Food and Local Policy – 10 years of a Food Partnership

Vic Borill, Brighton & Hove Food Partnership

Vic@bhfood.org.ukwww.bhfood.org.uk

@harvestbh

The Brighton & Hove Food Partnership

• A non-profit organisation that helps people learn to cook, to eat a healthy diet, to grow their own food and to waste less food.

• Work with individuals• Work with groups• Work at a strategy and policy level

Direct service delivery work Individuals

• 800 + people a year via our Healthy Weight Referral service

• Sign post volunteers to community projects• Members – 3700 – info via e news, twitter etc• Deliver cookery lessons and Love Food Hate

Waste workshops• Training for health, social care professionals

Community development role - Groups

• 75 growing projects - During 2013, 4,000 people were involved in community gardening, contributing 15,000 hours of their time to growing food locally

• Community cafes (22)• Community compost schemes (30 schemes

807 households)• Cookery – lunch clubs, cookery groups

Putting food at the heart of the solutions

Food

Health and wellbeing

Economic development

Social cohesion

Culture

Reducing inequalities

Environmental sustainability

The idea is born (2003)

Key people:• PCT health promotion• Council sustainability• Community groups• Local campaigners and

residents• Food Matters

Childhood (2004-6)• Mapping local food,

‘Food Shed’ report• ‘Spade to Spoon’ event• Food Partnership

formally founded• Strategy and action

plan (2006)

Growing up (2007)• Not-for-profit, independent, politically neutral• Membership organisation, with elected board• One member of staff• Events• Newsletter • Website

Teenage years (2008-12)

• PCT funding for Food for a Healthy Future

• Lottery funding for Harvest project on food growing

• Core strategy, waste strategy responses

• Council funding for food waste campaign

• Gained seats on Local Strategic Partnerships – eg health and sustainability

Young adult? (2012 and beyond)

• Food Strategy review and refresh (2011-12) – showed where doing well and not so well

• Led to Esmee Fairbairn funding for ‘tricky issues’, eg food poverty, procurement

• Grown to 20 staff (16 FTE), 3700 members

• Partners start to ‘get it’ and people coming to us

Why influence policy

• Longevity • Equality• Attention to the issue • Direction• Connecting good practice to resources• Helps when applying for funding• Allows for up-scaling and replication

Food Strategy and Action Plan• If have a food strategy why

influence other policy areas .... Won’t people just do it?

• Strategies that refer to strategies! ACTION PLAN

• Using your food strategy as a hook and entry point

• Resources are by policy area

Which ones?• Challenge – so much could respond

to • JSNA • Health and Wellbeing• Planning• Waste• Target communities eg for FP adults

with LD• Anything to do with land• Climate change and sustainability• Economic development, skills

Policy making process

Downsides

• Time consuming• Out of comfort zone• Disconnected to reality• Often very long term• Want facts not opinion• Turning policy into action

Who are these decision makers? Elected Councillors and Council Officers, business, statutory and voluntary

sector

Personal contact• Responses to consultations – engaging, simple

language, concise – what like as well as what don’t like.

• Ongoing positive communications – newsletters, invites to things

• Attending events and partnership meetings• Critical friend • Patience and persistence • Tone

Seeing is believing

• Visits• Films• Case studies• Surveys• Focus groups

Evidence / research

Local Media

Policy into practice an example – domestic waste strategy

Policy asks• Food waste is a problem –

bin survey 35%• Link to national evidence –

most food waste is avoidable – WRAP

• Link to other agendas – costs to household

• Pay attention to the waste hierarchy – reduce first

• Problem of home composting without a garden

What happened• Love Food Hate Waste

community education programme

• Community composting – previously just discounted compost bins

• Challenge – this was only about domestic waste – redistribution and hotel / restaurants

• Challenge – does it work?

Involvement in the process – allotment strategy

• Part of a strategy steering group with Allotment Federation, BHCC and

public health• Consultation and engagement work –

1200+ responses• Open access to info including financial• Took just over one growing season to achieve• Process important = Trust

Local or national?

The challenge

The Brighton & Hove Food Partnership is a hub for information, inspiration and connection around food.

• Need to learn and share• Need to be willing to do

things differently• Need both the doers

and the thinkers