A foodbank that supports hundreds of people every month has been awarded nearly £36,000 from a council funding pot to buy an eco-friendly van.

The new electric van will enable Colindale Foodbank to avoid the £12.50 charge incurred by driving into the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) to collect food from supermarkets and deliver to people with mobility challenges.

It currently uses a diesel van which does not meet the Ulez emission requirements.

Councillors agreed to award the funding from the community infrastructure levy – a charge imposed on new developments – during a meeting of the West Area Committee on Monday.

Set up with the support of The Trussell Trust in 2012, Colindale Foodbank is run by 20 volunteers and provides emergency food parcels for between three and seven days.

It is based at Trinity Church in Avion Crescent, Grahame Park Way, and now helps to feed more than 600 people every month.

Andreas Ioannidis, a Labour councillor for Colindale North, brought the funding request to the committee. He told councillors the volunteers at the foodbank were doing “enormous work” to support local residents.

Andreas added: “One of the issues they definitely have is with the transport. We know that transport is very expensive, and if you do not have the right car you have to spend a lot of money. It is important, as a council, to support those services, and due to the cost of living the service users will increase.”

He said it was important to pass the proposal not only to help the foodbank but also to meet targets for electrification of vehicles. Barnet Council recently declared a climate emergency and aims to slash the borough’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 at the latest.

The government has also announced plans for all new cars and vans to be fully zero emission at the tailpipe by 2035.

The funding application for £35,994 was unanimously approved by the committee.