Free lunches for Oxfordshire councillors are costing the taxpayer more after council leaders voted to scrap meat and go plant-based, information obtained under a FoI request shows.
Figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws by the Countryside Alliance revealed that in February the lunch cost £581.23, but rose to £749.52 in April.
In March this year Oxfordshire County Council’s Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green cabinet voted in favour of officers’ recommendations to ensure that food provided at council meetings and all civic events is entirely plant-based.
The move provoked outcry from local farmers, including Jeremy Clarkson, who farms in the county for his hit TV series, Clarkson's Farm.
Speaking outside the Town Hall, the former Top Gear presenter described the decision as ‘utter, utter madness’.
A spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council told The Sun that less food had been ordered for the February meal.
At the first plant-based lunch, the motion’s proposer, Green councillor Ian Middleton who is vegan, said the council 'should be embracing the opportunity to set an example'.
But he sparked a storm after uploading a picture to social media revealing the food on offer at a recent meeting, now that the plant-based policy has come into force.
Taking to Twitter on Tuesday (5 April), Mr Middleton tweeted a picture of a table, decorated in an array of flowers, featuring a vast spread of sandwiches, cakes and exotic fruit including watermelon, kiwi and mango, to his followers.
He said: “First #plantbased lunch at OxfordshireCC. Very enthusiastically received. Some saying it's the best food that has ever been provided by the council. Thanks to officers for organising it. An absolute triumph!”
A second FOI request by the Countryside Alliance revealed that the council has no idea where the food on offer that day was originally sourced, making it difficult to know the carbon foot-print from field to plate.
In a statement accompanying the FOI response, the council said: “The council’s catering services supplier for fruit and vegetables is a Company called ‘Total Produce’ (although they would have no knowledge of what products were purchased purely for council events and meetings and what was ordered for general use in the Café operation) It should be noted that countries of origin may change over time”.
Responding, the Countryside Alliance has accused Oxfordshire County Council of being ‘out of touch’ and said their ‘eco credentials’ had been ‘undermined’.
Mo Metcalf-Fisher, a spokesman for the rural group said: “This whole debacle, including the ill-advised decision to grandstand by showing off pictures of the lavish lunch spread, looks incredibly out of touch.
"To make matters worse, the council have no clear idea about where their exotic fruit and veg is even grown, somewhat undermining their eco credentials.
"They should be sourcing sustainable, affordable, wholesome produce- including meat and dairy- from local farmers, who like everybody would benefit from the business at this critical time”.
However, the council responded: “The cost of the buffet lunch at the meetings in September 2021 (£727) and November 2021 (£712) were very similar to the buffet at the April 2022 meeting (£749).
"The September and November meetings were not plant-based food, April was. The provision of plant-based food did not therefore prove to be significantly more expensive than comparable non-plant based food buffet lunches.
"Costs will always fluctuate slightly due to factors including the overall cost of food – which as everyone knows has been rising nationally and internationally in recent months.
“The February meeting was an exception. It came with a lower cost because it was a packed lunch which has no labour cost rather than a buffet. In addition there is always more food per head in a buffet then a packed lunch.
“As such trying compare the February (£581) and April statistics in isolation without looking at previous costs in 2021 leads to wholly false conclusions being drawn. Plant based food is not more expensive than non-plant based food lunches."
