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£222,000 each for 45 councils, and five of them are in Lincolnshire

Qurexa Editorial Team1 October 20267 min read 0 0
£222,000 each for 45 councils, and five of them are in Lincolnshire

What happened

On 30 September 2026, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced almost £10 million to improve access to healthy, affordable food in 45 areas of England. The money goes to 45 local authorities identified as having the greatest levels of deprivation and childhood obesity. Each one receives £222,000. The programme is called Good Food Neighbourhoods. Councils decide how to spend it. Defra's announcement lists examples: community food shops, mobile greengrocers, lunch clubs, community kitchens, and cooking and nutrition programmes. The money can also be used to strengthen a council's own ability to plan for local food needs. Five of the 45 councils are in Lincolnshire or on its northern border: Boston Borough Council, City of Lincoln Council, South Holland District Council, North East Lincolnshire Council and North Lincolnshire Council. Other recipients include Blackpool, Birmingham, Bradford, Liverpool, Hull, Luton, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Nottingham, Peterborough, Sunderland, Walsall and Wolverhampton, along with several London boroughs. Defra set the funding against a specific figure: 9% of people lived in food insecure households in 2024/25. The announcement also notes that children in the most deprived communities are significantly more likely to experience obesity and related health inequalities. The programme was developed following the work of the Citizen's Advisory Council and conversations with civil society organisations, and sits within the government's Good Food Cycle. Defra says it will also work with businesses, charities and philanthropy to bring extra funding into local areas.

Why this matters

This is close to home for us. Qurexa is based in Lincolnshire, and five Lincolnshire-area councils are on this list. That tells you something people here already know. Living surrounded by farmland does not guarantee easy access to affordable fresh food. In parts of the county the nearest proper greengrocer or supermarket is a bus ride away, and the bus may run four times a day. The shop you can actually walk to may be a small convenience store where fresh vegetables are limited and dearer. That gap has a name in food policy: it is about access, not just about income. Two households with the same money can eat very differently depending on what is within reach. The figure Defra quotes, 9% of people in food insecure households in 2024/25, means roughly one person in eleven. That is not a small minority at the edges. It is a significant slice of any town. The childhood obesity link is the other half. Areas with the least access to affordable fresh food also tend to have the highest rates of childhood obesity, which is why the funding was targeted using both measures together.

What the evidence actually says

Here is what is solid and what is not. Solid: the money, the amounts and the recipients. Almost £10 million, £222,000 per council, 45 named councils. The targeting method is also stated clearly, using deprivation and childhood obesity. Solid: the problem. The 9% food insecurity figure comes from official statistics, and the relationship between deprivation and childhood obesity in England is one of the better-established patterns in public health. Less certain: whether £222,000 changes much. It is a meaningful sum for a specific project, such as getting a mobile greengrocer on the road or running a community kitchen. It is a small sum against the scale of food insecurity in a whole district. That is not a criticism of the programme so much as a realistic framing of it. Also uncertain: what works. Defra is deliberately not prescribing how councils spend the money, which is a strength if local leaders know their areas and a weakness if nobody is required to measure results. The announcement does not set out how success will be judged, and that is the obvious thing to watch. Worth noting: community food projects have a mixed evidence base. Some, such as school cooking programmes and community food shops, show promising local results. Others struggle once the initial funding ends. Sustainability is the recurring problem, and the plan to bring in business and charity funding alongside is presumably aimed at exactly that.

Qurexa perspective

We deliver groceries as well as prescriptions across Lincolnshire, and the reason we do both is the one at the heart of this story: for a lot of people the barrier is not wanting to eat well, it is physically getting to where the food is. The customers for whom this matters most are the ones who come up again and again in our work. Someone recovering from surgery. Someone who has stopped driving. A carer who cannot leave the person they look after. A parent with no car and a bus timetable that does not fit the school run. So we would make one practical suggestion to the five Lincolnshire-area councils on this list. When you decide how to spend the £222,000, ask the people who cannot get to the shops what would actually help, rather than only the people who can get to a consultation meeting. Those are often different groups. And if you are reading this and struggling to get food into the house, that is a solvable logistics problem, not a personal failing. There are usually more options locally than people realise.

Practical advice

If food costs or food access are a problem in your household, here are practical places to start. Check whether you are getting everything you are entitled to. Healthy Start vouchers support pregnant women and families with children under four on certain benefits. Free school meals, and the Household Support Fund run through your council, are both worth checking. Ask your council what food support exists locally. Many areas have community food shops or pantries where a small weekly membership buys a larger shop. These are not food banks and do not require a referral. If you are in one of the 45 areas, watch for new schemes over the coming months. Council newsletters and local Facebook groups usually carry them before anything official appears. Frozen and tinned vegetables count. They are frozen or canned quickly, keep their nutrients well, cost less and do not spoil. There is no nutritional shame in them. Batch cooking cuts both cost and energy use. One pan of something is cheaper to make and cheaper to heat than four separate meals. If you cannot get to the shops, look at delivery, a neighbour's help or a community transport scheme. Many Lincolnshire villages have volunteer car schemes that few people know about. If you are genuinely running out of food, contact Citizens Advice or your council's welfare team today rather than waiting. Help arrives faster than most people expect, and asking early gives you more options.

What to know

Defra has announced almost £10 million for 45 local authorities in England with the highest levels of deprivation and childhood obesity, giving each £222,000 to improve access to healthy, affordable food through things like community food shops, mobile greengrocers, lunch clubs and cooking programmes. Five of the councils are in the Lincolnshire area: Boston, City of Lincoln, South Holland, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire. The figure behind the policy is that 9% of people lived in food insecure households in 2024/25. Councils choose how to spend the money, which puts decisions close to the communities affected but leaves it unclear how results will be measured. If you live in one of these areas, new schemes should appear locally over the coming months. Sources: GOV.UK (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), 'Government acts on food insecurity and affordability with £10 million to put good food within reach', 30 September 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-acts-on-food-insecurity-and-affordability-with-10-million-to-put-good-food-within-reach; GOV.UK (Department for Work and Pensions), 'Family Resources Survey: financial year 2024 to 2025', 26 March 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-resources-survey-financial-year-2024-to-2025. This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional.

#food insecurity#cost of living#Lincolnshire#healthy eating#local councils#Defra

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