Evening kitchen for homeless wants permanent home

Giving Back Crawley hands out some 23,000 free meals each year – as well as clothing and bedding – to rough sleepers and homeless people in the town.

Until now, volunteers have gathered in The Broadway, helping between 40 and 50 people each evening – but they would like to set up a permanent home in Northgate Place, behind Northgate Parade.

In the application, trustee Sean Towers said the charity expected to hand out £100k worth of food to people in need this year.

He added:  “For many of them, the only alternative is begging or shoplifting, so we do believe we have a significant impact in reducing those.

“With a building, we have a much better opportunity to encourage and educate our service-users to be better citizens.

“We have a better opportunity than any other organisation of persuading people to seek the help they need.

“People are often reluctant to engage or re-engage but we have the opportunity to encourage them every single night of the year.”

If approved, the kitchen would be open seven days a week, serving hot food from 7-9pm.

The idea has not gone down well with some neighbours.

Concerns have been raised about safety and the potential for anti-social behaviour – and a number of residents said they had received no notice that the planning application had been submitted, only learning about it through word of mouth.

A statement from Sussex Police said local policing teams had concerns that the there were a lot of homes in the area – which is off the busy Woodfield Road – and that residents would face disturbances while the kitchen was open.

To view the application, log on to planningregister.crawley.gov.uk and search for CR/2020/0050/FUL.

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