Bath council urged to back local farmers amid calls for it to 'go vegan'

Rural campaigners have urged Bath and North East Somerset Council to defy calls for it to 'go vegan' and to instead champion local farmers.

Council leader Cllr. Kevin Guy (Lib Dem, Bathavon North) agreed to discuss the demand from local resident Matt Cooper, who stood as a Green candidate in the local elections in May.

Mr Cooper addressed a full council meeting last month, urging the council to make the switch to providing vegan food, “even if this only applied to refreshments at a very small number of events per year”.

He said: “It is a very small step which sends a powerful message and helps to normalise plant-based eating.”

However, the Countryside Alliance, which campaigns for rural matters, argued that removing meat and dairy options "represented an attack on freedom of choice and risks posing a threat to the countryside".

Its spokesman, Mo Metcalf-Fisher, said that while councils should display a wholesome range of produce, including plant-based options, "it is wrong to advocate for bans on meat and dairy".

He said: “There is nothing wrong with wanting a local authority to offer up a range of sustainable produce, including plant-based, but that must not come at the expense of providing equally sustainable meat and dairy products.

"Red meat produced in Britain is among the most sustainable in the world and unlike some plant-based products, very little meat consumed in the UK comes from systems that deplete rainforests and generate large amounts of emissions.

"Bath and North East Somerset Council should be using their platform to reinforce the value of sourcing sustainable, local produce and championing hardworking farmers, rather than advocating for any one dietary choice”.

It follows several motions passed at other councils across the UK urging residents to buy plant-based produce in a move away from meat, while also committing to only source vegan options for councillors at events.

Last year, Oxfordshire County Council provoked uproar after it voted to remove meat and dairy items from its list of items offered to local councillors.

Local farmers, including Jeremy Clarkson, protested outside the council offices ahead of the meeting in March 2022.

AHDB had challenged the council prior to the vote, as such a proposal 'failed to reflect' the true impact of British farming.

For example, the carbon footprint of milk produced in the UK is nearly a third lower than the global average, the levy organisation pointed out.

A Freedom of Information Act request shortly after the vote found that the free lunches for Oxfordshire councillors cost taxpayers more after it went plant-based.

Enfield Borough Council also removed meat from the menu of its catering service in 2020, while Cambridge City Council will transition to a fully plant-based catering for council meetings by 2026 and promotes vegan food options at civic and external events.

Mr Metcalf-Fisher said that knowing where food came from and how it was produced "is far more important than whether it is animal or plant-based."

"Challenging assumptions about the benefits of some plant-based products and the casual denigration of livestock farming matters because if they are allowed to go unchallenged, they threaten the viability of both the planet and the countryside.”