A CHURCH has stopped serving meals to the homeless because it is claimed there are virtually no rough sleepers left in the Bay.

In its February newsletter, Central Church said it had stopped its monthly lunch service to so-called rough sleepers because 'the people attending were mostly not in that situation'.

Rev Glyn Millington said the charities working with the homeless in Torquay had confirmed to him there were very few homeless living rough in Torbay.

He said: "When we started there was a much larger problem of homelessness in Torquay.

"Over the years we have had 20 to 40 homeless attending on a regular basis.

"However, it has become apparent to us over recent months the people attending were mostly not in that situation.

"The Leonard Stock Centre for the homeless in Torquay confirmed there were indeed very few living on the streets of Torquay, and that as well as providing accommodation its aim was to teach residents to be self-sufficient.

"It would prefer they were not provided with a free lunch at Central Church."

Rev Millington denied the 30 to 40 people attending their lunches were pretending to be homeless and said the situation had now changed.

He added: "It's good news that there are fewer people living on the street in Torbay.

"Since the centre opened it has made a positive change to the lives of homeless people and it's good to see they are less reliant on handouts."

Sarah Pengelly, the manager of the Leonard Stock Centre said while there was a 'real street culture' only a few years ago when it was 'acceptable to sleep rough in Torbay', the centre had helped reduce that number to no more than two or three.

She said: "We used to work with up to 24 homeless people in Torbay. Since the centre opened we've worked hard to be creative with people and find a solution to their problems.

"Housing is not always the first issue or need for homeless people so we try to put them in contact with social services, drug and alcohol and mental health services as well as find private or council accommodation for them."

The Leonard Stock Centre opened in August last year. It has 24 en suite rooms as well as showers and laundry service. It also offers breakfast and food to the homeless.

Mrs Pengelly said: "It has worked very well. Having somewhere they can be proud of has made a massive difference to them. It's a lot nicer than what was there before.

"If you're in a nice environment and are treated nicely you will feel better yourself."

She said churches in the Bay and the Shekinah Mission had helped the homeless over the years and helped make the centre what it is now.

John Hamblin, chief executive of the Shekinah Mission, said: "There is some really exciting work going on in Torbay.

"We appear not to be shouting about it and we appear to be hung up on what is going wrong in the Bay but there is a lot of positive things happening.

"We have made some huge steps around the inclusion agenda. A few years ago there were more than 20 rough sleepers around Torbay now that is down to two or three."