Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Climate Response, Environment and Energy presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. The Committee was informed that following questions to Council from several members of the public on the Council’s stance on plant-based diets in relation to climate change, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Environment & Place Overview & Scrutiny Panel requested a preliminary discussion paper on the issue in order to stimulate debate.

A review of the discussion paper by the Overview and Scrutiny committee on 11 September 2024, resulted in the committee requesting that officers review the suggested draft position statement and develop a set of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound (SMART) actions to be considered by BCP Council aimed at encouraging and promoting plant-based diets.  The paper was tied mainly to the concessions and the offers they can put on their menus. Several issues were raised during discussion of the item, including:

• Definitions and clarity around “food types” in the plan, the plan mentions both Vegan and Plant-Based, which are different things, plant-based refers to dietary and vegan refers generally to where food comes from and ethical reasons.  It was agreed that as the paper was around diets that the word vegan would be replaced with plant-based throughout the paper.
• Concerns were raised around the costings of wasted food if the options were not taken up.  It was stated that there would need to be more good quality options that would entice people to try them and minimise wastage. There was an example given that there was a very good plant-based soft serve where you can not tell the difference which would like to be bought in but it would be how to promote it for customer to try, to minimise waste. 
• There were concerns about ultra-processed vegan foods and their health/climate impact, it was stated that this could be topic for a whole item on its own. Small concession would need to compete with larger places that could buy in bulk which was something that needed to be researched.
• The was a suggestion made to involve universities in research into processed foods.
• There was a suggestion to have research into how people eat across the conurbation, things that would impact what people buy.
• There was a discussion around whether a 20% target for plant based foods on menus was ambitious enough or if that needed to be increased as 20% was only 1 in 5 meals offered.  There was a discussion on whether it should be 30% offered but that was felt to be too high for the first try.  It was agreed to set the target at 25% and aim to achieve that target.  The first year would be about education around plant based food and maybe discounts on items to encourage people to try them.

RESOLVED that:

a)    All mentions of the word vegan be replaced with Plant-Based throughout the paper.

 Voting: Unanimous

b)    Switching the target from 20% for plant-based concessions to 25%.

Voting: For:8, Against:0, Abstention:1

c)    That Council adopt the position statements and strategy for plant based diets in BCP Council with the amendments above.

Voting: Unanimous