CLACTON’S foodbank has opened a new central hub in the town to help improve the vital service to needy residents.

Demands on the district’s foodbanks have increased massively over the past year as families struggle with benefits cuts and payday loans.

In March, big-hearted shoppers donated more than £1,200 of food to help restock Tendring’s dwindling foodbanks following a campaign.

Food had been stored at a sites across the town, but a new central storage facility in the town centre has now opened.

Mike Bareham, from Clacton Rotary Club, said: “Donated food had up until then been stored in a variety of locations around the town, which made both stock taking, distribution and expansion of the service extremely difficult."

All food for the scheme, which is run from the Salvation Army Community Centre in Old Road, is donated by the public and sorted by volunteers.