Thursday March 12th 2026
Photo by Elena Leya (Unsplash)
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Sarah Hilley
A third of children in Glasgow have “inadequate” food nutrition which has led to a “big need” for community pantries to tackle the problem, a meeting heard.
The worrying trend of a lack of a balanced diet has seen Glasgow City Council use Scottish Government funding to establish 11 discounted food pantries around the city and promote vegetable growing among other schemes.
Areas where they have been set up include Castlemilk, Parkhead, Govan, Ruchazie and Govanhill.
A council official said the Town Centre Fund and Place Fund from the government was used to address food inclusion “because of the real need within the city.”
He added: “About a third of children have inadequate nutrition” in Glasgow.
He told a meeting yesterday pantries give “good quality affordable food with dignity.”
Speaking at yesterday’s economy, housing, transport and regeneration city policy committee, he said: “The original model was linked to the supermarkets – were over ordered produce would become available within the pantry network. It would be distributed to different pantries around the city.”
Describing it as “very successful,” he said the programme has provided “help to local communities provide good nutritious food.”
He added how 16 different local community food growing initiative projects from the Place Fund have also been set up.
He added: “Aside from providing good nutritious food with low carbon footprint it also has added benefits around inclusivity and learning about how food is grown and developing communities.”
He said the funding was also used to bring building assets back to a standard for communities to use, community grants, 20 minute neighbourhoods and town centre regeneration.
The update was provided yesterday as councillors were presented with details of programmes delivered through the Town Centre Fund and Place Fund.
The Scottish Government provided £15.5 million for the Town Centre Fund available between 2019 to 2020 until 2020 to 2021 and the Place Fund between 2021 to 2022 and 2025 to 2026.
The investment has supported about 900 construction jobs and over 100 operational jobs – leveraging an estimated £75million of additional investment – in many cases, into some of the most deprived areas of Glasgow according to the council.
Councillor Ruairi Kelly, convener for housing, built heritage, development and land use at Glasgow City Council said: “The projects delivered through these funds have enabled communities across Glasgow to benefit in many different ways, and often through regeneration projects led by people in those communities. From community pantries and allotments to heritage projects and improving local spaces and buildings, these projects have undoubtedly made a real difference to Glasgow.”
The funding was also used for an allotment, the creation of new public spaces and infrastructure; the development of community-led plans for local land, improvements to a local community centre and improvements on and around the South Portland Street Suspension Bridge.
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