Project: Tackling UK Dietary Inequalities – Local Spotlights

Across the UK, many communities struggle to access affordable, healthy food. These differences – known as dietary inequalities - affect health and wellbeing. To fix this, we need to understand what’s happening locally, not just nationally

This project will build on both The Food Foundation’s work to better understand diet and health inequalities and the Priority Places for Food Index (PPFI) team’s expertise in uncovering local data and insights that national datasets can’t show.

Funded by the Nuffield Foundation, this partnership between the Food Foundation, the Nutrition and Lifestyle Analytics Team and Healthy and Sustainable Places Data Service at the University of Leeds, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine asks three key questions:

What factors shape health, diets, and food environments – especially by age, location, and income?
What policies can improve food environments locally and nationally – and what barriers need to be overcome?
How do communities and regions differ in their food environments and health outcomes?

Project Workstreams

Workstream 1

The Food Foundation will update The Broken Plate report with new data and citizen insights.

Workstream 2

The Healthy and Sustainable Places Data Service will create Local Spotlights, local studies comparing food environments, community assets, and health outcomes – and test an interactive dashboard for councils.

Workstream 3

Project partners will explore policies that shape food environments and health outcomes at local, national, and international levels.

What are Local Spotlights?

The Nutrition and Lifestyle Analytics team at the University of Leeds will lead the creation of local studies (workstream 2) which compare food environments, community assets and health outcomes, these spotlights will:

Show geographical differences in food environments and health outcomes.
Develop local metrics for community food assets like food banks, markets, and food hubs—data often missing from national sources.
Pilot an interactive dashboard, hosted by the Healthy and Sustainable Places Data Service, for councils to upload and transform their own data, create tailored reports and visualise insights to target action.

Key Activities

Local studies in four areas in England.
Showcase local initiatives improving access to healthy food.
Enable councils to councils to transform their own data, create tailored reports and visualise insights to target action.

How will this project make a difference?

This project will make a difference by:

Revealing differences between urban and rural areas
Highlighting policy gaps that worsen dietary inequalities.
Providing actionable insights for councils and policymakers to support evidence-based decisions for healthier, fairer communities.
Driving changes that make healthy food accessible for everyone.