Warm banks opened to help residents through the cost of living crisis

With food, fuel, and energy bills continuing to rise, St Helens Council has estimated that around 42% of households in the borough are likely to be impacted by food poverty during the winter months.

As the nights get darker and colder, there are concerns that people struggling with their finances will go without heat or food in order to save money.

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St Helens Library will be used as a Warm Space in the World of Glass (Image: St Helens Council)

With this in mind, and to ease some of the unprecedented pressures on residents, the council has announced that libraries and lesiure centres across the borough will operate as local 'Warm Spaces''.

This means that all residents will have somewhere comfortable to go to keep warm during the evenings.

Organised as respectful and non-judgemental spaces, the hubs can also be a place to socialise and receive support and advice.

The project has been launched under a St Helens Together initiative, which was created in the face of the pandemic to ensure that the community worked collaboratively to support one another.

With the current climate meaning another collaborative effort to support residents is necessary, the council is looking to expand the project so that everyone has easy access to a Warm Space.

At present, there are twenty-one Warm Spaces across the borough. For more information, you can visit the council's website here.