Nottinghamshire Sustainable Food Network has won a prestigious Sustainable Food Places Bronze award. The award recognises the Nottinghamshire Network’s work to promote healthy, sustainable and local food and to tackle some of today’s greatest social challenges - including food poverty and diet-related ill health.

The Nottinghamshire Sustainable Food Network is a dynamic forum for discussion and action on all key food issues. It brings together a range of partners working to improve the local food system such as community and voluntary organisations, the county council’s Public Health team, district and borough health leads, along with health and academic organisations. Partners work together to achieve the vision of the Nottinghamshire Food Charter, that everyone in Nottinghamshire no matter what their age and where they live should have access to healthy tasty affordable food which should also be positive for the environment and local economy.

Working with communities and through collaboration with organisations such as FareShare Midlands, Feeding Britain and many others, the Network has helped communities to gain access to affordable healthy food, to withstand and recover from any disruptions in food supply and to combat food waste.

Cllr Scott Carlton, Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health at Nottinghamshire County Council said:

"The Nottinghamshire Sustainable Food Network is proud to achieve the Sustainable Food Places Bronze Award. It demonstrates the achievements of the partners and communities who work hard to ensure good healthy food is available for everyone. This Sustainable Food Places Award is a national recognition and celebration of our joined-up, holistic approach to sustainable and healthy food. Its shows how the Network and all stakeholders are creating a Nottinghamshire ‘Good Food Movement’.”

The Bronze Award will be celebrated at The Nottinghamshire Food Summit on 16 October, an event which aims to celebrate inspirational local food initiatives and involve partners in shaping The Nottinghamshire Food Plan (2025 – 2028), to deliver on the vision of the Food Charter.

Leon Ballin, the Sustainable Food Places Programme Manager, said:

“Nottinghamshire Sustainable Food Network 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, Nottinghamshire Sustainable Food Network has helped to set a benchmark for the other 100+ 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.”