Sustainable Food Places: Day of Celebration and Action 2025

On 5th November 2025, representatives from Wales’ Sustainable Food Places network travelled to Westminster to join more than 120 local food leaders at the Sustainable Food Places Day of Celebration and Action parliamentary reception. Hosted in the Attlee Suite of Portcullis House, and sponsored by Olivia Blake, MP for Sheffield Hallam, the event showcases the power of community-led food partnerships in building a healthier, fairer, and more sustainable UK food system from the ground up.

This year’s parliamentary reception highlighted how grassroots food partnerships are offering vital solutions to deepening food insecurity, poor health and wellbeing, and the impacts of climate and nature crises on our food supply. The event brought together changemakers from across all four nations of the UK to connect with MPs to call for long-term, strategic investment in local food systems and the roll-out of a food partnership in every local authority.

During the event, many co-ordinators from Wales met with their local MPs to raise key challenges and share examples of how locally led food action is addressing these issues.

The Sustainable Food Places network now connects 123 food partnerships across the UK. These partnerships bring together local authorities, voluntary groups, farmers, food businesses, and residents to coordinate local responses to national crises — from tackling child food poverty to supporting regenerative farming and circular economies. Their work aligns with key Government strategies, including the UK Food Strategy, NHS Long Term Plan, English devolution, and the Government Plan for Neighbourhoods.

Sustainable Food Places is a partnership programme led by Sustain, Soil Association, Food Matters, Food Sense Wales and Nourish Scotland. It supports the growth of food partnerships through training, mentoring, and policy advocacy — ensuring communities have a say in shaping the food systems that serve them.