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Wednesday September 28 | 2022
Foodbank sees rocketing referrals as cost of living crisis begins to bite Stanford. “In previous years, we would use 100 tonnes of food and would receive 100 tonnes of food in donations and then we would buy in fresh fruit, meaning day to day, parcels were all donated food. “Now only a quarter of the parcels are donated and the other three-quarters are bought in. With the amount of food we are buying and the numbers of people increasing, it is not going to be sustainable and that is a worry,” she explained.
By Lilly Croucher THE number of families needing help from the foodbank in Tunbridge Wells is expected to increase to near-pandemic levels this winter as the cost-of-living crisis begins to push more people below the breadline. Nourish Community Foodbank, which provides meals and support for families in Tunbridge Wells and the wider area, has seen a 30 per cent increase in the referrals to its service in the last 12 weeks alone.
Campaign
Consistent During the Covid crisis, Nourish received upwards of 250 referrals each week – where struggling families are sent to the foodbank by agencies such as the Council or Citizens Advice Bureau. Post coronavirus, the levels of people needing help dropped quickly back to around 100 referrals a week. But over the last three months, the numbers have crept up to impending energy crisis around 150 referrals a week and coming with high bills Nourish warns that if this rise expected. Everything was continues, they will expect to see just tougher and here our up to 200 families a week by the costs increased as well,” end of November. she said. “For the first time in my career DAWN STANFORD She added that the here, I don’t know how this winter largest increase in is going to go,” Operations referrals in Tunbridge Wells has been for people Director, Dawn Stanford told the Times. over 65 years old and those in in single “We used to get dips and flows at certain households. points in the year, but now we are consistent “These are probably unidentified clients that and have a constant flow of referrals coming in needed our help pre-pandemic,” Ms Stanford from agencies. The email traffic enquires have explained. “The over-65s that were not on the quadrupled in the last six weeks. radar before were scooped up during the “This summer, quite honestly, was the pandemic and we found that some of them toughest summer that I have had as Operations really needed the extra help, with some not Director of Nourish. We had people further in crisis and very desperate for help. We had higher getting the benefits they were entitled to, like pension credit. numbers for those working families than we “The clients we are now getting are much normally see.” further into crisis than they would have been She blamed rising energy bills and cost of before, with more complex issues.” living. She also said that if the increase in referrals “I think it was a culmination of everything, of a reduction in long-term income, cost of living, the was not bad enough, the foodbank has also seen
READY TO GO Foodbags ready to go to local families a dramatic reduction in the amount of food donated to the charity. “For the first time ever in the charity’s history we aren’t sustainable on donations,” said Ms
“But we are all in the same boat this year. The gap between a client of a foodbank and a non-client of a food bank is not quite as wide as it used to be. It’s getting closer every year and the pandemic showed that.” Ms Stanford added that this winter, the foodbank, which has its 10-year anniversary in November, will still run its Christmas campaign, but it will make changes. “We will still have a Christmas campaign, but we won’t be having the reverse advent calendar like we did last year as we know it’s really tough.” Anybody wishing to help Nourish Community Foodbank is encouraged to visit: nourishcommunityfoodbank.org.uk
CHANGING CHAIRS AT FOODBANK NOURISH Community Foodbank has named Sue Smith as its new chair, after former chairman Paul Haines SUE SMITH stepped down in August. Sue was previously vicechair of the charity and had served as a trustee before that. Mr Haines had been chairman for the last nine years. In announcing the new chair, Nourish tweeted: “Sue has a passion for Nourish and doing the very best we possibly can for our clients.”
Thanking their former chairman, the charity added: “Paul has been involved with the charity for nine years and his vision has helped shape the organisation that Nourish is today and enables us to help the number of clients we do. “As Paul moves on, we wanted to publicly say a huge thank you for all your time, effort, volunteering, caring, kindness and Google knowledge. We wish you the very best of luck for the future.”
Tonbridge residents asked for views on housing plan THE Council in Tonbridge & Malling has opened a consultation to ask residents where they want houses and other infrastructure to go in the borough. As reported in the Times last week, a raft of sites including a number of car parks and green spaces, such as Tonbridge Police Station and the Tonbridge Racecourse Sports Ground have been added to a list of potential sites as the borough council redrafts its Local Plan.
More than 290 sites were put forward and are currently being assessed. Public feedback to the consultation will help shape proposals for specific sites which will be published and consulted on in 2023. The plan proposes a ‘brownfield first’ approach, prioritising areas of existing development. The consultation report also stresses the need for infrastructure, such as schools, GP services
and transport links to be provided to serve new communities. The council has set a target that around one-third of new properties should be affordable homes. Cllr Matt Boughton, Leader of TMBC, said: ‘We know residents care passionately about how and where development takes place and about safeguarding our beautiful countryside, much of which is Green Belt.
Needs Tonbridge & Malling, along with other neighbouring authorities to Tunbridge Wells, including Sevenoaks and Wealden, had its Local Plan rejected by the Planning Inspector last year after it was found not to have communicated with other authorities over unmet housing needs. Currently, Tunbridge Wells is the only authority among its neighbours in the West Kent/East Sussex area that has an active Local Plan. Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council (TMBC) is having to redraft its Local Plan to accommodate 16,000 new homes by 2040. Local landowners and developers were earlier this year invited to propose sites for housing and commercial development.
LOCAL PLAN: How the Times reported the Tonbridge planning story last week
“This first phase of creating a Local Plan is a great opportunity for everyone to get involved and help shape how our borough evolves between now and 2040.
Prices “While we are making the case to government that our target of 16,000 homes should be lower, we can’t ignore the real housing supply shortage in our borough which pushes up prices and makes owning a property unaffordable for many,” Mr Boughton explained. “Getting the balance right will mean we can boost the supply of housing in a sustainable way. This demands that development goes hand-inhand with a range of improvements from reducing traffic and providing better public transport options to improving access to GPs and schools, while also increasing biodiversity. “Getting the plan in place will also give us much greater control over where homes are built and a stronger basis on which to refuse development which doesn’t meet the high standards our borough deserves,” he added. The Local Plan (Regulation 18) consultation can be accessed via the TMBC website at: tmbc.gov. uk/consultations