Food parcels to support Dartford's vulnerable during the coronavirus lockdown have started being distributed across the borough.

Last weekend, Dartford council began delivering boxes of food and supplies to the most vulnerable residents in the community.

The council is continuing to respond to a variety of community requests from local people.

Council leader Cllr Jeremy Kite said: "As our network expands we are looking to extend our help to a wider group of residents who may not be on the NHS list of most vulnerable but who are nevertheless worried about facing a food emergency. Our aim is to be here for people.

"As well as keeping our core community services operating, our significant focus has been on developing a storage and distribution system ready to deliver food parcels to those in our community who have been designated as extremely vulnerable and need to be shielded from the virus for 12 weeks.

"We have received a huge number of offers of support from volunteers and although we are managing at the moment, it gives us huge reassurance to know they are there.

"This awful outbreak has certainly presented us with uncertainty and challenges but we can see that something very powerful is emerging and that’s a reborn sense of how great a community Dartford is."

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