Queen of Greens bus to help tackle food deserts and food insecurity
A new mobile greengrocers' is delivering fresh fruit and veg to ‘food deserts’ and communities hit by food insecurity across Liverpool and Knowsley.
The Queen of Greens bus-shop is a pioneering initiative to boost access to healthy food and help tackle health inequalities, thanks to a partnership by Feeding Liverpool and Feedback Global’s project Alchemic Kitchen, with funding from Feeding Britain.
It visits 29 stops each week including schools, health and community centres, providing people with better opportunities to shop for nutritious food closer to their home or workplace.
You are invited to share this map of stops and bus timetable with your community, to help signpost people to their local stop. You can also download these resources including a flyer with timetable, an animation that can be shared online or played in churches or community centres, a social media pack, and photos.
The Queen of Greens route takes in neighbourhoods classed as ‘food deserts’, including areas of Everton and Kirkby, where residents have to travel more than a kilometre or walk 15 minutes to reach a supermarket selling ‘green’ produce.
Launched as families face huge financial challenges this autumn and winter amid the cost-of-living crisis, the bus also visits communities hard hit by food insecurity, and where barriers to food access have been identified following community consultation.
Customers can pay for their shopping with Alexandra Rose vouchers, and Healthy Start vouchers for pregnant women and young families at all stops, as well as cash or card.
The aim is to help reduce health inequalities and improve nutrition and life chances, by making it easier for people to access healthy food close to their homes and workplaces, and it is hoped more stops may be added in future.
Everyone is encouraged to shop on the new Queen of Greens bus, to support better local food provision, reduce waste, packaging and fuel miles for their weekly shop.
Dr Naomi Maynard, Programme Director for Liverpool’s Good Food Plan and Feeding Liverpool said:
One in three adults in Liverpool is food insecure, meaning food is a source of worry, frustration and stress; this situation is only set to worsen as food and fuel prices escalate.
One of the contributing factors to poor nutrition and unhealthy diets is that access to good food is limited in some parts of the city, with some neighbourhoods classed as ‘food deserts’ much worse affected than others, while in Knowsley three-quarters of the borough is a food desert.
It means people end up relying on food that is more readily available close to their home or work, and often that is not the best option for both their finances or their long-term health or the health of their growing children.
The Queen of Greens bus is part of a long-term solution to helping reduce health inequalities and improve nutrition and life chances, by making it easier for people to access healthy food in their communities whilst supporting sustainable local businesses.
The stops have been chosen to target some of the city region’s food deserts where access to good food is particularly poor, and have been developed in consultation with local health and community partners.
This is not designed to be an emergency provision – we still need urgent action to support people’s incomes amid the cost-of living crisis, however we are pleased to have been able to facilitate for the bus to accept Healthy Start cards, and Alexander Rose vouchers at selected stops, helping to reach low-income families who are experiencing particularly tough challenges right now.
Professor Matt Ashton, Director of Public Health for Liverpool City Council and lead DPH for the north west’s Food Active healthy weight programme, said:
The Queen of Greens project is a fantastically creative and collaborative approach to helping tackle one of the most pressing challenges facing our communities today, and Liverpool City Council is delighted to be supporting it, as part of the Liverpool Good Food Plan, working to create a city where everybody can eat good food.
Providing a more accessible supply of fresh groceries closer to people’s homes is a vital step on the way to helping tackle health inequalities, and improving nutrition and wellbeing for local children and adults.
Lucy Antal, North West project manager for Feedback Global’s Regional Food Economy and Lead for Food Justice, said:
Food justice means equal opportunities to access fresh food no matter your income or location.
We’re all about making food systems fairer for people and planet, and at the moment they are not, with nine retailers currently holding 96% of the UK food market share.
We are interested in how we can help people access fresh food so they have choice, and opportunity for nutritious food that doesn’t impact other people or the planet.
So fair wages, food that’s in season, locally available and supports people. It’s about trying to re-localise food supplies on a more human scale.
Lucy, winner of the BBC’s Food and Farming Awards Community Food Champion 2021, added:
For some families, poor access to fresh food creates a reliance on processed food and what’s available in their immediate area, and part of that is to do with time as well as income.
If you don’t eat well you won’t learn well, if it you don’t learn well you won’t earn well. If you don’t get the vitamins and minerals you need your brain and body won’t develop properly, you’re hungry in class, you don’t get the grades, you don’t have the jobs.
This about offering an opportunity to households in places where at the moment they may struggle to purchase fresh food locally.
Keenan Humble, Development Manager for Feedback Global’s Regional Food Economies North Programme which carried out community consultations to help map the route, said:
The Queen of Greens bus enables people to have better choice, to eat a more nutritionally balanced diet, and also to experiment.
Paul will sell people the quantity they need so you don’t need to buy a whole sack of something if you don’t know if your family will like it. So it gives choice and helps empower people in their own diets.
In supermarkets when they do five fruits for 20p that’s a loss leader, we can’t compete with that price and we are not trying to, but we are competing where people would have to travel bus taxi or car. We are trying to keep things at market stall prices and the focus is on accessibility and quality.
It’s also about community and bringing people together in places where they can talk about food, the bus has a real social atmosphere with people are chatting to each other, and that’s also really important for people to have a place to mingle.
Paul Flannery driver of the Queen of Greens bus, said:
I’ve been a greengrocer all my life and I’ve got to know communities all over the city and I know what different people in different communities like to eat and what they need.
This is a brilliant opportunity for us to reach more people with fresh fruit and veg. People don’t want to have to travel far to do their shopping and often they can’t because of work, or childcare, or they can’t afford it.
This means we can meet more people close to where they live and work. The bus has got a real sense of community about it, we really found that in the pandemic, people loved coming out and having a chat, it gives them a lift in the day, and that’s good for their mental health too.
People like trying the different produce. Sometimes if they’ve never had something, like a kiwi I can give them a taste before they buy it.
Or if they can’t afford a big bag of something I can sell them a small amount, not like in a supermarket where you might have to buy a whole pack, but they might not be able to afford it that week, so I can sell them a little bit.