Proposals by Westminster City Council to ban soup kitchens have been blocked by London's Labour councils. The proposal, put forward as part of the 10th London Local Authorities Bill, was in a bid to stop free refreshments and food ‘regularly distributed' on land by organisations wishing to help the homeless. Westminster claimed the distribution ‘causes nuisance to occupiers of premises, often residential, in the vicinity of such land'. It proposed to prohibit the free refreshments on ‘land designated by a London borough council'. But during a heated debate at London Councils' leaders' committee, Labour leaders said London's most vulnerable citizens would be harmed by the measure. ‘London's soup kitchens provide vital support to many of our most vulnerable people, and it would have been completely unacceptable for this measure to have been passed,' said Cllr Clyde Loakes, leader of Waltham Forest LBC. ‘Many community groups and charities who distribute free food shared our view that this was a heavy-handed and inhumane approach to working with soup runs, particularly in the run-up to Christmas.'
