A NEW soup kitchen could be developed near Clydebank by a local food bank after planning permission to create a street food market was approved.

Last week councillors gave the green light to plans for a former bus depot in Old Kilpatrick to be partly transformed into a food market for two years – and for the provision of three converted shipping containers to operate as pop-up fast-food stops.

Part of the warehouse at Gavinburn Business Park on Dumbarton Road has been donated by applicant James Steel to the Old Kilpatrick Food Parcels project to store food, and could now be transformed into a kitchen.

Following an initial meeting in November, the application was brought before West Dunbartonshire Council’s planning committee again on December 9.

Manager Maureen Cummings said: “We operate our storage distribution of food in one of the sections in warehouse one, which Mr Steel has donated to the food bank.

“We couldn’t operate on a daily basis without this space, and what we would like to do is develop a container kitchen where we can provide food to the people who use the food bank.

“Many of the families who use our facilities don’t actually have cooking appliances because they are livening in temporary accommodation.

“While we provide them bags of food to heat up in a microwave, we don’t feel it is very nutritional, especially for children.

“We want one of the containers converted so when the families came to collect their parcel they would be invited to have a free hot meal once a day seven days a week.

“We are now feeding 170 people between Old Kilpatrick, Bowling and Dalmuir, who have to stand out in all weathers and join a queue because of current restrictions.

“The warehouse would allow some of those people to wait indoors.”

Mr Steel, who bought the property with his father in 2006, has been trying to develop the site for some time.

He told the committee: “It has been very difficult to find good uses for this property which don’t cost the earth to renovate.

“It has been difficult to try and find a purchaser. We can’t do anything other than build on the concrete which basically covers of the site.

“I would like to have the opportunity to develop the site, within reason. I will agree to the council’s recommendations as long as we can do something with this property and bring a bit of life into the village -something that’s not available at the moment.”