A GROUNDBREAKING new group has been formed to tackle spiralling food poverty in Keighley.

Several organisations across the town have joined forces to combat the problem.

The initiative is being spearheaded by Keighley mayor Councillor Graham Mitchell and the local Salvation Army, which has worked with more than 300 needy individuals and families in the past six months alone.

"We feel that an area of urgent need is to bring key agency workers, community leaders and people affected by food poverty together to build closer co-operation and respond more effectively to long-term needs," said Cllr Mitchell.

"No one organisation can tackle poverty on its own. It's an issue which challenges the whole community and the responses to it need to echo that.

"The Salvation Army works daily with those affected by food poverty and recognises the need to ensure people do not become dependent on the help they receive.

"However, we believe that poverty will never truly be addressed until those who experience it first-hand are at the heart of the process.

"There is a real need to move the debate on so that while accepting emergency food provisions as a current necessary measure, we collectively need to find more sustainable long-term solutions to food poverty, combining food aid with welfare advice and advocacy and bringing together existing players with food providers and the state."

The group, known as Keighley Food Poverty Action Partnership, has just met for the first time and was addressed by someone who has received help from the Salvation Army.

The body includes representatives from Keighley Town Centre Association, the police, Keighley InTouch Foundation, health services, churches, the Citizens Advice Bureau and drugs and alcohol agency Project 6.

Cllr Mitchell – who chose Keighley Salvation Army as the charity for his civic year, which comes to an end next month – added: "We fully understand that food poverty is an interconnected issue impacting on crime, mental and physical health, relationships and social exclusion.

"Therefore, the responses to food poverty need to reflect the wide-ranging complex dynamics of the issue.

"To our knowledge, our group is the first of its kind and we believe it can make a real difference to the community in Keighley."