'That’s not what you would expect in 21st century Harborough' - record number of people used town's food bank last year

New figures show the town’s food bank helped over 2000 needy people – including almost 800 children – in 2019.

That’s a dramatic hike of about 20 per cent on the number of people helped in 2018.

Cllr Phil Knowles, leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition on Harborough District Council, and his deputy, Cllr Roger Dunton, labelled the statistics “shocking”.

They saluted the “wonderful support” of the food bank and the compassion of its hard-working team.

But Cllr Knowles and Cllr Dunton said: “Can this really be happening in such an affluent area as Harborough?”

“It’s deeply worrying that 306 named clients needed this help.

“We understand the actual number of people in need of support stood at 2059.

“That figure is made up of 1273 adults and 786 children.

“That’s not what you would expect in 21st century Harborough.”

The two councillors said food bank staff laid on about 20,000 meals last year to help feed Harborough’s neediest people.

The Jubilee Food Bank supported some 1115 people in 2017.

That number climbed to 1725 in 2018, an increase of about 54 per cent.