Despite being one of the UKs most deprived communities (indeed it could be argued because of this) East Durham has a long established track record in supporting the most vulnerable people in the community.
In recent years this has been exemplified by the local Area Action Partnership (AAP), who has established a range of initiatives to support those in greatest need. Indeed the AAP have established an over- riding priority concerned with “Maintaining the Social Fabric of Our Community”, a direct response to the effects- both current and potential- of public spending cuts, welfare reform and general economic decline.
In 2012 it had become apparent that the social and economic climate had brought into sharp focus the fact that access to food was clearly becoming an issue.
At the extreme end of the scale this was seen in the growth of emergency food parcel services and reliance on local intervention, such as luncheon clubs and community cafes, providing affordable and nutritional meals.
This growing evidence of food poverty at a local level was also viewed against the backdrop of national research which showed links between deprivation and unhealthy diet with the UK Faculty of Public Health citing that ‘Affordable healthy diet was too expensive for growing numbers of people’ (Triggle, 2014)
A further local concern was the evident lack of a co-ordinated local food supply chain with an over reliance on national/chain outlets. With such issues in mind East Durham AAP commissioned East Durham Trust to produce a food report which would look at: - Levels of deprivation and ill health - The current provision of services in relation to food - A range of recommendations that would contribute to improvements in access to food, in particularly healthy food
