Health and wellbeing
Walsall Food Partnership champions healthier choices and sustainable food futures
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Walsall’s Food Partnership is working together to make healthy, affordable and sustainable food the easy choice for everyone in the Walsall borough.
Building on the launch of the Walsall Food Plan in December 2025, the partnership is committed to creating a food environment that reduces inequalities and shifts the borough toward a healthier, more sustainable food system.
The recent national restrictions on advertising high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) products provide a timely boost to local efforts. These changes are expected to remove billions of calories from children’s diets and prevent thousands of cases of childhood obesity nationally. Locally, this strengthens the partnership’s mission to rebalance the food environment and make healthier options more visible and accessible.
The Walsall Food Partnership is working with colleagues across the public, private, health, housing, education and voluntary and community sectors to ensure residents can access healthier food choices. Initiatives include promoting Healthy Start vouchers, offering affordable essentials through community shops, sharing simple recipes to help families cook from scratch and promoting ‘grow your own’ initiatives. Programmes such as Food for Life’s Children and Families Healthy Eating Programme by Soil Association (commissioned by Walsall Council Public Health) continue to support over 19,000 children across early years and school settings, embedding cooking and healthy eating into daily life.
Walsall’s Food Plan focuses on healthier food choices, healthier food places, caring for the environment, acting responsibly, and strong leadership to commission and procure services. The partnership is working with planning colleagues to embed healthy food policy into local planning decisions and to create a healthier borough.
The Food Plan also aligns with the strategic priorities in the Council Plan (2025-2029) and the overarching We are Walsall 2040 borough plan - developing a healthier, greener and safer borough and creating an environment that provides opportunities for all residents, communities and businesses to fulfil their potential and thrive.
The priorities guide a range of local projects to ensure healthier food becomes the norm in Walsall.
“ The Walsall Food Partnership is a fantastic example of how we can work together to create a healthier, greener borough. By making nutritious, affordable food the easy choice, we’re tackling inequalities and helping families live healthier lives. This is about giving every resident the opportunity to thrive and ensuring that healthy eating becomes the norm in Walsall. “
“ Our partnership brings together a range of organisations with one shared goal: to make healthy, sustainable food accessible for everyone. We want to take a whole-system approach. From community shops to growing and cooking initiatives, we’re empowering residents to make positive choices and building a food system that works for Walsall today and for future generations.” “
To read the full Walsall Food Plan, visit the Walsall Council website.
Details of your nearest Community Shop can be found on the Walsall Council website.
For help with food including NHS Healthy Start and Free School Meals, visit the Cost of Living pages on the Walsall Council website.
To find out more about regulations restricting the advertising and promotion of less healthy food or drink, also known as foods high in fat, salt or sugar, visit GOV.UK.
