Food justice campaigners tell us that councils which have a designated lead member responsible for food poverty tend to have a more coherent response to the growing challenge of hunger than those which do not. Typically, responsibility for food poverty crosses council departments and council portfolios (for instance Adult Social Services, Children’s Services, Equalities, Partnerships, Regeneration,etc). It can prove a challenge to bring the different strands together if there is no single lead member. Similarly, having a single lead member makes it easier for voluntary and community organisations to work out who to contact within the council.

A growing number of councils are developing a ‘Food Plan‘. This involves identifying what the challenges are, and coming up with practical steps to deal with the.

Oftentimes, the Food Plan is developed alongside a Food Alliance/Network/Partnership which brings together the voluntary sector and statutory agencies.

Find out whether your council currently measures food poverty or food insecurity – a number of councils are considering including a measurement of food insecurity as part of their household survey.

Visit a voluntary, community or co-operative organisation delivering food justice in your area. This might be a Food Bank, Community Kitchen, Community Shop, Incredible Edible, or a Co-operative Allotment.

Each has their own story and their own needs which will vary from organisation to organisation and area to area. Very often there will be support and help which you are able to provide through the council, or practical steps which your Co-operative Party might be able to provide such as a few hours spent encouraging food bank donations, or helping to promote volunteering.

If you’re area is in need and does not have a voluntary organisation working in it then consider setting one up, or encourage an existing organisation to work in your area. There are plenty of organisations working on food justice to take inspiration from.

It’s important to try and keep food poverty in the headlines locally and nationally. Reminding people of the facts helps our national campaign for a ‘right to food’ and it helps drive home the impact of austerity locally.

You do this by asking questions in council, by writing letters to the paper, by phoning in on local radio. And you can do it by celebrating what organisations in your area are doing to tackle food justice on social media using the #foodjustice or by writing us a short article about their work for our blog.

You keep abreast of news by signing up to our Food Justice campaign.

Food poverty won’t be solved overnight. We need a fairer more equal, decent, society.

Many of the Co-operative Party’s ideas are aimed at tackling these inequalities. Everything is connected. Community wealth building, our tenants’ charter, support for credit unions or our other ideas for local government manifestos are all part of the wider fight for a more equal society where wealth and power are shared and thus active measures against food poverty so do consider what you can do to incorporate Co-operative Party thinking into your local government practice.