COULD a community shop work in Exeter?
It is a question being asked by Rob Hannaford, county councillor for Exwick and St Thomas, who wants a report about the scheme to be presented at the next meeting of the Exeter Board on January 15.
The shops sell surplus food and drink to people suffering food poverty for up to 70 per cent less than the normal price.
Community shops work on a membership basis, all living locally and on income support.
Members can shop for surplus food from leading supermarkets and brands such as Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Morrisons, and the Co-operative.
Cllr Hannaford told Community News: "As the portfolio holder for housing and customer access poverty and the cost of living crisis that many face in the city is a major concern for me and the front line staff at the council who work so hard with residents, in partnership with others such as the CAB to resolve matters.
"There are so many people just a few pay days away from disaster; utilities and other bills continue to soar and many more people now have to try to cope with the scourge of low wages and zero hour temporary contracts.
"We make referrals to the Foodbank and other local groups and charities to help people in need. But at the moment, unless a judicial appeal is successful, we are due to lose the exceptional hardship fund in the next financial year that we administer for people in crisis."
Cllr Hannaford added: "Overall we are very lucky in Exeter to have so many wonderful groups such as the Devon and Cornwall Food Association, Exeter Foodbank, Exeter CVS, and many others who do excellent work, and I understand that there are meetings going on to potentially set up a food hub for Exeter to pull services together and take some strategic action.
"However, we still have far too many people in Exeter who have to cope with food poverty on a regular basis while, on the other hand, as recent council reports have shown, some other residents are choosing to waste edible food by putting it into the grey bin collections – that is also hitting the council's recycling rates.
"I am very keen that we develop a robust model that creates a much more virtuous circle in terms of making sure that people are not choosing to eat or heat, others are not wasting food they have bought, and shops and businesses are doing much more to stop dumping food that can be used to feed people."
Cllr Hannaford concluded: "To facilitate this debate and hopefully make progress, I have requested an agenda item at the next Exeter Board, to talk to all the key stakeholders and take evidence about these issues. I have also asked that this includes an assessment of the community shop model, in terms of whether we are already doing the things it includes in Exeter, such as effectively tackling food poverty, providing up-skilling, that is training, confidence building, money management skills and so on, or are there things that we can learn, and improve what is being provided, with a potential bid to the board for funding."
↧