Dear All

Many thanks to all who were able to get an email off in opposition to  
the proposed ban on soup runs in London - your support is very much  
appreciated, as you will see below

As ever
jon

Dear Jon

Attached is the finalised Soup Run Forum response just sent over to
London Councils.

It has been really great to have all the messages of support and
solidarity from you and your academic colleagues. I have added
everyone's signature and brief details to the response (although some
are still coming in!) and will get around to emailing everyone
personally. Perhaps in the meantime you'd be kind enough to post this
forward to your group?

You geographers obviously know "which way the wind blows"... Sincere
thanks from all soup run forum volunteers and users, and lets hope this
repellent proposal is dropped before it even gets to parliament.

best,
Alastair
www.housingjustice.org.uk <http://www.housingjustice.org.uk>





Quoting Jon May <[log in to unmask]>:

> Dear Colleagues
>
> Please help. Though it's short notice, if we act fast we may be able to
> stop something very bad happening.
>
> A proposal has been made in the 10th London Local Authorities Bill to
> ban all soup runs in central London. Under the proposal, anyone or any
> organisation providing food and drinks free of charge to homeless
> people will face prosecution. The only exemption are those providing
> food for sporting events (good for the economy obviously) and those
> giving our free food as part of a marketing promotion - e.g. free
> KitKats at London Bride to those who don't need such things.
>
> Soup runs provide a vital service to many homeless and destitute
> people. To make the provision of food to those who may otherwise not
> have enough to eat whilst allowing marketeers to continue to push their
> products seems to me obscene.
>
> The Bill is being presented to Parliament on 27th November. Objections
> to the proposal must be lodged by this Friday.
>
> The London Soup Run Forum have done an excellent job in co-ordinating
> objections to the Bill.
>
> Please could I urge you to join their objections, either by sending a
> simple email yourself (you could use the one I have sent as a template)
> to the London Councils, OR an email of support (giving permission to
> use your name as a signatory) to the Soup Run Forum. You could of
> course do both!
>
> To send an email yourself objecting to the proposal, please send to:
> [log in to unmask]
>
> To send a note of support, and your signature, to the Soup Run Forum
> contact Alastair Murray, Chair at:
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> Hope very much some of you will think this a worthwhile thing to do.
> Attached for information, the proposed legislation and the response put
> together by the Soup Run Forum. Below my own email to oliver hatch -
> please feel free to use it as a basis for your own
>
>
> Jon
> -- 
> Professor Jon May
>
> Department of Geography
> Queen Mary
> University of London
> London E1 4NS
>
> Tel: 0207 882 5400
>
>
> MY EMAIL - please feel free to use:
>
> Dear Oliver Hatch,
>
> I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposal to   
> prohibit the distribution of free refreshments (including food   
> provided for homeless people via ‘soup runs’) in the tenth London   
> Local Authorities Bill, for deposit in Parliament on 27th November   
> 2007.
>
> Soup Runs have formed a part of Britain’s welfare system for   
> hundreds of years. Far from a relic feature, they remain a crucial   
> part of the modern welfare landscape – providing food, nourishment,   
> help and advice for those without any rights to mainstream welfare   
> (for example, people from the EU Accession States with no   
> entitlements to benefits) or those who, for a variety of reasons,   
> find it difficult to access mainstream provision (for example, long   
> term street homeless people). In central London especially – where   
> there are now very few places where people without money can go in   
> the evenings for help and advice - the continuing need for such   
> services is very clear; evident in the continuing use of such   
> services.
>
> My own research in to soup runs (a copy of which is attached) has
> revealed the crucial role they play in helping to support the most
> needy members of our society.
>
> First, soup runs provide a vital source of food and sustenance for   
> those who often have no other way of (legally) obtaining a   
> sufficient amount to eat. In London, the problem of simply getting   
> enough to eat is a very real problem for those (from the EU   
> Accession states, for example) with no recourse to public funds. It   
> is also a problem for many homeless people. It is often suggested   
> that soup runs hinder rather than help homeless people, since they   
> enable people with drug or alcohol addictions to prioritise their   
> addiction rather than food: put simply, the argument is that if soup  
>  runs provide free food then this leaves more money for people to   
> spend on drink or drugs. Such arguments are naïve. Faced with the   
> choice of spending money on drink and drugs, or food, the addict   
> will always choose the former. If places where such people can   
> receive free food are closed, the result is therefore not a drop in   
> levels of addiction – only a rise in levels of illness and   
> malnutrition amongst thos
> e with addictions. Alternatively, when hungry enough people resort   
> to other ways of finding food – most often shop lifting. Far from   
> helpful, then, the closure of soup runs is liable to see a rise in   
> ‘survivalist crime’.
>
> Second, soup runs provide a vital ‘sign posting’ service – with   
> volunteers pointing those new to the streets and without much   
> knowledge of local welfare services, to other services which may be   
> able to help them. In addition, many of the most vulnerable homeless  
>  people have problems accessing mainstream homeless services –   
> because extremely wary of more formal services. For these people,   
> soup runs offer a crucial ‘first step’: providing a place of welcome  
>  and help when unable to access other avenues of support. Closing   
> soup runs will not ‘force’ these people to use inside services:   
> partly because too few services are available in the evenings, and   
> partly because such people are extremely wary of these services.   
> Rather than turn to alternative services such people are therefore   
> more likely to turn to no services at all.
>
> It is suggested in the Proposal that London’s soup runs cause   
> nuisance to business and residents. In fact, London’s soup runs are   
> almost wholly concentrated in areas of business and commercial use.   
> Soup Runs are also extremely careful to minimise any disruption they  
>  may cause (cleaning up after each service, for example). Certainly,  
>  they are far less of a nuisance to local residents than   
> Westminster’s many bars and clubs – the main source of late night   
> aggravation and noise in central London.
>
> Whilst, if the main aim of the Proposal is indeed to reduce a nuisance
> for residents I find it surprising the Proposal is to close soup runs
> rather than night clubs, pubs and bars, I am appalled by the suggested
> exemptions to the Bill. What kind of society is it that seeks to ban
> the distribution of free food to those who may have no other way of
> getting enough to eat but upholds the free distribution of marketing
> materials (including free food) to consumers who already have a wealth
> of choice open to them? To be blunt, I find such a proposal obscene.
>
> Closing central London’s soup runs will NOT bring an end to problems  
>  of homelessness and destitution in central London. Nor, and I   
> suspect this is the real aim of the Proposal, will it render such   
> problems less visible. Instead it will I believe have the opposite   
> effect: considerably worsening the situation faced by many of   
> London’s most needy, and rendering their presence in London more   
> visible – as such people seek other ways of providing themselves   
> with food and sustenance.
>
> Over the past few years the Soup Run Forum has worked hard to   
> improve the co-ordination of London’s soup runs and the quality of   
> the service they offer. Rather than seeking now to ban soup runs,   
> London’s local authorities should be seeking ways to engage with the  
>  Soup Run Forum to see how such services can be further improved as  
> a  first step in tackling the problems faced by their clients – the   
> solutions to which will only be found with a real commitment to a   
> fairer and more accessible welfare system, not by seeking simply to   
> sweep such people from the streets.
>
> I hope very much you will take these views in to account when
> discussing the Proposal and resolve to throw the Proposal out.
>
> Yours truly,
>
>
>
> Jon May



Professor Jon May

Department of Geography
Queen Mary
University of London
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS
Tel: 0207 882 5427