The Executive Director (Communities and People) has submitted a report to set out the City Food Action Plan which accompanies the Oxfordshire Food Strategy and to seek Cabinet’s endorsement of it.

Cabinet is recommended to:

1.      Agree the City Food Action Plan which is part of the Oxfordshire Food Strategy;

2.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director (Communities and People) in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning and Healthier Communitiesto make any amendments to the action plan which are necessary following approval of the plan by the other local authority partners; and

3.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director (Communities and People) to negotiate and enter into the necessary grant agreements to deliver the City Food Action Plan.

The Executive Director (Communities and People) had submitted a report to set out the City Food Action Plan which accompanies the Oxfordshire Food Strategy and to seek Cabinet’s endorsement of it.

Councillor Louise Upton, Cabinet Member for Planning and Healthier Communities, highlighted that Cabinet had endorsed the Oxfordshire Food Strategy in June 2022.  The report now before Cabinet set out the action plan which would underpin that Strategy’s aspirations.

The action plan contained a number of strands, which included: helping people in food poverty; helping people to eat more healthily; binding communities together through participation in growing and sharing food; and reducing the carbon footprint of the food we eat.  It had been developed by a multi-partner working group of stakeholders which had included involvement from, amongst others: the Oxford Colleges, food banks, commercial enterprises, community groups and food producers as well as the City Council.

Councillor Upton summarised some the work already being done in this area, which included setting up the Community Food Network; providing fridges and training volunteers for community larders; and supporting families to access Health Start vouchers.

Councillor Ed Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance and Asset Management highlighted that Council had, in July 2023, agreed a motion on Supporting a Community Right to Grow.  This had included asking the Council to provide a register of unused public land which could be offered to community groups for cultivation.  Councillor Turner commented that production of such a register was proving very difficult, given resourcing constraints.  It was therefore suggested that a report be brought to Cabinet setting out options for what could be provided, and the additional resources needed.  This could then be considered by Council as part of the wider budget setting process.

In response to the scrutiny recommendations, Councillor Upton advised that these had been mostly accepted.  A recommendation to explore the collection of food waste from larger generators of food waste and distribute it amongst food larders had been rejected because of the intensity of resources it would require.   Responses to all of the recommendations were included in the separately published supplement.

Cabinet resolved to:

1.      Agree the City Food Action Plan which is part of the Oxfordshire Food Strategy;

2.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director (Communities and People) in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning and Healthier Communitiesto make any amendments to the action plan which are necessary following approval of the plan by the other local authority partners;

3.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director (Communities and People) to negotiate and enter into the necessary grant agreements to deliver the City Food Action Plan; and

4.      Agree that a report be brought to Cabinet setting out the options and resources required to address the Council motion of July 2023 on Supporting a Community Right to Grow.