Tameside wins national award for sustainable food work

Tameside has been recognised nationally for its commitment to working towards creating a healthier and more sustainable food system after being awarded the Sustainable Food Places Bronze Award.

The award celebrates the work of the Tameside Food Partnership, which brings together organisations including Tameside Council, The Bread and Butter Thing, Tameside Hospital, Tameside Veterans Food co, Chiit Chaat and many others from across the community.

The Tameside Food Partnership promotes healthy, sustainable and local food and tackles some of today’s biggest challenges – from food poverty and diet-related ill-health to reducing food waste and supporting local businesses.

The Sustainable Food Places Award is a national recognition of areas taking a joined-up approach to food. Award winners demonstrate impact across their local food system and work with partners and communities to create a ‘Good Food Movement’.

The Tameside Food Partnership has been working for around a decade to improve the local food environment. Recent achievements include training over 400 Healthy Start Champions, the Children’s Nutrition Team training over 300 professionals and volunteers to develop knowledge around food and nutrition,  signing up 30 Refill Stations to provide free drinking water to members of the public, and improvements to Tameside Hospital’s food offer such as replacing unhealthy snacks with fruit and introducing more sustainable menu options for patients.

Community projects like the Slow Cooker Project have provided over 500 slow cookers to households to help them eat well for less, as well as Tameside Community Food Skills Project and Tameside Veterans Food Co. delivering cooking from scratch demonstration sessions directly to residents and groups to boost their cooking knowledge and skills.

Local organisations working across Tameside have redistributed surplus food, with The Bread and Butter Thing diverting over 10,000 of meals from waste to plates, and FareShare redistributing over 156,533 tonnes of food from going to waste since January 2024 alone. Through HomeStart breastfeeding peer support service, around 50 venues across Tameside have signed up to the Baby Welcome scheme to support breastfeeding mums.

Cllr Taf Sharif, Tameside Council Executive Member for Population Health and Wellbeing, said:
“We’re proud that Tameside has been recognised nationally for its commitment to creating a healthier, more sustainable food system. This award reflects the hard work of our partners and communities who are making a real difference – from boosting residents’ food knowledge and skills, to promoting healthier options, supporting breastfeeding in public spaces, and reducing food waste.

“This recognition strengthens our determination to keep putting health and wellbeing at the heart of everything we do, ensuring that every resident in Tameside has the opportunity to live a healthier, happier life.”

Leon Ballin, Sustainable Food Places Programme Manager, added: “The Tameside Food Partnership has shown just what can be achieved when creative and committed people work together to make healthy and sustainable food a defining characteristic of where they live. While there is still much to do and many challenges to overcome, the Tameside Food Partnership has helped to set a benchmark for the other 120+ members of the UK Sustainable Food Places Network to follow. They should be very proud of the work that they have been doing to transform our collective food culture and food system for the better.”

Future plans include embedding a healthier food offer for people across Tameside through planning policy, working with local businesses to promote the Healthy Start scheme, and expanding membership of the Tameside Food Partnership to include more organisations committed to a healthier, more sustainable food system.