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Principles met

  • Co-production

    We will develop systems that enable citizens to be equal partners in designing and commissioning public services and in determining the use of public resources.

  • Innovation

    We will embrace innovation in how we work with local communities to drive positive change.

  • Learning

    We will capture and ‘expand’ the experience and learning from individual projects and approaches in order to encourage broader application of co-operative principles within individual member Councils and across the Network.

  • Maximising social value

    We will support the development of a framework and criteria for social value, giving substance to the concept and supporting Councils with the tools to ensure better local social and economic outcomes.

In response to rising food insecurity—intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis—Lewisham Council launched its Food Justice Action Plan, delivered collectively through the Lewisham Food Justice Alliance (FJA). This unified, systemic response addresses the root causes of hunger while building long-term community resilience. Lewisham is among the 20% most deprived local authorities in England, with 35% of residents living in poverty and one in five earning below the London Living Wage. Structural inequalities, compounded by rising food, housing, and energy costs, have led to growing reliance on emergency food aid—even among working families. Research from The Food Foundation shows the pandemic further deepened disparities in food access and nutrition, especially for minoritised groups, disabled adults, clinically vulnerable people, and food sector workers.

At the heart of the borough’s response is the Lewisham Food Justice Alliance, a co-operative network of over 30 organisations from the voluntary, community, faith, and public sectors. Its aim is to go beyond emergency food support, promoting long-term, dignified solutions through collaborative action. This partnership is coordinated by Lewisham Local and supported by a dedicated Food Justice Programme Manager funded by the Council. Crucially, the alliance is co-produced with partners working within communities to address food injustice, ensuring interventions are locally driven, culturally appropriate, and rooted in lived experience.

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