Impact case study database

4.1. Pathways to impact

Inspired by the early findings of the research [3.4], a series of workshops led and attended by UofG researchers facilitated the formation of Glasgow Food Policy Partnership (GFPP), with key local stakeholders agreeing to join under a shared commitment to healthier, more sustainable and resilient food systems. The establishment of GFPP underpinned a new policy environment within the city (as outlined in section 4.2 below), which has since shaped the co-production by researchers and stakeholders of the Glasgow City Food Plan (as outlined in section 4.3 below). This city-wide approach is augmented by a community-level initiative in Dalmarnock, which supports increased food production and healthy consumption (as outlined in section 4.4 below); enhanced food knowledge and community cohesion (as outlined in section 4.5 below).

4.2. Informing the development of a new policy environment

The establishment of GFPP marked the beginnings of a new and more inclusive policy environment within the city, designed to drive sustainable change based upon multiple-stakeholder perspectives. The Sustainable Glasgow Manager and Chief Resilience Officer at Glasgow City Council confirms that, ‘Professors Shaw, McMaster and Cumbers’ research played a central role in the establishment of Glasgow Food Policy Partnership (GFPP) in 2014 […] The formation of GFPP is a significant step for the city, as it ensures a place for community representatives on its committee, alongside public officials and representatives of NGOs - thus enabling members of the public to feed into local authority decisions and activities, as required by the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act (2015).’ (confirmed by statement **[5A]**)

This partnership now includes Glasgow City Council, Scottish Government, NHS Scotland, Soil Association Scotland and FareShare—the UK’s largest anti-food-waste charity. The resultant GFPP Charter ‘Good Food for All’ [5B] has been signed by 115 businesses, third sector organisations and local food growers to date. The Sustainable Glasgow Manager and Chief Resilience Officer at Glasgow City Council notes that, ‘a key research recommendation was that an overarching partnership could act as a focus for informing food policy within the city’. [5A]

On the recommendation of its Council representative, GFPP has become Glasgow’s primary link to the Sustainable Food Cities Network. This network facilitates practical guidance based upon the experiences of towns and cities across the UK (an imperative originally outlined by the underpinning research [3.1, **3.4]**). Reporting on Sustainable Food Cities in 2016, Glasgow City Council’s Sustainability and Environment Policy and Development Committee stated that, *‘The principal means by which the Council has engaged in the development of this work has been through the Glasgow Food Policy Partnership […] GFPP is helping to deliver on the city’s anti-poverty agenda through its own work on tackling food poverty **.*’ [5C]

4.3. The co-production of Glasgow City Food Plan

The creation of Glasgow City Food Plan is a legal requirement of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act (2015). Statement [5A] confirms that, ** ‘GFPP is now the main organisation tasked with leading the consultation and development of Glasgow City Food Plan’*. GFPP acts as a conduit to key local stakeholders and as a means of engaging with likeminded organisations throughout the UK through the Sustainable Food Cities Network. UofG researchers have been active members of two of the six workstreams that have drafted sections of the Plan (i.e. Food Procurement and Food Waste and Environment). The underpinning research [3.2, 3.4] is directly cited in the official Glasgow City Food Plan consultation document [5D], which was launched on 8 October 2020. Following a public consultation which ran until 31 December 2020, Glasgow City Food Plan will be finalised in 2021.

Reflecting upon this collaborative policy development, the Public Health Programme Manager at Glasgow Centre for Population Health confirmed, ‘The research of Shaw, McMaster, Cumbers and Anderson […] has provided additional understandings of the links between localised food growing initiatives and the wider social, economic and environmental issues of the day […] The research has highlighted the inequitable distribution of community food projects across the city and demonstrated a need for more secure and sustainable funding to support the sector’s intrinsic value, as well as its net benefits to Glasgow.’ She continued, ‘The contribution of UofG research and engagement activity is highly-significant as the Glasgow City Food Plan is an ambitious project that supports the delivery of a number of other strategies and plans at citywide and national levels. The researchers’ community-level knowledge and evidence from the underpinning research has played a vitally-important role in supporting this intensive period of policy development.’ (confirmed by statement **[5E]**)

4.4. Increased food production and healthy consumption

Based upon two EU/Scottish Government-funded Social Innovation Fund projects, UofG researchers and Baltic Street Adventure Playground (BSAP) have pioneered an award-winning Community Food Hub in Dalmarnock—one of the city’s most disadvantaged areas (confirmed by award [5F] and project report **[3.6]**). As a result, an area of once-derelict land has been transformed into a thriving community space, which now sustains an array of fresh produce to support communal cooking experiences and the provision of nutritious meals (confirmed by short film **[5G]**). BSAP is used throughout the year, particularly over school holidays, with 7,409 visits and approximately 15,000 meal portions served over the summer of 2019. The annual attendance for 2019 was approximately 21,000 visits (numbers confirmed by email **[5H]**).

This child-focused project brings parents and guardians together with experienced growers in an area where fresh, affordable food is not always readily available. BSAP’s raised beds, renovated prior to the project’s start, were combined with a project-funded polytunnel to produce a range of fruit and vegetables (e.g. onions, carrots, potatoes, alpine strawberries, peas, tomatoes, rhubarb, broccoli and kale) from a growing area of approximately 250 square metres. The team of local growers at BSAP estimate that between 80–100 kilograms of produce has been grown since the project began in 2017. They added that, ‘carrots proved particularly popular with the children, who liked to pull them directly from the ground, wash them and eat them straight away’ (confirmed in statement from local growers **[5I]**).

The produce grown on site is integrated into the daily menu in salads, pasta sauces and curries. It also supports informal learning experiences to develop participants’ knowledge of the food system and healthy eating (e.g. tomatoes are used in workshops to make relish, courgettes to make fritters in cooking classes). The produce grown locally is supplemented with food deliveries twice a week from the UK’s largest anti-food-waste charity, FareShare. A statement from local growers confirms that the UofG project funding, ‘allowed the Community Food Hub to move from one to two deliveries per week, doubling its capacity to support the local community through local meals and food surplus’. [5I]

4.5. Enhanced knowledge of food and improved community cohesion

Local residents who visit the Community Food Hub have demonstrated a range of benefits, with two key themes identified in the research report [3.6]. Firstly, BSAP provides a space for experimentation with food that may be unfamiliar, or might otherwise be too expensive. For instance, Participant A said: ‘there is all different things you can try […] gluten free things […] there’s always so much variety that you can choose from and there’s people coming in and saying, “Oh my goodness, that will do me for three days, at least I’m going to have dinners for my kids for three days”’. Participant B added, ‘Usually, I wouldn’t eat anything like that [cabbage], but I just thought I will, just let me try, and I actually enjoyed it.’ Secondly, the Food Hub provides a much-needed focal point for the community in an area with very few local amenities. Participant A added : ‘the community’s starting to get back together, we’re starting to see each other again […] because we don’t have shops, you don’t really see anybody, but coming to the park [BSAP], you bump into people that you’ve not seen for a long time. I’ve seen people come in I’ve not seen maybe in ten years’ (quotes confirmed by participant interviews **[5J]**).

4.6. Next steps

Through this innovative research-based intervention, co-produced by researchers and the communities of policy and practice, UofG research is contributing to the alleviation of food poverty through embedded engagement and deep local impact (as outlined above). This work supports social welfare within the city, through sustainable self-managing programmes, which make essential connections between local food growing and the global environmental, social and economic challenges of the day. Both at community and policy levels, this work looks set to underpin significant impact activity beyond the REF2021 period.