City Council declares Cambridge a Right to Food City
Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash
Cambridge City Council has agreed a motion that declares a cost-of-living emergency and Cambridge as a Right to Food City. Brought by Cllr Carling (West Chesterton), Deputy Leader Cllr Collis (Kings Hedges) and Cllr Healy (Romsey), the motion recognised the problems of rising inflation, food and fuel costs, taxes and a drop in real wages, and the disproportionate impact on people on low incomes. Cllr Collis said:
“People coming each week to Cambridge’s food hubs are worried. They’re worried about how they are going to manage in the coming months, as energy and food bills continue to rise, and the cost-of-living crisis gathers pace. People are frightened. They’re too frightened to put their ovens on to cook the food that is donated each week. There were 21,210 visits to food hubs last year. That number is going to go up this year. The big unknown is by how much.”
Noting the impact of food insecurity on 4.7 million adults in the UK (Food Foundation April 2022), as well the long-term impact on our nation’s children, Cllr Collis calls for systemic change to tackle the cost-of-living emergency which is pushing even more people into hunger:
“We will continue, as a council, to support our residents. No question. But councils like ours – and volunteers like the brilliant, compassionate people we have here in Cambridge – can only do so much. We can only go so far. A food system that is built on temporary support for those in need and does nothing to help people out of food insecurity or prevent them from becoming food insecure in the first place, is a failed system. And that, I’m afraid, is the system we have at the moment.
Our food justice conference in May was inspiring. It was one of the best days I’ve spent as a councillor, and really gave me hope. There are so many ideas, and such will here in Cambridge to support our communities, to work together to find the best ways of helping people. But the government can’t keep relying on the voluntary sector to plug the gaps. This has to be backed up by a system that is fairer, that listens to people and that gives them the dignity that the slow drip-drip-drip of over ten years of austerity and now the impact a cost-of-living crisis has slowly stripped away. We all know that if we don’t keep pushing, the government doesn’t act – extension of free school meals, food parcels – we’ve had to fight for even the smallest concession. Every single step of the way.”
Amongst other commitments, the Council resolved to build food justice and address food insecurity by making Cambridge a Right to Food City. This means that the Council will:
Call on national government to enshrine the right to food in law
Write to the Secretary of State together with the Food Poverty Alliance asking them to strengthen the National Food Strategy to ensure that it provides support for people struggling to eat in this cost-of-living crisis.
Continue to support the city’s food hubs and commit to working with our communities and members of the Food Poverty Alliance to form a vision of what the Right to Food looks like for Cambridge.
Read Cllr Collis’s speech here and the full motion here (item 6e, page 7).