Rotherham Food Network was established in April 2022 whereby we formed a partnership network to focus on food and all surrounding factors such as diet, economy, and sustainability. We currently have 19 stakeholder organisations including Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, Voluntary Action Rotherham, Rotherfed, Citizen Advice, and many more. We have over 60 members on the invite list who attend workshops around topics suggested by the Sustainable Food Places or members themselves.
Rotherham borough covers an area of 110 square miles and has a population of 265,805. Around half of the borough’s population lives in the Rotherham urban, in the central part of the borough. Others live in many outlying small towns, villages, and rural areas. Rotherham is a diverse borough with a mixture of people, cultures, and communities. There are densely populated multi-ethnic inner urban areas, large council-built housing estates, leafy private residential suburbs, industrial areas, rural villages, and farms.
As a network, we have 5 key principles which we focus on as a partnership when looking to achieve our goals surrounding food. These are
Adopted and signed Healthy Weight Declaration (HWD)
In 2020 Rotherham signed the HWD which was developed by Food Active. It is a strategic, system-wide commitment made across all council departments to reduce unhealthy weight in local communities, protect the health and wellbeing of staff and citizens, and to make an economic impact on health and social care and the local economy.