Starting strong - eight new members join the SFP network

Sustainable Food Places is delighted to welcome eight new members to the network: Enfield, Hackney, the Isle of Wight, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport, Nottingham City and Walsall.

Their membership takes the Sustainable Food Places network to 128 cross-sector food partnerships working across the UK to create healthier, fairer and more sustainable local food systems.

What stands out across this latest cohort is the growing maturity and confidence in how places are approaching food systems change.  And – while some places are at an earlier stage in this process than others – there’s recognition that meaningful change requires coordinated action across sectors and communities. 

Across the cohort, the practical levers that exist locally are being explored: procurement, supporting agro-ecological growing, planning, anchor institutions, schools, public health, local supply chains, neighbourhood working and community leadership.

There is also increasing sophistication in how partnerships themselves are being structured -with many developing theories of change, governance models, thematic working groups and task-and-finish approaches that enable organisations, residents and institutions to work together in more strategic and collaborative ways.

Each of the new members reflects a locally-rooted response to the opportunities and challenges within their own place.

Enfield's partnership brings together organisations working across food access, public health, sustainability and community development, with a focus on building stronger coordination and shared strategic direction across the borough. What stood out was an early recognition that food is not a standalone issue, but one that connects to wider challenges around health inequalities, community wellbeing and environmental sustainability — providing a strong foundation for future partnership development.

The Greater Manchester Food Partnership Board's approach places strong emphasis on systems change, prevention and dignity within food support. The Food Board has committed to acting earlier to prevent crisis, backing community-led solutions and ensuring dignity, choice and fairness are embedded in how food support is designed and delivered. Its sustainable food vision recognises that food sits at the intersection of food poverty, public health, climate change and community wellbeing.

Hackney's partnership highlights the importance of culturally appropriate food, resident voice and strengthening community-led food growing alongside action to build a more equitable local food economy. The diversity of voices around the table from the outset in this context was particularly impressive.

On the Isle of Wight, work initially focused on coordinating responses to food poverty and food waste before evolving into a broader food partnership model addressing the wider food system through partnership governance and task-and-finish groups.

Merthyr Tydfil's newly developed Food Strategy explicitly connects food insecurity to wider structural issues including income, employment, health and local environments, while also placing lived experience and community participation at the centre of future strategy development.

Newport's partnership has been established around the understanding that coordinated food systems action can help address wider challenges including poverty, ill-health and climate change through stronger collaboration between sectors and communities.

In Nottingham, the partnership has developed a "whole-system, multisector and more-than-food approach", supported by working groups focused on procurement, food insecurity, growing, education and local food economies. The partnership is hosted by Nottingham Trent University, providing a robust foundation for understanding impact, learning and theory of change from the outset.

Walsall's Food Plan sets out an ambitious vision linking food to health, economic opportunity, environmental sustainability and community resilience, while recognising the importance of local leadership and collective action in shaping long-term change.

Collectively, these new members reflect a growing understanding that food partnerships are not simply delivery vehicles for projects or programmes. They are becoming vital local infrastructure for collaboration, participation and long-term systems change.

As national policy increasingly focuses on prevention, food resilience, devolution and neighbourhood-based approaches, the role of cross-sector food partnerships continues to grow in relevance.

Sustainable Food Places looks forward to learning alongside these eight new members as they continue to develop ambitious, locally rooted approaches to transforming food systems across the UK.