Councillors make call for town to launch its own food bank

AN appeal for funds to help a Lymington food bank relocate its base prompted New Milton councillors to call for such a facility to be introduced in their town.

Highlighting the fact that many New Milton residents use the New Forest Basics Bank, the town’s finance and general purposes (F&GP) committee questioned the logic of them having to pay to travel to and from Lymington.

Members had been asked for their response to a letter from the bank’s trustees asking for the town council’s help to plug an £85,000 funding shortfall for their move.

The letter explained that the project had been based behind the United Reformed Church in Lymington High Street since 2008. However, it had only secured temporary planning permission at the site.

It has now found a new site on land behind Our Lady of Mercy & St Joseph’s Church in the same road, where a new wood-clad building will be provided by a local company.

In order to achieve this move, the trustees have been seeking a total £210,000 in funding, of which it has so far received £125,000. Of this, £75,000 has come from the bank’s own reserves and donations, and another £50,000 has been provided by Lymington and Pennington Town Council.

Mayor Cllr Alvin Reid also expressed bewilderment at the figure quoted, and, although stressing his backing for the project, informed members he had previously spent six months volunteering at a basics bank in Charminster.

“I fully support the work of foodbanks, but I fail to understand why such a building unit costs so much money when Portakabins cost about £2,000,” he said.

Stressing that New Milton is a larger town with a high proportion of residents who need to use a foodbank, Cllr Steve Clarke argued such a facility also needed to be based in the area.

“It doesn’t make sense going to a smaller town when a lot of the support comes back here,” he said.

Cllr David Hawkins told the meeting he had previously raised the idea of a New Milton-based facility with the local Churches Together, but had been told there was no suitable venue.

Undeterred by this, Cllr Reid suggested the town council should set up a small working party to look into the feasibility of setting up a local food bank.

This idea was supported by other members, including F&GP chairman Cllr Neil Tungate and Cllr Geoffrey Blunden.

“I think this is something we need to investigate, and look into how many people are travelling back and forth,” Cllr Blunden said.

“If you’re going to a food bank, how on Earth can you afford to travel to and from Lymington?”

It was agreed that committee members should get in touch with Cllr Reid if they want to volunteer to join the working party to look into the matter.

Highlighting the fact the basics bank in question also covers Lyndhurst, Burley, Brockenhurst and East Boldre, Cllr John Ward questioned why only Lymington and New Milton councils were being asked for funding.

In response, Cllr Tungate stressed it was not known for sure that the other councils were not being approached.

The New Forest Basics Bank was launched over 15 years ago by John Begbour, a church pastor from New Milton who started to collect basic foodstuffs in his home after recognising a local need.

As the need grew, Churches Together in Lymington took over the operation and it moved to that town, becoming a registered charity in 2014.