The Medway Food Partnership was established in July 2020. It is a collaborate network of local businesses, not-for-profit sector organisations and members of the community working to:
• Make sure everyone has access to sustainable and healthy food
• Build the public’s education and skills around healthy food
• Create healthier communities and better futures for our residents
Our aim is to support healthy and happy communities whilst ensuring that we create an eco-friendly and sustainable economy.
Our food partnership forms a subgroup of the public health’s healthy weight network. Therefore, its overarching aim is to reduce levels of obesity and overweight in the community. It does so through the actions of the key operational subgroups that make up the food partnership along with task and finish groups for specific projects. They are as follow:
1. Food security and emergency food support
2. Healthy food for all and education and skills
3. Business and procurement
Across all 3, climate change and environmental priorities are embedded into actions.
Having a wide range of subgroups ensures that healthy and sustainable food is on everyone’s agenda at all levels.
In January 2025, the Medway Food Strategy was endorsed by Cabinet and an Action Plan established to work towards through 2025/2026.
All of our subgroups are actively promoting many great projects.
Subgroup 1 is tackling food poverty in Medway through innovative solutions. We’ve secured Household Support Fund funding to launch a Community Supermarket early in 2026, providing healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. The supermarket will bridge the gap between traditional supermarkets and foodbanks. It will also offer wraparound services to help residents build self-sufficiency and financial resilience.
Subgroup 2 has successfully published culturally diverse Eatwell guides and is working to educate community members on healthy eating and improving cooking skills by providing cookery courses for all ages. Find out more about our family cookery classes here. The group has also been working to map growing projects and are exploring funding opportunities to support these. Across the subgroups, members have been working on promoting the water Refill scheme with local businesses with support from City to Sea. Moving forward, Public Health have linked up with the wider Envrionmental Engagement and Waste team to create campaigns linked to reducing food waste.
Subgroup 3 is currently working to encourage uptake of more food related businesses to join the Medway Food Partnership and increase healthy vending and water refill across all Medway Businesses. As part of this subgroup, we have also recently commissioned research in to whole school food work to establish the best solution to support Medway schools. This year, we also hope to embed a Food Policy for all Medway contracts.
Sustainable Food Places
c/o Soil Association
Spear House
51 Victoria Street
Bristol
BS1 6AD
info@sustainablefoodplaces.org
Through the power of partnerships we make healthy and sustainable food a defining characteristic of where people live.
2026 © Sustainable Food Places
Data privacy & cookies
Sustainable Food Places is powered by:
