Draft Barnet Food Plan 2022 - 2027

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Consultation has concluded

We are seeking your views on our draft Barnet Food Plan for 2022 - 2027

The Barnet Food Plan 2022 – 2027 outlines our approach to sustainable, healthy and accessible food over the next five years. The 2021 National Food Strategy identified the three main challenges in the UK food system; health of the population, health of the planet and food insecurity. Our plan addresses these challenges locally, expanding the scope of the previous Food Security Action Plan and acknowledging the multi-faceted role that food plays on our lives.


Our vision:

Our vision is for Barnet to have a sustainable

We are seeking your views on our draft Barnet Food Plan for 2022 - 2027

The Barnet Food Plan 2022 – 2027 outlines our approach to sustainable, healthy and accessible food over the next five years. The 2021 National Food Strategy identified the three main challenges in the UK food system; health of the population, health of the planet and food insecurity. Our plan addresses these challenges locally, expanding the scope of the previous Food Security Action Plan and acknowledging the multi-faceted role that food plays on our lives.


Our vision:

Our vision is for Barnet to have a sustainable and good quality system of food production, provision and consumption that will improve everyone’s health and wellbeing. Barnet residents will be able to afford and have both the opportunity and knowledge required to eat food that is good for them and good for the planet. We will take action to address the drivers of food insecurity, resilience is built at individual and household level, and emergency food aid is available for those in crisis. A strong partnership between all actors in the food system, including local residents, will build on the work already delivered by the voluntary and community sector to drive our vision forward.


The three themes of the plan are:

  • Food for lifelong wellbeing
  • Food for our communities and public institutions
  • Food for our environment and our economy


The key mechanism for delivering the actions outlined is the formal development of a Barnet Food Partnership. Local Food Partnerships are cross-sector bodies that own and drive forward agendas on their local food system. In the UK, Local Food Partnerships come together as members of Sustainable Food Places (SFP). Food partnership work has been taking place in Barnet for a number of years, however, we plan to formalise this work by becoming members of SFP, thereby demonstrating the seriousness of our strategic and holistic commitment to taking action on food. The priorities of the partnership will be;


  • Supporting food aid
  • Promoting food growing
  • Promoting healthy eating
  • Connecting food businesses with community organisations
  • Promoting sustainability and waste reduction in the food system


What we are seeking your views on 

We are keen to give everyone who lives, works and studies in Barnet the opportunity to have their say. In particular, we are seeking your views on:

  • Our vision and guiding principles
  • The challenges facing our food system
  • Our themes and the actions within them


How to have your say

Please take the time to read our consultation document and then give us your views on our plan by completing the online questionnaire.

If you require a paper copy of the consultation document and questionnaire, or another format, please email: Food@barnet.gov.uk

Your input will be used by the council to shape the final version of the Barnet Food Plan that will be presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board in January 2023.

Consultation has concluded

  • We asked, you said, we did

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    We asked

    We asked for your views on our draft Barnet Food Plan 2022 - 2027.


    You said

    We received 56 responses to our online survey asking for feedback on the Draft Barnet Food Plan. In addition, public health officers delivered presentations and led discussions with seven community groups and council stakeholders. Notes from these sessions as well as written submissions from six community groups and individuals were received and incorporated into the final draft of the Food Strategy.

    Some of the key findings from the consultation were as follows:

    • top priorities identified: addressing climate change across our work on food and ensuring access to healthy, affordable food for all residents especially during the cost-of-living crisis
    • significant desire for more community gardening and growing initiatives and spaces, and more community food initiatives
    • the food environment and unhealthy high streets are seen as a barrier to healthy eating
    • the Draft Food Plan is too vague and uses too much jargon
    • the Draft Food Plan is ‘data-light’ and needs more data
    • the council should lead on promoting plant-based foods and diets to people in Barnet and where it sells and provides food .

    We did

    We reviewed the Draft Food Plan and added more data, including Barnet-specific data on the health of adults and children, and deprivation and food insecurity. Where data is not immediately available, such as information on procurement by Barnet Council, gathering this data has been added to actions outlined in the Food Plan.

    We reviewed the Draft Food Plan to remove jargon and clarify specific areas and phrases that were flagged as unclear.

    We reviewed the three themes and associated actions. We streamlined the thematic areas in line with the priorities of stakeholders and residents. Amending the thematic areas to Healthy People, Healthy Place and Healthy Planet allows for greater emphasis on actions which aim to make Barnet a healthy food place, such as community gardening and growing spaces and coordination and support of the local food system.

    The final draft of the Barnet Food Plan was approved by the Health and Wellbeing Board in January 2023 and you can view it here Barnet-Food-Plan-2022-2027.