Maddy is partnering with Petronella Tyson a social impact and land-use planning practitioner. We drafted a paper for the West of England Mayoral candidates called ‘Resourcing Food System Transition in the West of England’. This has now gone to Dan Norris (Labour). It asks him to support, with funds, time and other resources, the creation of a vision and practical infrastructure to orientate the region towards a self-perpetuating, healthy agroecological future.
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) has, to date, been a rather opaque entity with a mandate from central government to deliver economic growth. In the Spatial strategy, food is not considered to be an important land-use issue.
This change in the politics of WECA presents an exciting opportunity to explore an inclusive, coherent, place-based response to our climate, ecological and nutritional crises, through agroecological systems. As food connects and sustains us all, by working on this pressing agenda, we hope to create collaborations which can help WECA find a deeper purpose (beyond business as usual) aligned with the needs of our time and of future generations.
With the help of cllr Jerome Thomas (Green) we will be hosting an opening event in October 2021 to bring together those with the passion, means and experience to move this work forward.
If you would like to be involved in this or find out more, please get in touch via the Contact page.
