Complaints over plant-based menu at council events

Calderdale Council last year approved plans to have only vegan food served at its events

Complaints have been made about plant-based menus being served at a council's official events, with reports that a "large amount" of food was going to waste.

Calderdale Council last year approved plans to have only vegan food, with no dairy or meat options, served at its meetings and catered events.

But comments were made at a recent Civic Advisory Panel that suggested the policy was not suited to everyone's tastes.

The council's deputy leader, Scott Patient, had urged people to "try it, you might like it", adding that the authority should lead by example and encourage other organisations to use locally sourced fruit and vegetables.

He put forward the original proposal for the plans and previously told the BBC the impact of the policy on the council's carbon footprint would be "hard to measure".

It was "more of a statement of intention and a show of leadership", he added.

But councillor Geraldine Carter told members of the scrutiny meeting that she had received complaints about the plant-based menus at various events that had been catered by the council.

According to minutes from the meeting, she said it was logistically a problem for Mayor of Calderdale Steven Leigh to host visitors on purely plant-based food, and that it had been noted that there was a "large amount of food waste following plant-based catered events".

She went on to say that it "did not align with council values of inclusivity" as a very small percentage of the national population chose a plant-based diet, according to the minutes.

Carter asked for the mayor to be allowed to serve non-vegan food if it was being funded from the mayoral budget.

Panel members commented that the policy was approved by a majority vote in the council chamber, and it was not within the remit of the Civic Advisory Group to amend it, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

But they added it could recommend that adjustments be made to the catering with a view to reducing waste.

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