Demands for healthy local food rise as shocking figures show 70pc of South Tyneside overweight

South Tyneside Council’s health and wellbeing strategy acknowledges the importance of sustainable food, both for the health of residents, as well as the significant impact it will have on reducing carbon emissions.

A report from council officers noted in South Tyneside 70% of adults (18+) are overweight or obese, significantly higher than the England average of 64.5%.

Meanwhile only 20.5% of adults meet the ‘5-a-day’ fruit and vegetable consumption recommendations in South Tyneside – lower than the England average of 31.3% and the North East figure of 28%.

A report from officers added nearly 1 in 5 households experience food insecurity, with food bank usage rising by over 40% in recent years.

The statistics came as part of a presentation on South Tyneside’s sustainable food action plan to the latest meeting of the council’s adult safeguarding, health and wellbeing scrutiny committee

Cllr John McCabe, chair of the committee, welcomed the work being done on promoting sustainable food in the borough and stressed the importance of getting into schools to educate young people on the issue from an early age.

Speaking at the meeting, he said: “What really, really would be important I think is to engage school children. They are the future for the borough.

“We need to get into the schools and try and educate the children as best as we can in regards to this subject and if we can, they will be the ones that have the food sustainability going forward.

“They will be appreciative of what is good food, what is bad food, thinking about things like obesity.”

He added: “The other problem is the price of food, there are a lot of people in South Tyneside struggling to actually have a meal.”

Officers added they are starting to do further engagement with children and they are working with young health ambassadors to inform their next steps.

Key objectives as part of the action plan include promoting healthy and sustainable food to residents, building public awareness and a local good food movement and tackling food poverty and diet related ill-health.

Other areas of focus include delivering a sustainable food economy and procurement and environmental sustainability through food.

At the meeting, officers provided several examples of the breadth of work already being done to promote the importance of sustainable food in the borough, which they are hoping to build on.

In 2023 South Tyneside’s food partnership was launched, known as South Tyneside’s Open Collective for Good Food (STOC), celebrating local good food work and creating a shared understanding of what “good food” and “sustainable food” means for the borough.

Alongside this work, South Tyneside has been working with twelve other North East local authorities on the Good Food Local project.

A “food summit” was also held in April bringing together key stakeholders from South Tyneside’s local food system to plan what will happen next and shape future action plans.

Elsewhere officers praised the community shop model being run by Hospitality and Hope for making a real impact across the borough.

The model enables anyone living within a mile and a half radius of the selected sites the option of becoming a member of the community shop which will enable them to shop there once a week to buy goods at greatly discounted prices.

As of the end of March the community shops had 2,716 members across their three sites; 1,200 at Horsley Hill, 887 at Hudson Street and 629 at Fowler Street.

Meanwhile in March a council motion was unanimously backed to look to make local food production and consumption more sustainable and to write to government ministers over the issue.

It also called on the council leader to write to other local authorities in the North East region and ask them to join the ‘sustainable food places’ partnership programme and to collaborate with the council and partners in making local food production and consumption more sustainable.