LOCAL SHOPS ENCOURAGED TO SELL MORE LOCAL FOOD BY MAKING LOCAL FOOD WORK LOTTERY FUNDED PROGRAMME

Rural shops throughout England are being urged to sell more locally produced food by Making Local Food Work, a five year, lottery funded programme to encourage and promote locally produced food in urban and rural areas.

The Look for Local scheme is inviting small, local shops, including those that are community-owned, to sign-up for free, to a dedicated shop advisor, branded point of sale material and training workshops worth up to £1000, to improve their local food offering and to get connected with more local producers. Some shops already on the scheme have increased their food sales by up to 20 per cent. Nicole Hamilton, Project Manager for the scheme says: “Through Look for Local we want to increase availability and demand of local food, by promoting it to local shops in villages and rural areas. Seventy-seven shops in England are now benefiting from the scheme, which we want to increase to 200 in the next two years.” Increasing local food ranges means that the sustainability of the shop is strengthened, as every £10 spent on local food generates £25 for the local economy. (1) It increases the shop offering and gives people more choice; with 65 per cent of consumers already buy local food, with 40 per cent stating they would like to buy more. (2) It also means more traceability and the availability of fresher products. (3) Making Local Food Work defines anything grown, raised or produced within 30 miles of the shop or the county as being ‘local.’ Visit www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk. -Ends- Editor’ Notes The Look for Local Scheme helps community-owned and village shops identify stock and sell more local food and drink. The shops and small local producers involved will be supported by specialist advisers who will assist in implementing and sharing networks, ideas and skills. LookforLocalFoodEnquiries@plunkett.co.uk (1) CMO, 2004 & Sustainable Development Commission, 2004 (2) Institute of Grocery Distribution: Retail and Foodservice opportunities for Local Food report 2006 (3) Local Food Omnibus research Report prepared for the FSA (Food Standards Agency) in 2008 The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) awarded the Plunkett Foundation’s Making Local Food Work initiative £10 million from the BIG’s Changing Spaces Programme. The Changing Spaces programme was launched in November 2005 to help communities enjoy and improve their local environments. The programme is funding a range of activities from local food schemes and farmers markets, to education projects teaching people about the environment. The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was established by Parliament on 1 December 2006. Full details of the work of the Big Lottery Fund, its programmes and awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk. Making Local Food Work is a five year, £10 million lottery funded programme which supports and promotes access to locally produced, healthy, affordable food. Since it officially launched in 2007, the programme has advised and supported many people including communities, producers and food social enterprises, to achieve its goal of supporting 650 community food enterprises in England and to engage with and support a million people by 2012. www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk. The Plunkett Foundation (www.plunkett.co.uk) is a national organisation based in Woodstock, Oxfordshire that helps rural communities through community-ownership to take control of the issues important to them. It runs a range of projects and services supporting rural communities to set up and successfully run community-owned enterprises including shops. It has recently supported the producers of The Archers, the longest running radio soap on BBC Radio 4, with its storyline to save the last remaining shop in Ambridge. The villagers are setting-up it’s first community-owned shop to keep the heart of the village alive and to save this much needed service and are discussing the selling of mainly locally produced food to the village. The Plunkett Foundation works with the Office of the Third Sector (www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector.aspx) to promote the role that social enterprise can play in rural communities in England. As part of the Cabinet Office, the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) leads work across government to support the environment for a thriving third sector (voluntary and community groups, social enterprises, charities, cooperatives and mutuals), enabling the sector to campaign for change, deliver public services, promote social enterprise and strengthen communities. The OTS was created at the centre of government in May 2006 in recognition of the increasingly important role the third sector plays in both society and the economy.