A charity says Westminster City Council is threatening to shut down its Charing Cross soup kitchen, saying it has made it “impossible” for the service to operate. The founder of Friends of Essex & London Homeless (FOELH) says the council has raised concerns related to the safety of the vulnerable people the charity serves, and that ongoing complaints could eventually force the kitchen to close.
The council’s position, as described by the charity, is that the site is not safe for either the vulnerable people attending the service or for the general public. The Guardian reports that the charity has faced repeated objections and administrative pressure, with founder Steven Stuart calling the effect of those complaints potentially decisive. Yahoo UK News provides the same headline, indicating the issue is being widely covered, but does not add further detail in the excerpt provided.
Both accounts frame the dispute as a clash between a local authority’s safety objections and a homelessness charity’s claim that it is being targeted through persistent complaints about attendance by vulnerable people.
