York & North Yorkshire: what works here?

A citizen-led inquiry for the Food Strategy

In November 2025, six citizens from the Food Strategy’s Citizen Advisory Council visited York and North Yorkshire to conduct an inquiry into the region's Food System.

Over two days, Council members met with local leaders, including Mayor David Skaith, to hear about what's working well in the region when it comes to food and what the blockers are to progress. Their findings offer insights into what national government can learn from Yorkshire's farmers and food producers – as well as academia and civil society organisations who are helping join the dots to get good local food to more people.

Read the Yorkshire report here and find out more about the Citizen Advisory Council here.

Scroll down to watch the film and explore some of the findings.

Read the Yorkshire report

What did citizens find?

The Council were particularly impressed with the impact that strong devolved leadership on food and farming is having on people living and working in York and North Yorkshire. But they were struck by the challenges local farm businesses faced in a system dominated by large multinational corporations and big supermarkets. Together they identified conditions necessary for the region’s food to thrive:

  1. Support for local procurement: make it easier for food to be sourced locally through connections between farms and anchor institutions. This model of collaboration will help create stable markets and reduce reliance on heavily processed, unhealthy food products.
  2. Legislation on ultra-processed food: shift power from large businesses by introducing taxation on unhealthy food and using that income to fund good food projects.
  3. Protection for regional identities and local producers: make all labelling and marketing honest. Big supermarkets use misleading packaging; companies should stop fabricating farm names as a marketing tool. Packaging should clearly show what has come from a real British farm.
  4. Auto-enrolment of free school meals: support local authorities and schools to implement auto-enrolment. York's work helping 22,000 children access food demonstrated its impact.
  5. Devolution of power and investment in local food strategies: York and North Yorkshire demonstrates how mayoral leadership and cross-sector partnership can coordinate efforts and drive food system transformation. The White Rose Pact shows the possibilities of setting mutual cross-border priorities. The region's coordinated food strategy could be a replicable model for others.
READ THE REPORT IN FULL

Who was involved?

The following Citizen Advisory Council members led the What Works Here Inquiry in York & North Yorkshire:

Barbara, West Yorkshire
David Njoku, Berkshire
Dominic Watters, Kent
Hasan Nasser, Halifax
Kerri Bridges, London
Paul Fowler, Cornwall

The following people and organisations were involved in the inquiry:

David Skaith, Mayor of York & North Yorkshire
Adam Bedford, Fera Science 

Appearing on behalf of the  Food  for  the Future initiative: 
- Ruth Everson and Jenny Thompson, North Yorkshire Council 
- Paul Haslam, Councillor for York and North Yorkshire 
- Jan Thorton MBE, Vice Chair of FixOurFood 
- Sam Buckton, Research Associate at York University 

Anna Longthorpe, Anna’s Happy Trotters 
Louise Cantlay, Food Circle York CIC 
Cristina Talens, Source Sustainable 
Emma & Ben Moseley, Yolk Farm

Next steps

In addition to coming to the York & North Yorkshire area, members of the Citizen Advisory Council have travelled to Cornwall, Liverpool & Merseyside and the North East Combined Authority. The next step is to present their findings to politicians and government officials through a series of reports, events and meetings – with representatives of the Council expected to meet with Defra Minister Eagle later this year.

READ THE YORK & NORTH YORKSHIRE REPORT
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