Key information
Decision type: Director
Reference code: DD1384
Date signed:
Decision by: Fiona Fletcher-Smith, Executive Director of Development, Enterprise and Environment
Executive summary
To help mark the end of Expo Milan 2015, the City of Milan government has developed an urban food policy pact to be signed by city Mayors from around the world, confirming that their cities will work to help improve the food system in their cities. London is already doing this work.
Becoming a signatory to the Pact will enable London to continue to learn best practice from cities around the world and to continue to be an exemplar city in its own right.
The commitments made by cities signing the Pact, and the Framework for Action which accompanies those commitments, are not legally binding, are voluntary and are entirely consistent with work that London is already doing on food and health. This means that London signing the Pact does not have any additional cost or resource implication. One of the aims of the Pact is to act as an inspiration to cities which have not yet addressed food in a holistic way; London is ahead of most cities in the world on this agenda and as such London already undertakes 34 of the 37 recommended actions set out in the framework for Action, which forms part of the Pact.
Decision
The Executive Director approves the GLA becoming a signatory to the Urban Food Policy Pact which is being signed by the mayors of more than 40 cities around the world and launched in Milan on 16 October 2015.
Part 1: Non-confidential facts and advice
1.1 Since the launch of the London Food Strategy in 2006 London has come to be regarded as one of the world’s leading practitioners of implementing complex food policy in an urban setting, principally through the GLA’s food programme and the breadth of partnerships built by the London Food Board.
1.2 London is far ahead of most other cities around the world in terms of strategic food policy implementation. As such London has been one of the key city partners in the development of the Pact, along with other world-leading exponents of urban food policy, such as New York City and Toronto. The Pact aims to inspire cities around the world which may not have developed a food policy to be able to consider doing so.
1.3 The voluntary commitments (numbered 1-7) are listed on the second page of Appendix 1. As London is well ahead of most other cities in formulation and implementation of a city food strategy, all of these commitments are already being met by the GLA through the work which its food team delivers.
1.4 London already undertakes 34 of the 37 recommended actions set out in the framework for Action, which forms part of the Pact. The framework is voluntary. The actions not currently undertaken are:
• 6: develop a disaster risk reduction strategy - this is more applicable to cities in developing countries. In a London context our work includes highlighting the role that local food production could play in London’s resilience.
• 13: universal access to safe drinking water. This intended for developing countries and does not apply to London
• 26: improve waste water management in agriculture. We have not promoted this explicitly as this practice is widespread (and increasing) amongst producers in the UK.
For the reasons given in each bullet here, these are not considered an issue. Any work we may do in these areas in future would not incur any cost, nor incur any additional resource implication, to the GLA.
1.5 The commitment to sign the Pact is brought forward as a DD upon the advice of the Executive Director, Resources. There is no financial commitment.
2.1 Becoming a signatory to the Pact will help to confirm London’s position as a world leader in urban food policy implementation and will and enable us to be part of a network to continue to learn from best practice.
2.2 Prior engagements mean the Mayor is unable to accept an invitation from Mayor Pisapia of Milan to travel to Milan to launch the Pact in person, and therefore Rosie Boycott will attend the launch on his behalf. The Mayor will sign the Pact in London and his signature will be sent (or taken) to Milan to be incorporated into the Pact.
3.1 All Londoners will be able to benefit from London continuing to learn from best practice from cities around the world.
4.1 The GLA will meet its commitments under the Pact from within existing resources.
5.1 Under section 30 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (the ‘Act’) the GLA, after appropriate consultation, is entitled to do anything that will further the promotion, within Greater London, of economic development and wealth creation, social development and the improvement of the environment.
5.2 Furthermore, section 34 of the Act allows the GLA, to do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of any functions of the GLA. In this case, the GLA proposes to enter into the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (the “Pact”). As set out at 2.1 above, the GLA’s entry into the Pact along with other major world cities will enable it to continue to learn the best practices in urban food policy. To this end, the GLA’s entry into the Pact may be viewed as being calculated to facilitate and conducive and incidental to social development in Greater London.
5.3 As the officers have indicated, the Pact is non-binding and voluntary. This notwithstanding, as the mayor will be signing the Pact, the officers should ensure that future GLA urban food policy be consistent with the GLA’s commitments under the Pact.
6.1 Provided this DD is approved, the next step will be for the EBPU to arrange with the Mayor’s Private Office for the Mayor to sign a document which can be sent or taken to Milan to be included in the Pact when it is launched in October 2015.
Appendix 1 – Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (see signed decision form)
Signed decision document
DD1384 Milan Urban Food Policy (signed) PDF