On Friday 21st November, CBLC, together with Sarah Gibson MP for Chippenham and Martin Nye, High Sheriff for Wiltshire, hosted an important roundtable discussion focused on emergency food provision in Chippenham. The meeting brought together local organisations supporting households facing food insecurity, including Alabare, Chippenham Community Hub, Christians Against Poverty, Citizens Advice Wiltshire, Coop, Doorway, Fighting Hunger with Food Waste, Foodbox, Rooted Chippenham, and the Salvation Army. We were also joined by representatives from Wiltshire Council and the Wiltshire Community Foundation.
Whilst we’d rather not be facing this challenge in 2025, the reality is too many people in our community are struggling. Demand for emergency food provision in Chippenham continues to grow. Many organisations are working hard to meet this need but we know a more coordinated approach could make a real difference.
What we’re working towards is straightforward: better collaboration that leads to action, creating an accessible, sustainable and fair food system for Chippenham. Working together means we can help people access the support they need while tackling the underlying causes of food insecurity.
The roundtable gave everyone a chance to share what they’re doing including their current provision, how many local households they support, access criteria, funding streams, and the challenges they’re facing. These conversations helped us spot opportunities for collaboration and funding and showed us where better data could strengthen our work.
(Thanks to Jenny from Sarah Gibson’s office for the photos)
Key Outcomes from the Discussion
- Knowledge-sharing and collaboration – We all recognised the real value in working more closely together, sharing what we know, finding practical solutions to challenges and building our collective capacity.
- Building consensus on priorities – Everyone’s committed to developing a shared mission and identifying common priorities that will shape how we deliver services and source additional funding.
- Strengthening the evidence base – We need better data to understand the true scale of local demand, target our support effectively, and make a stronger case for resources and coordination.
Most importantly, we’ve agreed to continue meeting as a collaborative group in the New Year. This ongoing dialogue will give us a real chance to strengthen how Chippenham responds to food insecurity.
A big thank you to everyone who came and contributed. We’re looking forward to what we can achieve together in 2026.
