Northumberland Park foodbank faces threat of closure

Community Cook Up was evicted from Eric Allen House in January – and now has been told it cannot operate outdoors, reports Miriam Balanescu

A community food hub and foodbank has been threatened with closure by local authorities.

Community Cook Up Tottenham was evicted from their original site at The Eric Allen Community Centre in Northumberland Park on 26th January and, since then, has been offering a weekly foodbank in its stead at Kenneth Robbins House. On Tuesday, 28th February, the group was told by Haringey Council that they would no longer be allowed to operate outdoors as this posed ‘an environmental health risk’.

The organisation has now called for support during a demonstration on Thursday, 1st March at 9am to 11am in protest for residents’ right to access food.

On Twitter, Community Cook Up stated: “For the past three weeks, our foodbank has been held outside with the full cooperation and understanding of residents and volunteers, working together to ensure the community is supported in this cost-of-living crisis.”

Community Cook Up was set up in 2017 to provide hot meals, second-hand clothing, and other essentials for homeless people and those living in temporary accommodation around Tottenham.

They added: “We are one of many foodbanks in Haringey that run both inside and outside and we believe that the decision to block the continuation of our programmes is part of a wider agenda to block our community from taking decisions for our community. Grassroots initiatives like ours are being pushed out in favour of redevelopment and top down initiatives all across the borough.

“Us running outside is not unsafe! Our community being unable to access essential food items and connect with others is unsafe!”

Haringey Council has been approached for comment.

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