Food bank fears warehouse loss could mean closure

Michele and Esther from Dunstable Foodbank say they are concerned that, without a warehouse, the whole project may face closure

A food bank is calling on local planners to help it find a new warehouse to store the provisions it provides to 6,000 people a year.

The Dunstable charity uses premises in the High Street, after Sainsbury's and the Community Spaces project helped them move into the former Argos store, but that lease runs out in March.

Operations manager Michele McCalla said that without a warehouse to support its four distribution centres they would "have to scale right back" and "might even have to shut" after more than a decade.

Central Bedfordshire Council said it "values the contribution the food bank makes" and "will be contacting them further to discuss options”.

The lease on the food banks current warehouse in Dunstable will run out in March 2025.

The food bank moved from Leighton Buzzard seven months ago and Ms McCalla said they could see buildings "which we know are closed and facilities that have been moved, but we do not know what is going on with those buildings".

"We know Central Bedfordshire Council have properties that are empty and really and truly it is distressing to see," she said.

She said the charity had emailed the independent-run authority but were not sure they had contacted the right people, as they were not getting a response.

The council confirmed it has received the food bank's request for help to find new premises.

Meanwhile, Community Spaces, a firm that sources commercial property for charities, community organisations and start-up businesses, said it planned to speak to the landlord to see whether the lease on the current building could be extended, but if not they would "try our very best" to find them a new home.

Ms McCalla added that "we are not even asking for a huge warehouse, just a facility where we can store food".

Sainsbury's told the BBC that the head landlord of the property is Freshwater Management Limited and its parent company is the Bampton Property Group Limited.

Food bank operations assistant Esther Omtayo said the current situation was an "uncertainty that we are not willing to take on."

She hoped they would know "by the end of March" that "they have got a stable home to house the food we have got."

She felt that helping food banks should be a priority for Central Bedfordshire Council as she said we are heading into a winter where "we keep repeating the phrase, either you eat or you heat"

She added that "If families are going hungry it ends up back on their table. It is something that needs to be responded to proactively, and not just to wait until we are shut."