With the publication of Scotland’s first National Good Food Nation Plan in December, local authorities and local NHS Boards can now start developing their own Local Good Food Nation Plans.
The National Plan provides an overview of the current state of the food system in Scotland and sets out a vision of a Good Food Nation, where food is a vital element in improving everyone’s lives in Scotland and protecting our environment for generations to come. To achieve this, the food system must be considered as a whole.
The significance is that the Plan has legal force, and ministers must ‘have regard’ to the plan when making decisions. Both the Highland Council and NHS Highland will now develop, consult on and publish their own Local Good Food Plan, taking account of specific factors and concerns in the Highland region.
The Highland Good Food Programme has done much work to get to this stage, and will work with Highland Council and NHS Highland to address the priorities in the six key outcomes of the national plan. These are: a better food environment, a sustainable food system, a healthy population, a strong food and drink sector, a thriving food culture, global impact.
To learn more, read Eleanor Forster’s blog on the Highland Good Food Partnership site