Planting roots for local food strategy

Angus Council is another Scottish local authority tackling food poverty alongside sustainability. It has taken its statutory obligation to prepare a food growing strategy and expanded this to include a range of initiatives which tie into its vision of Angus being a ‘great place to live, work and visit’.

Under the Community Empowerment 2015 (Scotland) Act, Scottish local authorities are obliged to prepare a food growing strategy which aims to ensure opportunities are developed for food growing, including identification of allotment land and describing how it can take reasonable steps to increase this provision.

Shelley Hague, Strategic Policy and Planning Manager at Angus Council, said the council led on the strategy but it was very much a partnership piece of work.

I was conscious when we were writing the food growing strategy that a lot of the guidance is around the pure food growing elements such as the availability of allotments. From the very early stages we got the gist that people wanted it to be much more, so we started to include additional elements and it is a lot wider than just freeing up allotment space.

The plan was co-produced with the local community, including community groups, private organisations and third-sector organisations. “We had a statutory responsibility to produce the plan, but we wanted to make sure it was deliverable in terms of who can deliver bits of it, and we made sure our resources were being put where they could make the greatest impact,” explained Hague. The result is like “an octopus” with different arms of the strategy focusing on different things but which all tie into the people of Angus having “good food, sustainable food, and a good offer”.

The initiatives sparked from the plan have included looking at getting more local produce into school meals, alongside a service design consultation with young people. It has included looking at the various food-based projects which emerged during Covid and how these can be supported to continue. Work with NHS Tayside is helping deliver nutrition programmes to show residents how to bulk cook and has distributed slow cookers. Alongside another third-sector voluntary group, Voluntary Action Angus, it has been working on access to food such as through school holiday provision.

There is also a focus on the commercial side and promoting Angus as a food destination.

Appetite for Angus is a collaborative of local food producers, charities, private sector organisations, people who have a vested interest in showcasing what Angus has to offer and they have been having events and doing social media. People are becoming a lot more aware of what is on offer in Angus and one of the bigger aims is to make Angus a destination for people to visit.

Hague is looking forward to seeing the Food Growing Strategy go from strength-to-strength as it further integrates with the wider community plan and new sport framework. A key objective is continuing the community engagement: “You must engage with your local communities and local suppliers. It has got to be done in partnership with the community so they feel part of the journey,” Hague concluded.