Cabinet, at its meeting on 13 March 2024, will consider a report from the Executive Director (Communities and People) seeking endorsement of the City Food Action Plan, which forms part of the Oxfordshire Food Strategy endorsed by Cabinet in June 2022. Cllr Louise Upton, Cabinet Member for Planning and Healthier Communities, Hagan Lewisman, Active Communities Manager and Tom Garrood, Zero Carbon Oxford Officer, have been invited to present the report and answer questions. The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations.

Hagan Lewisman, Active Communities Manager, introduced the report from the Executive Director (Communities and People) which sought Cabinet endorsement of the City Food Action Plan that accompanied the Oxfordshire-wide Food Strategy which had been developed in partnership with the County Council, District Councils, representatives from Good Food Oxfordshire and Oxfordshire community food groups. The Food Strategy was endorsed by Cabinet in June 2022. The Active Communities Manager highlighted that the City Food Action Plan supported the delivery of a number of the Council’s priorities, with strong links to the Council’s Thriving Communities Strategy, which was key to addressing inequalities and improving the health of the City’s residents.

Tom Garrood, Zero Carbon Oxford Officer attended the meeting to speak to the item and answer the Committee’s questions.

During discussion, the Committee noted the following:

·       The food pipeline for community larders could on some occasions be patchy depending what surplus was available from FareShare, which was sometimes why there was not a huge variety of different fruit and veg; work was being done with charities and partners related to the specific food needs of different community groups.

·       Work had been undertaken with community larders in relation to food storage such as funding fridges and freezers to mitigate food quality issues as well as campaigns to support the donation of specific food products and logistical low cost support of the provision of a community van.

·       Whilst more deprived areas were listed within the report as priority areas of the city where action would take place, the areas identified were at the ward level only; setting priority areas at the sub-ward level would ensure that smaller pockets of deprivation across the city were picked up.

·       On reviewing the action plan there was one key action relating to diet changes (promoting healthier diets), there were no actions specifically relating to diet changes in the action plan, there were actions around increasing education on sustainable diets.

The Committee resolved to make the following recommendation on the report to Cabinet:

1. That the Council engages with local food larders with a view to improving the variety of fruit and veg available, having regard to the outcome of the recent study undertaken at Oxford City Farm in relation to mothers and the impact of the cost of living crisis.
2. That the Council reviews its policy in relation to the management of leftover food from Town Hall events so that it does not go to waste.
3. That the Council promotes reducing food waste and encouraging diet change as the most impactful factors from a climate perspective, as well as reducing food miles.
4. That the Council, working with the community, explores options for the collection of food waste from larger generators of food waste within the city and distribution among food larders; and adds this to the City Action Plan.
5. That the Council re-evaluates the priority areas of the city where activity will take place set out in the City Action Plan, which are currently set at the ward level, with a view to setting priority areas at a sub-ward level to more accurately reflect levels and pockets of deprivation across the City.

Hagan Lewisman, Active Communities Manager and Tom Garrood, Zero Carbon Oxford Officer left the meeting and did not return.