnelly and Ken McGlashan have come out in support of setting up a food partnership and helping to address food insecurity. Knowsley Kitchen and Sustain are calling on other party candidates to follow suit.
Food has become an ever more important issue over the last year in Knowsley and creating a resilient food system should be a top priority. Encouraged by Knowsley Council’s recent mandate for the Right to Food bill proposed by Ian Byrne MP, Knowsley Kitchen contacted all party candidates to encourage them to support a food partnership.
Labour party candidate Sean Donnelly replied:
“Many thanks for your email and, moreover, for all the work that Feedback and its partners have undertaken to support projects like the Knowsley Kitchen across the country. As you quite rightly point out, the importance of addressing food insecurity and wider inequalities in a sustainable way is now more crucial than ever – not least to ensure that the emerging impacts of COVID-19 do not compound existing challenges for local residents.
I was pleased to propose the Notice of Motion regarding the Right to Food campaign at the meeting of Knowsley Council on 17 March 2021 and am proud of the ongoing work of the Council and its partners to help address the issue of food insecurity in Knowsley. As you will be aware, this includes the work to ensure residents have had access to food during the COVID “lockdowns” throughout 2020.”
Knowsley Kitchen is a collaboration of community organisations, social enterprise and independent businesses enabling access to fresh food for everyone and supported by Feedback Global’s Regional Food Economies NW project. Set up during the first lockdown in May 2020, it has been supporting 80 households a week with a delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables and a loaf of bread from social enterprise Homebaked Anfield.
As we come out of lockdown, they are moving the attention to the essential issue of access to fresh food for householders in the borough. They are piloting a weekly mobile fruit and vegetable van to visit areas of Kirkby poorly served in terms of food access. They are also beginning consultation work within Knowsley to determine what a place-based food vision might look like for residents and looking at establishing a local food partnership working closely with Sustainable Food Places.
Find Knowsley Kitchen on twitter and facebook, or you can donate to their work via One Knowsley.
Visit Sustain’s local elections page for resources to help you ensure good food shapes your community.
Published Thursday 22 April 2021
Local elections: Amid a pandemic, economic downturn and a nature and climate emergency, elections are taking place for the Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru and many local councils and combined authorities in England on May 6 2021.
