North Tawton Town Council has agreed to speak with the church about the possible revival of the town’s food bank, which closed earlier this year.

The decision was made at this week’s (July 7) full council meeting as councillors debated whether food support was still necessary after community interest company Merry Go Round announced in June that it would shut the food bank with “immediate effect” in order to “safeguard staff”, but was working to find a suitable alternative space.

Councillors agreed there was no space in the council offices for a replacement, but said the council would contact St Peter’s Church after the deputy clerk confirmed that the church had previously raised the possibility of hosting the service and had planned a meeting to discuss it. She added that the church needed to discuss logistics, as there were concerns about how it would effectively monitor the food bank. At the time of writing, it was unknown whether the church had held the meeting or made any decisions.

Cllr Sarah McKnight said: “I think if the church is looking at it, I think we can say we would support and then we can discuss what support to give. But it’s very difficult for us to come up with suggestions if we don’t have the capacity here; we can’t go and suggest other people on behalf of us.”

The possibility of reopening the community fridge, formerly located at Merry Go Round, was also raised as a way to provide food support without requiring a large space or the additional administrative responsibilities of running a food bank.

Cllr Carol Burrow said: “The community fridge was to prevent food waste – excess bread and vegetables and what-have-you from the supermarkets. That would be useful to keep if we could find somewhere to keep it.

“Manning a food bank is very different because of confidentiality and safeguarding and all that sort of thing involved, but a community fridge is just: if you’ve got extra beans, you put them in the community fridge, and someone else has them.”

In the meantime, Okehampton Community Food Bank has been providing food support to some North Tawton residents who used the Merry Go Round food bank, and is delivering packages to those who cannot drive to Okehampton. Okehampton Community Food Bank is a registered charity made up of volunteers including churches, partner organisations, and individuals. The food bank offers emergency food and is accessible 365 days a year, seven days a week.

Food bank use remains higher than before the cost-of-living crisis. Statistics gathered by anti-poverty charity Trussell reveal that the organisation distributed 2.6 million food parcels across the UK in 2025, up from 1.8 million in 2019. However, the data does not include parcels distributed by independent food banks, church or community food aid projects, community fridges or informal local schemes, so the true figures are likely to be higher.

For more information about Okehampton’s food bank, visit: https://okehamptonfoodbank.org/.