Food Security and Sustainability Letter

The London Assembly Environment Committee has written to the Mayor with 5 recommendations on food security and sustainability.

Recommendations include:

1. The Mayor should publish an action plan by September 2024 at the latest, setting out how the GLA will take steps to improve the resilience of London’s food system, including addressing the recommendations of the 2022 Oxford University report.
2. The Mayor should allocate an increase in its funding to the Capital Growth programme to:
   • Allow it to employ 2 full-time staff, instead of 2 part-time, as currently;
   • Develop an accurate, in-depth database of food growing projects and allotments in London and opportunities to expand these; and
   • Support an increase in food growing through Capital Growth projects.
3. In developing the Local Nature Recovery Strategy, the GLA should ensure that opportunities to strengthen and expand food growing, including in allotments and community gardens, are mapped and widely discussed. This would help strengthen the evidence base for food growing to feature more strongly in any updated London Environment Strategy and London Plan.
4. The Mayor should increase the number of staff on the GLA Food Team to support the Food Board, Sustain and delivery of the Food Strategy and Implementation Plan.
5. The Mayor should explore how the Universal Free School Meals programme can connect schools with food growing projects in London as well as the role the programme can play in leveraging procurement strategies which benefit locally produced and sustainable food.