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Cost of living: 100 turned away from Caernarfon food scheme

BBC Lorna BillinghurstBBC
Lorna Billinghurst received a £30 voucher, but dozens of others were unable to get one

About 100 people were turned away from a food voucher scheme in Gwynedd due to high demand.

The Porthi Dre project in Caernarfon received £9,000 by the Welsh government and used it to buy vouchers, which were expected to last for three weeks.

However, the money only lasted for one and half of the 200 people who came to the final session were turned away.

One councillor involved in the scheme said he feared poverty would "become the norm".

Dewi Jones said telling people there were no more vouchers available last week was "one of the worst things I've had to do".

He added: "The demand is much, much higher than what we can deal with.

Councillor Dewi Jones
Dewi Jones called for more to be done to deal with the cost-of-living crisis

"For me, it should be the government's number one priority," he said.

"There are rising levels of poverty and at times I am questioning whether the government want to do something about it or are happy to just accept the current situation." 

Porthi Dre - which means feeding the town in Welsh - planned to distribute the Tesco vouchers, worth between £15 and £45, in 15 sessions across three weeks, but demand was so great the vouchers only lasted for one week and five sessions.

Lorna Billinghurst received £30 vouchers for her household through the scheme, and said they made a big difference.

Lorna Billinghurst receiving food package
The enterprise also lets people fill bags with food for £3

"Everything's going up, isn't it?" Ms Billinghurst said, "where do they expect us to find money for food?"

One of their other projects is a weekly session where people can pay £3 to fill a bag with meat, tins, fruit and vegetables with a value higher than the asking price.

Myra Jones, 66, used the scheme and said it was "really handy".

"Gas and electricity prices have soared, and by then end of the week you have little money left, so something like this for £3 is really worth it," she said.

"I don't think I could carry on as I do, to be honest with you - it's a lot of help for me."

The UK government said it had delivered £1,200 of direct support to households last year and its energy price guarantee was saving the typical household about £900 this winter.

The Welsh government said it was spending more than £1.6bn to support people during the cost-of-living crisis and have provided almost £15m to foodbanks.