ST LAWRENCE and St Paul’s church in Longridge will become a ‘satellite’ foodbank to the Trussell Trust run Clitheroe Foodbank in Trinity Church.

The announcement came as MPs in the House of Commons yesterday debated the rise of foodbank use and the increase in hunger levels in the UK after an e-petition gained an astonishing 100,000 signatures in just two days.

From January 24 the church in Church Street will open its doors to referred service users in a bid to make the Clitheroe foodbank more accessible.

Ruth Haldane, project manager at Clitheroe Foodbank, said: “We are covering the whole of the Ribble Valley, which is a very large area, and so we feel that this will help us reach more people in need.

“If people can’t afford food, they aren’t going to be able to afford to pay for the bus from Longridge to Clitheroe.”

A recent survey into rural poverty showed the geographically-isolated low income families are at an extremely high risk of falling into food poverty and that their location means that accessing food aid is even more difficult as foodbanks can be around 20 miles away.

Ruth said: “Since we opened in Clitheroe six months ago, we’ve fed more than 540 people.

“Food poverty is very well hidden in the Ribble Valley but it’s clear to us that it is a definite and very real problem.”

The foodbank in St Paul’s will open every Friday from 11am to 1.30pm and should help us reach more people that need our help further afield.”