Issue - meetings

Presentation supported by Jon Hobday Director of Public Health

Francesca Vale Public Health Practitioner (Food & Health) opened the agenda item on Bury’s Food and Health Strategy - Eat, Live, Love Food with a presentation on Bury’s food journey.

Bury Food Partnership launched in 2021 with 25+ cross sectors partners interested in healthier and sustainable food, this has now expanded to 85+ partners working collaboratively across the borough. Francesca explained how the food strategy is integrated within Bury’s Lets Strategy and alignment with complementary strategies has opened the way for food related issues to be considered in many areas (anti-poverty, climate action, cultural and economic growth).

The Partnership used the Sustainable Food Places themes to map activity, impact, and collective achievements (encompassing food governance, healthy food for all, catering and procurement, good food movement, sustainable food economy, food for the planet). Bury was awarded the Sustainable Food Places Bronze Award in 2022 and quickly progressed to achieving the Silver Award in 2024,  the first area in Greater Manchester to do so.

The Committee heard that Bury’s food system transformation has gained national and internation attention, with the Partnership presenting at Westminster and being invited to participate in the EU Cascade Cities Peer Learning Programme and EU Clever Food Programme, embracing many learning insights, and applying these into our local policies.

Bury Schools Catering serves 10,000 meals per day. Francesca described how the service has set high standards and seasonal menus, shortened supply chains, brought SME’s into procurement framework, increased organic procurement and made cost savings.  Bury Catering have now achieved the prestigious Food for Life Served Here Gold certification from the Soil Association for serving healthy and sustainable meals across 56 sites in Sept 2025.

Francesca also highlighted the recent launch of the “Right to Grow” campaign in June.  This growing initiative aims to bring residents together, nurture local environments, and boost health and wellbeing across the borough.  Growing offers many benefits, from improved mental and physical wellbeing through activity in nature, increased access to fresh food, and the strengthening of community bonds.  A lack of available land close to people’s homes can be an obstacle to more people growing.  To help address this issue, Incredible Edible Prestwich and District, Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Bury Council’s Planning, Parks & Countryside, Grounds Maintenance, Public Health and the Bury Voluntary, Community and Faith Alliance have all come together to look at planning, licensing, and to create a single food map of established community growing sites and potential future growing spaces.  Community growing advice and resources are available, and successful applicants will be issued with a Licence Agreement. 

The Committee discussed the national challenges around Free School Meal auto-enrolment.

The Partnership have supported the implementation of Free Schools Meals Auto Enrolment in Bury and has seen amazing first results from bringing in this new process.  Bury Schools Catering Service reaches 52/69 primary schools and 4/14 secondary schools.  Since auto-enrolment meal uptake for Free School Meals increased by 18.4% in our Bury Catering managed schools.  6281 meals were ordered in the week before Easter (April) compared  ...  view the full minutes text for item 82

Presentation support by Lee Buggie, Public health specialist and Francesca Vale, Public health Practitioner food and health

Lee Buggie, Public Health Specialist, and Francesca Vale, Public Health Practitioner, provided an update on various initiatives and achievements around the Food and Health Strategy. Francesca began by discussing the growth of the partnership, highlighting their award for the township, which was the first in Greater Manchester. She also mentioned their recognition in Westminster and shared insights from their visit to Copenhagen, where they learned about the city's educational program that ensures 90% of food is organic.

Francesca then moved on to discuss the implementation of auto-enrolment for free school meals, which has benefited 200 children. She emphasized the need to address thresholds and universal credit to further improve the program. David Catterall's role in overseeing the Greater Manchester market partnership was also highlighted, focusing on school catering and working with other markets across the region.

The Right to Grow campaign was introduced, aiming to utilize unused council land for community growing projects. Legal teams have drafted a lease agreement for community growing, and a community growing page has been created to map sites for groups to use. The Fast-Food Takeaway Matrix, part of their food health strategy, was discussed, providing recommendations for fast food takeaways based on specific criteria. The Licensing Matrix, which links to the Fast-Food Takeaway Matrix, was also mentioned as a tool for considering healthier options for takeaways.

During the Q&A session, Councillor Tariq thanked Francesca for her contributions and acknowledged the hard work of David Catterall and Andrew Cowen. He also mentioned an upcoming visit on the 8th and 9th of July to showcase their food partnership event.

Councillor Smith inquired about the criteria for the Right to Grow campaign and whether there is a limit on the number of approvals. Lee Buggie responded that it would depend on council resources and public liabilities. Councillor Smith also inquired about using non-green spaces for town centre regeneration, to which Lee replied that they are considering all applications and public liabilities. Councillor Smith requested the involvement of children and young people in future initiatives.

Will Blandamer thanked the presenters and emphasized the importance of linking their initiatives to health scrutiny and the free school meals program. Councillor Pilkington asked about the difference between the Right to Grow campaign and the Incredible Edible initiative. Francesca explained that the Right to Grow campaign is led by the same force behind Incredible Edible and aims to be more robust and sustainable.

Councillor Southworth inquired about the support available for these initiatives, while Councillor Fitzgerald discussed the food partnership's access to food from farms and the role of community groups in making meals with food from food banks.

Actions and Agreements:

• The update provided by Francesca Vale and Lee Buggie was noted and appreciated.
• Further exploration of the Right to Grow campaign's criteria and potential expansion to non-green spaces will be undertaken.
• The involvement of children and young people in future initiatives will be considered.
• Continued collaboration with partners in Stockport and Salford to improve the free school meals program.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 105