Labour knocks back a Food Strategy motion – keeping thousands at risk of starving this winter
South Tyneside Green Party
26th November 2021
A thorough Food Strategy motion was presented to full council yesterday. Designed to effectively tackle the issue of food poverty and public health, this strengthening motion has already been adopted by several councils across the country.
We are extremely disappointed that every member of South Tyneside Labour Group present last night chose to vote it down, stating that they ‘already work towards these aims’. If they already work to cover the specific aims set out in this motion, they should welcome the opportunity to vote this through and strengthen their resolve to tackling food poverty. Unfortunately, they all chose to reject it instead.
In light of this, we encourage all residents of South Tyneside to email your own ward councillors to ask them why, and include the following request:I am a resident in your ward who is extremely concerned about the levels of food poverty and inequality experienced in my neighbourhood. I’m contacting you to request the following information:
* A copy of South Tyneside Council’s current/existing Food Strategy
* The name(s) of the Council’s Food Champions
* The names of the Council’s partner organisations and details of funding applied for through this partnership
* A copy of the Council’s Food Action Plan developed with residents and partner organisations
* A copy of the Council’s comms plan promoting local food produce/sales
You can find out your local councillors contact details by simply popping your postcode in here: https://www.writetothem.com/
If the Labour councillors who voted this down are correct, they will have no issue in providing the evidence to you.