Good Food Accessible to All

These are the notes from the recent ERA talk given by Regi Miesle on 27 November 2025.

We were grateful to Regi for turning out on dark and wet November evening to tell us all about the work of the Arun and Chichester Food Partnership. We have been aware of her work as part of a group, including our steering group member Andrea, working towards one or more community gardens in Midhurst and she had also attended one of our cookery workshops with Lux Organics.

Regi began by explaining that the food partnership has the mission to make ‘good food accessible to all’ and that they think in terms of food being good for the person, good for the environment and good for the community. The Arun and Chichester Food Partnership is a member of Sustainable Food Places, which brings together a network of around 120 food partnerships across the UK.

They are working with others to co-create a plan to expand and grow the local, sustainable food sector, known as the Sussex and South Downs Local Food Plan, a group that published a draft action plan in May 2025.

This action plan identified these intended positive outcomes:

• Building food resilience at a regional level

• Improving local employment, economy and rural sustainability

• Reducing the climate impact of food

• Reducing instability in the industry and in future consumption

The focus is on local food which they define as food that is produced, processed, sold and eaten within the same region or local administrative area through transparent, SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) focused supply chains. A food system based on local food will necessarily have a reduced carbon footprint but the Arun and Chichester Food Partnership argues that local food is also important for future food security. Some 50% of veg and 80% of fruit, which is bought/sold in the UK is imported, much of it from water insecure countries. As the effects of climate change grow such countries are likely to be increasingly prone to more droughts and floods – will they be able to continue to provide so much of our fresh food?

Following on from the Local Food Plan, and in advance of the local government reorganisation and the mayoral authority, Arun & Chichester Food Partnership has joined with the other food partnerships from West Sussex, East Sussex and Brighton & Hove to give a united, amplified voice to raise food issues at the regional level.

Given that 90% of the food eaten in Britain is bought from supermarkets, their purchasing strategies have a huge influence and those strategies are not based on strong food security. One of the biggest issues is that imported food can work out cheaper than home grown food.

The previous government published a National Food Strategy (a veritable tome at 290 pages, published 2021) including many good ideas but the needed investment in this strategy never materialised. July 2025, the current government published the ‘Good Food Cycle’ framework with outcomes including:

• An improved food environment that supports healthier and more environmentally sustainable food sales    

• Access for all to safe, affordable, healthy, convenient and appealing food options     

• Conditions for the food sector to thrive and grow sustainably, including investment in innovation and productivity, and fairer more transparent supply chains     

The Minister for Food Security Daniel Zeichner, is quoted as saying:    

‘Food security is national security – we need a resilient food system that can weather any storm while ensuring families across the country can access affordable, healthy food. The Good Food Cycle represents a major milestone.‘ (Government launches "Good Food Cycle" to transform Britain's food system  - GOV.UK , accessed 011225.)

Clearly central government understands the issues covered by Regi in this talk, but will they prioritise this work and find funding for it, or will fall to a plethora of groups like the Arun and Chichester Food Partnership to rise to the occasion and build some of the food resilience we are so undoubtedly going to need in the not-so-distant future?

If this talk was of particular interest to you then visit their website and sign up to their newsletter: arunchifood.org.uk