16 New Sustainable Food Places Awarded Across the UK

Sustainable Food Places (SFP) has awarded 16 new areas across the UK with its respected, evidence-based accreditation, the only scheme of its kind globally, recognising local efforts to transform food systems. 

 

With 85 awarded places in total, reaching the SFP Bronze Award is a major collective achievement for any place. To earn bronze, an area must demonstrate an active and inclusive cross-sector partnership that connects work across health, food access, business, procurement and the environment. To achieve silver, places go further, showing lasting, system-wide change underpinned by meaningful local policy and a citizen-led Good Food Movement. 

 

This year marks a milestone: the number of silver award winners matches the number of bronze winners for the first time in SFP’s 12-year history. With silver typically taking at least five years to achieve, this shift reflects the maturity and growing impact of the UK’s food partnership movement. 

 

Leon Ballin, Programme Manager for Sustainable Food Places said:  

“Transforming food systems across such a diverse range of UK communities is a remarkable achievement. Bronze and Silver Sustainable Food Places Awards are never won overnight, they reflect years of consistent, collaborative effort and the commitment of many partners in each place. Every member and award holder in the SFP network should be proud of the role they play in reshaping our food culture for the better. As this movement continues to deliver lasting change, we urge the UK Government to recognise the wide-ranging benefits for health, farming and food resilience, and to follow the Welsh Government’s example by funding this vital work.” 

This Year’s Award Winners 

Silver Award 

Birmingham; Carmarthenshire; Cornwall; County Durham; Hull; Rhondda Cynon Taf; Vale of Glamorgan 

Bronze Award 

Blaenau Gwent; Bridgend; Gateshead; Pembrokeshire; Powys; South Tyneside; Sunderland; Tameside; West Cheshire

 

Amy Mycock, Food Durham Coordinator, said: 

 "Achieving this milestone provides us with a chance to celebrate collective food system change in County Durham, from our 50-member Beyond Food Banks Network, to the direct gardening support Food Durham has provided to 16 community growing and 16 school growing sites across the county.  The process of applying for the award gave renewed impetus to stakeholders committing to actions within our Good Food Strategy and we hope that our new silver status will help us to foster more collaborations as momentum builds in creating a better food future."   

 

Celebrations for Cymru 

Almost half of this year’s award winners are in Wales, highlighting the transformative impact of Welsh Government funding for a food partnership in every local authority. This is a policy SFP advocates should be adopted across the UK. SFP emphasised this message at its recent Day of Action and Celebration in Westminster, attended by over 50 MPs. We were also pleased to see Food Partnerships recognised in Defra’s Good Food Cycle and hope the Welsh model will inform next steps. 

 

Welsh award winners received their accolades at the Wales Real Food and Farming Conference in Bridgend. All awardees are helping reshape their local food system across six priority areas: 

1. Strategic and collaborative good food governance 

2. Building public awareness, active food citizenship and a local Good Food Movement 

3. Tackling food poverty, diet-related ill-health and access to affordable healthy food 

4. Creating a vibrant, prosperous and diverse sustainable food economy 

5. Transforming catering, procurement and revitalising local supply chains 

6. Addressing the climate and nature emergency through sustainable food and farming and reducing food waste 

 

Examples of Bronze Award Impact 

South Tyneside has raised the quality of school meals through national accreditation. Several primary schools have joined the Food for Life programme, and the local catering service achieved the ProVeg Silver Award for its new school menu, one of only two silver awards nationally in 2024. The menu reflects a commitment to nutritious, child-friendly meals that reduce carbon impact while meeting government standards. 

 

Bridgend Sustainable Food Partnership delivered a bespoke growing course for community food projects, training volunteers and staff to grow fresh produce alongside surplus and emergency food supply. Run by Slade Farm Organics, the course ensured fresh, locally grown food reached the people who needed it most. 

 

Examples of Silver Award Impact 

Sustainable Food Cornwall co-created a new category in the Cornwall Sustainability Awards. The Sustainable Food & Drink Award recognises local businesses and organisations demonstrating excellence in sustainable practice—from sourcing and production to packaging, waste reduction, community engagement and climate action. 

 

Birmingham Food System Partnership helped launch the Full of Beans campaign to boost the supply, demand and consumption of beans and pulses. Working with citizens and the British Dietetic Association, they collected 250 tasty and nutritious recipes celebrating Birmingham’s diversity, making them freely available to communities and organisations across the city.