A charter is key step in the cities desire to obtain accreditation as a sustainable food city. The event, which was held at the nearby New Vic Theatre, was organized by Dr Emma Surman in association with the North Staffordshire Community Food Network.

uring the morning, the audience of over 50 people comprising policy makers, charities, NGO’s, community groups and the public, heard from a range of speakers including: Tom Andrews of the Soil Association, Samantha Summerfield from the charity Farming and Countryside Education (FACE) Helen Millward, PhD student at Keele and Orsolya Kulcsar from the Civitas Foundation in Romania. Each speaker talked about their own work and the challenges and successes of various projects they had been involved in, with the aim of inspiring and challenging participants to think carefully about the future of food in the local area.

After listening to the speakers and taking full advantage of the opportunity to quiz them further and discuss the points raised, participants were led in a series of workshops by the New Vic’s Borderlines team. These workshops used the principles of cultural animation to develop the thoughts and principles to carry forward into developing a charter. The ideas produced during the workshop will be carried forward by CASIC, the North Staffordshire Community Food Network and Stoke-on-Trent public health department as they work together in developing a sustainable food agenda for Stoke-on-Trent.