New Forest residents benefit from five community hubs

Wednesday, 22 March 2023 00:00

New Forest residents can access additional cost of living support at five weekly community hubs, located in Calshot, New Milton, Totton, Pennington, and Fordingbridge.

At the community hubs, residents can meet with officers from New Forest District Council’s benefits and housing teams and Citizens Advice New Forest, who can provide cost-of-living advice and signpost to the local and national support that is available. Other local groups also attend to provide support, including Step Up Safe Space.

The community hubs occur at the same time and location as five existing weekly FareShare food larders in the district, a membership scheme offering food essentials for a reduced fee.

Residents can visit the following community hubs and food larders:

New Milton, Nedderman Centre, Wednesdays from 9:30 – 10:30am Totton, Testwood Baptist Church, Wednesdays from 9:30 – 11:30am Calshot, St George’s Hall, Thursdays from 12:30 – 1:30pm Pennington, St Mark’s Community Hall, Thursdays from 1 – 2pm Fordingbridge, Avonway Community Centre, Fridays from 1:30 – 2:30pm

As well as supporting the five community hubs, New Forest District Council offers other cost-of-living support. This includes a dedicated cost-of-living hub on the New Forest District Council website, where residents can find regularly updated advice and information about help with food, housing costs, energy and water bills, Council Tax, money concerns, and disability payments: https://www.newforest.gov.uk/costofliving

To support residents who do not access content online, New Forest District Council has promoted local and national schemes, including Pension Credit, Council Tax Support and the Household Support Fund, across eight information offices in the district and providing leaflets and articles in their Hometalk magazine.

In partnership with Citizens Advice New Forest, the council has created and distributed pocket-sized guides, including information about how residents can access local and national cost-of-living support.

The council is also keen to assist businesses and organisations across the district in supporting their local community. This includes recently creating a Warm Spaces grant scheme and distributing £17,720 across 22 organisations to help provide residents free, safe, and welcoming spaces.

The council's regular resident emails often include the latest information about the cost of living support. Residents can sign up to receive these emails on the New Forest District Council website: https://newforest.gov.uk/emails