A decision to evict a soup kitchen is “completely unacceptable”, according to a group of residents living nearby.

The Christian Kitchen has fed vulnerable people in Mission Grove, Walthamstow for 20 years.
But Waltham Forest Council is trying to force the kitchen to leave to make way for development.

Kitchen organisers, who say an alternative site being offered is unsafe and will lead to service closing, have won the right to a judicial review of the eviction.

And now a group of residents have signed an open letter in support of the kitchen, which will be presented to a council meeting on Thursday.

It rubbishes council claims that the kitchen is responsible for attracting crime and anti-social behaviour to the area.

The letter describes the eviction as “completely unacceptable in moral terms”.

Alison Lord, 48, is a founding member of Waltham Forest Left Unity group, which is behind the letter, and has lived close to the soup kitchen for seven years.

She said: “It’s a very quiet spot and it’s not interfering with anything.

“Everyone around here can’t believe this is happening. It’s absolute nonsense.”

Deputy leader of Waltham Forest Council, Councillor Clyde Loakes, said the decision to evict was based on police figures which show a group of street drinkers who visit the kitchen are regularly arrested.

“The Council appreciates that the vast majority of the people who use the soup kitchen are law-abiding, but the current site has sadly become a magnet for some people who want to cause trouble and we do not think that it is right that local residents should be made to feel unsafe,” he said.

People can add their names to letter by emailing wfsoupkitchen@yahoo.co.uk.