New £10 million to boost food access in deprived places, but long-term commitment unclear

The Sustain alliance has welcomed Defra's announcement of the Good Food Neighbourhood funding, which will see almost £10 million go to 45 local authorities with the highest levels of deprivation and childhood obesity.

This works out as £222 thousand for each council to develop local solutions, which could include "community food shops, mobile greengrocers, lunch clubs, community kitchens, and cooking and nutrition programmes". The money can also strengthen councils' capacity to plan for and meet local food needs.

Over half of the selected 45 places are members of the Sustainable Food Places network that Sustain helps to coordinate (with Soil Association, Food Matters, Food Sense Wales and Nourish Scotland), each with a food partnership working to improve the local food system; or they are in areas where cohorts of councils are engaged with Sustain’s Good Food Local benchmarking of local authority action on food.  

Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive of Sustain, and chair of the Crisis and Resilience Fund Alliance, said:

"This is a welcome signal that the Government understands the essential role of local authorities, food partnerships and community food enterprises working together to build the lasting infrastructure that enables low-income communities to access the good food they need.

Alongside cash-first solutions and nutritional safety nets such as free school meals, investment in community food assets such as community kitchens, retail outlets and sustainable food supply chains is a vital way to build connections and resilience.

Sustain looks forward to working with the places and the Good Food Neighbourhood funding to ensure that this work is joined up with policy, investment and learning that can result in lasting change.”

Lucy Antal, who helps run mobile greengrocer Queen of Greens with her team at Alchemic Kitchen CIC, operates in two of the 45 areas that will receive Good Food Neighbourhoods funding. 

Lucy Antal said:

“In some areas of Liverpool and Knowsley it is easier to buy a vape than an apple. Making fresh fruit and veg accessible to all, irrespective of location and income, is an achievable dream, as Queen of Greens has demonstrated, welcoming 10,000 people from under-served households, enthusiastic to access affordable fresh food. This builds physical and mental health, enabling people to reach their full potential. Yet it takes a lot of logistical work and organisation, so this funding – and explicit commitment to supporting mobile greengrocers like ours – is very welcome news!” 

Queen of Greens works with Alexandra Rose Charity to make the fruit and veg affordable, and is supplied by The Kindling Trust and Organic North. The work is also supported by Feeding Liverpool, the city’s food alliance.

Sustain, our alliance members and the Sustainable Food Places network, supporting coordinated and community enterprise initiatives, have long argued that local food partnerships – established over the past 15 years – are critically important infrastructure for a fair and resilient local food system. 

The scale of the problem, however, far exceeds the scale of the response. The Government's own figures show that 9% of people lived in food insecure households in 2024/25, while children living in the most deprived communities are significantly more likely to experience obesity and related health inequalities. Just over £200,000 per council cannot close that gap, and a time-limited fund cannot build the capacity, systems and infrastructure that local food systems change depends on.

Glen Tarman, Sustain’s Director of Policy and Advocacy, said:

"The Good Food Neighbourhoods Fund is welcome, but is not sufficient in itself to undo the structural drivers of household food insecurity. Those drivers are low incomes, inadequate social security and a food system that makes healthy food the expensive and less accessible choice. If this is the start of meaningful change, it will require long-term funding and coherent government policies, so that everyone can afford good food and thriving community food infrastructure makes it accessible everywhere. We want to see a Good Food Bill that puts duties on local and national government to drive food system change, and to be held to account for doing so." 

Sustain is calling on Government to:

• Treat this programme as the foundation for lasting investment in community food assets and local food infrastructure. That means multi-year funding and permanent capacity for local food partnerships in every area, not only the 45 selected.
• Introduce national Good Food Bill would provide the legislative framework to accelerate national progress and action by national government and local authorities to prioritise equitable access to good food, particularly for people on low incomes.
• Tackle the root causes of food insecurity by prioritising cash-first solutions, nutritional safety nets (such as free school meals and Healthy Start), and ensuring investement in community food capacity, assets and infrastructure, as set out in Sustain's Four Pillars of Dignified Food Access.

Notes to editors: 

• The funding covers England only. The full list of 45 recipient councils is published here on GOV.UK.
• The Sustainable Food Places network is a UK-wide movement that unites local authorities, communities and organisations to transform food systems and make healthy, sustainable food a defining characteristic of local communities. Over 120 UK places are now members of the Sustainable Food Places network, with local food partnerships implementing food strategies, of which 23 are among the 45 areas selected for Good Food Neighbourhood funding.
• Sustain’s Good Food Local programme is a national benchmarking platform to help local authorities drive food system change. Through Good Food Local, local authorities can track and drive meaningful action in their area while learning from others nationwide to help build healthy, sustainable communities.
• The Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) Alliance (see also the entry on the Local Government Association website) brings together councils, government and partner organisations to support CRF implementation, share learning, build evidence and improve outcomes for people facing financial crisis. This provides guidance to local authorities that will disburse £3bn of funds to support people in crisis over a three-year period, and to build financial resilience to prevent future crisis. The CRF Alliance currently includes members of the Crisis Support Working Group (CSWG), other third-sector organisations (including Sustain and the Independent Food Aid Network), academic researchers, the Local Government Association (LGA), councils, and the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP’s) CRF team.
• Sustain’s Four Pillars of Dignified Food Access, devised by groups working locally to address food poverty, provide the framework to achieve household food security while helping to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.