National praise for borough’s work on food and climate emergency

Cheshire West and Chester Council has received national recognition for its work to unlock a food revolution and tackle the climate emergency.

The Council has been listed as one of 21 top performing councils out of nearly 200 analysed by Sustain, a national alliance for better food and farming.

Sustain’s report ‘Every Mouthful Counts’, looks at how well councils in the UK are performing on issues of food and tackling climate change.

The borough has also joined the Sustainable Food Places Network following a successful application by Cheshire West Voluntary Action (CWVA) supported by the Council’s Public Health team.

Cllr Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: “Tackling the climate emergency has long been a major priority of the Council.

“We’ve been working with partners across the borough to address many of the issues leading to this emergency, with a sustainable and healthy food system high on the list.

“We want everyone to be able to eat healthily every day and we want farming and food production to have a positive impact on the climate and biodiversity. This can in turn help our local economy to thrive.

“It’s great to have our work recognised in the report by Sustain, and even better that our partnership’s application to become a Sustainable Food Place has been successful, opening up even more opportunities to make a real difference.”

CWVA leads the Food Strategy for west Cheshire and the West Cheshire Food Partnership, bringing organisations together to help make sure healthy food is available for everyone.

Stephanie Ellis, CWVA’s Food Strategy Lead, said: “We were really keen to become a Sustainable Food Place in recognition of the work we have done so far and to support us to achieve more.

“We have been working closely with the Council and other partners over many years to put together a coordinated approach to food support, with everyone working together towards the same goal.

“Through the links we have created in our communities, we have been able to map out all the food support available across west Cheshire on our live, interactive map on the Welcome Network website.

“This is even more important with the current cost of living challenges and we’ve been working with the Council and other partners on this to make sure people can access the support they need this winter and beyond.”

Partners from across the borough have been working together to achieve the Sustainable Food Place accreditation, and will continue to do so as the borough works towards its bronze accreditation. As well as CWVA and the Council, partners include: the Mersey Forest, The Welcome Network, Cheshire Waste Recycling, University of Chester, Chester Zoo, Tatton Group, The Sustainability Forum and Sustainable Cheshire.

For more information about Sustainable Food Places visit: www.sustainablefoodplaces.org.

For more information about the Sustain report visit: www.sustainweb.org and search for ‘Every Mouthful Counts’.

You can access the live, interactive map showing the food support available at: http://www.welcomenet.co.uk/get-support

For more information about cost of living support, visit: cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/costofliving.