27/03/2024
At yesterday’s meeting of Billingham Town Council, the Council voted to cancel our flagship Sunday Lunch Delivery Project. Over the last four years, this project has supported over 400 vulnerable residents with the delivery of a free Sunday lunch. Delivered almost entirely by volunteers, we have cooked and delivered thousands of meals to residents. Initially established as a Covid project, a recent assessment of the value of the project established a new referral process and a survey of the recipients showed that there are just over 70 residents that are still in need of this service. I am incredibly disappointed to see that the majority of our Councillors supported this decision with no exit strategy and no alternative use for the funding proposed.
I’d like to thank Councillors Besford, Forrest, Gilburt and Hedley for voting to support the continuation of this service and their attempts to include an exit strategy and timescale for phasing out this service in the vote.
I owe our volunteers a debt of gratitude for the thousands of hours of their time that they have given up to support their local community – without them, we could never have made this project such a success.
As the Chairman of the Town Council, it is my public duty to support and defend the democratic decisions that this Council makes. However, I cannot, in all conscience, support this decision which leaves some of our most vulnerable residents in a more vulnerable position. It is for that reason that I have taken the decision to resign from the position of Chairman with immediate effect.
