News

Extraordinary General Meeting

A big thank you to everyone who joined us for the Extraordinary General Meeting on 9 October.

The meeting’s primary purpose was to formally adopt our written constitution and elect our first Chair and management committee—two essential steps that will hopefully build a firm foundation on which the partnership can build.

John Whiteman (who introduces himself below) was elected as our inaugural Chair, along with eight other management committee members. We look forward to introducing them in future issues.

For those who couldn’t attend, a copy of the adopted constitution and the full list of committee members has already been shared with Partnership members and will soon be available on our website.

Need Healthy Recipe Ideas?

Could you or someone you know use inspiration for healthy meals?

Do you have random foods you need to use up?

The World Cancer Research Fund have produced this recipe generator tool. Just put in 1 or 2 foods you have at home to cook with, and they’ll give you delicious recipes to choose from.

Recipe generator | World Cancer Research Fund

Partnership Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM)

As the partnership approaches its first birthday it’s time for our first General Meeting, which will be open to all members and take place online over Zoom from 6pm to 7pm on 9 October 2025. So please save the date in your diary.

The meeting will provide an opportunity for partnership members to celebrate all of the achievements  made over the past 12 months and have their say around where the partnership should focus its attention and activities in the coming year.

If you are a partnership member you will be receiving an EGM invitation email very soon. If you are not yet a member please think about joining by clicking here!

Eco Conversations at Wakefield Cathedral

7pm on 16, 23, and 30 September

Wakefield Cathedral will be running a series of eco conversations on Tuesday evenings throughout September. Conversations will include input from local experts and will cover a range of eco-related topics, the first of which is linked to the food system.

No need to book just turn up on the evening.

Topics to be covered will include:

"Greening the Urban Environment for Food" Tuesday 16 September, will focus on planting and growing edible plants in an urban environment, from allotments to gardens to plant pots and window boxes, featuring Leda Prest from Grow Wakefield as well as representatives from The Wakefield Good Food Partnership.

"Greening the Urban Landscape for Nature and Wildlife" Tuesday 23 September will focus on how even in the middle of a city our planting can encourage not only bees, butterflies and moths but birds and other wildlife, featuring Barbara Butler from Christians Aware and Debby Plummer, Yorkshire Wildlife Volunteer and diocesan Eco Mission enabler.

"Climate Justice" Tuesday 30 September, focussing on ‘an approach to address climate change that prioritizes fairness and equity, recognizing that its impacts are not felt equally and that those most vulnerable are often the least responsible for causing it, featuring the musician Ali Bullivant, and representatives from Wakefield City of Sanctuary. 

FREE Webinar: Ultra-processed Foods

Wednesday 5 November, 12.00-1.00pm

Join us at our second food system webinar and find out more about Ultra-process Food.

What is ultra-processed food? Is it really that bad for us? Click the link below to join our expert presenter, nutritionist Laila Charlesworth, to find out more.

Click here to register: BOOKING NOW CLOSED

This is just one of a planned series of webinars covering all aspects of the food system.  If you have any ideas for future webinars, please let us know by emailing goodfood@wakefield.gov.uk

Wakefield becomes a Sustainable Food Place

We are thrilled to announce that the Partnership’s application for the Wakefield District to join Sustainable Food Places has been successful.

Sustainable Food Places is a network bringing together pioneering food partnerships from towns, cities, boroughs, districts and counties across the UK that are driving innovation and best practice on all aspects of healthy and sustainable food.

Wakefield is one of only 6 new network members announced for 2025.

Membership of this network, which now stands at 120, will help us to continue to grow and develop the Wakefield Good Food Partnership and move closer to our aim of creating a healthier, safer and more sustainable local food system that is accessible to and works for everyone.

Food Strategy for England Published

The UK Government has just published its Food Strategy for England, which aims to put forward a comprehensive plan to transform our food system at a national level.

The strategy outlines the vision of a healthier, more sustainable, and resilient food system where good food is accessible to everyone, not just a privileged few.

Some of the key challenges the strategy aims to tackle include:

• Rising obesity and diet-related health issues.
• Food insecurity, especially among working families.
• Environmental degradation linked to food production and waste.

The document is hot off the press, so we will be reading it thoroughly over the next few days with the aim of providing our members a more detailed review of the strategy in a future issue of this newsletter.

If you would like to read the strategy in full, it can be found here. 

New report highlights our changing food spending habits

‘Changes in Food and Drink Purchasing Behaviour and the Impact on Diet and Nutrition: 2021 to 2023’, is a newly published Government report examining the shifting trends in food and drink purchases and the impact of these changes on our diet and health.

Some of the report findings include that between 2021 and 2023 increasing food prices pushed a shift in spending. Especially amongst the less well-off and families with young children. Shoppers buying fewer items in smaller quantities and switching to cheaper alternatives.

There was also an overall increase (up 1.4%) in the number of calories shoppers purchased. The snack market share increasing by 1.3%, possibly because of more people returning to office work.

The proportion of high fat, salt and sugar food items in our shopping baskets has decreased slightly (down from 48.5% to 44.1%) but still forms a huge part of what people are buying at the supermarket.

Analysis shows that overall people are eating more calories, saturated fat and salt from the choices they make when they eat out. Sugar intake has decreased at home but increased out of home.

This shows the impact the food environment in our communities has on what we eat.

The report contains many more fascinating insights into our food purchasing habits, if you are interested in finding out more the full report can be found here.

Food for thought

Charities calling for action on unhealthy baby food

A coalition of health organisations are calling for urgent government action over unhealthy baby food. This call follows an investigation by BBC Panorama which found baby food pouches from six leading UK brands failed to meet their key nutritional needs.

Food charity Sustain have stated this highlights the need for new legislation as there are no current regulations that limit the total amount of sugars in baby foods, and current standards are now out of date. As a result, they are asking people to e-mail their MPs and call for immediate action.

Six Inches of Soil

The Wakefield Cathedral Eco Group recently hosted a screening of Six Inches of Soil. This film tells the inspirational story of British farmers standing up against the industrial food system and transforming the way they produce food - to heal the soil, benefit our health and provide for local communities.

The screening went really well and stimulated lots of lively conversation. You can read a full account, as written by Sue Morgan, member of the Wakefield Cathedral’s Eco Group and of the Food Partnership.

Growing the UK’s Local Food Sector

Earlier this month a partnership of organisations including Sustain, the Land Workers Alliance and the Sustainable Food Trust published an ambitious plan to grow the local food sector across the UK. This Local Food Growth Plan is a culmination of two years’ research and consultation with various stakeholders. The Plan outlines a framework of actions for local and mayoral authorities, national governments and food and farming organisations to grow local and agroecological food supply chains.

Food Partnership update

Things may have seemed a little quiet since the partnership launch event back in October. However, the Core Group have been hard at work doing all the necessary tasks needed to make the partnership a reality.

There is lots more exciting work to do in the coming months. If you would like to join the core group and get involved in this work, helping to shape the partnership and wider food system please get in touch.

New recycling rules

On 31 March 2025 new rules around waste recycling come into force that may impact on businesses within the Wakefield district. Government guidance on these new rules can be found here.

Some of the ways these changes might affect you will also be covered in the first of our Wakefield Good Food Partnership webinars. See the Events Section below for more information.