A pastor has urged the oil industry and local businesses to provide more training or handouts after being forced to open a food bank to help "starving" people.

Barry Douglas, chaplain of Aberdeen Football Club and pastor at King's Community Church in the city, said he is horrified by the poverty in the oil capital of Europe, particularly in the community of Seaton on the fringes of more affluent Old Aberdeen.

The food bank was officially opened yesterday by Labour leader Johann Lamont, who is campaigning against benefit changes which Mr Douglas says have hit locals hard.

He said: "Scottish neighbourhood statistics show that 29% of people in Seaton are below the poverty line. As a minister I see many needs in the community and one of the biggest needs is, believe it or not, food.

"People were starving, which may sound horrifying in the oil capital of Europe but that's the nature of where we are today.

"Sadly, food banks are the one area that is growing in Scotland because of the introduction of benefit changes that affect Seaton in a very big way.

"The bedroom tax is a classic example. The vast number of properties in Seaton are two-bedroom properties and if you're just a husband and wife, or a single person, in a two-bedroom property, this is where it's hitting people hard."

Mr Douglas added: "People who are already struggling on a small amount of benefits, £67.50 a week, are then suddenly having to find extra money to make up the shortfall because they have an extra bedroom.

"There's around 2000 local authority houses in Seaton, with really no private residential property, so it's affecting the people very hard. Not far away is Old Aberdeen, which is very affluent."

He called on the wealthier sections of Aberdeen society to help out, saying: "We need to get people the right skillsets through training, or get people to be more generous with their wealth in helping people.

"We're fortunate to have some tremendous partners such as Aberdeen Football Club, and various oil and gas companies are very interested in what we're doing and trying to raise our profile. Already I've had requests from staff from the large oil and gas companies to help with food collection days at the supermarkets, or help in the warehouse unpacking the food.

"The Aberdeen public has shown immense support in that we've collected three tons of food in just one weekend at Tesco."

Ms Lamont said: "We know that the economy is performing strongly in the north-east, and the oil and gas sector presents great opportunities for Scotland by creating new jobs and skills.

"Part of the reason for this visit is to help understand how we can support the industry and ensure that Aberdeen and the rest of Scotland can benefit from these opportunities.

"But we also recognise that not everyone in Aberdeen is benefiting from this boom and even in areas of plenty we still have great poverty." Figures earlier this year showed a 397% rise in the number of food bank users since 2008. The need has been blamed on redundancy, welfare cuts, delays in benefit payments, reduced working hours and people struggling with the high cost of living, including high fuel bills.

The Trussell Trust, which runs food banks in a number of Scottish locations, estimates that fewer than 5% of those using food banks are homeless; many are working families and one-third of recipients are children. In 2011-12 Trussell Trust food banks fed 128,697 people throughout the UK, a 100% rise on the previous year and a more than 200% rise since 2009-10.

Mark McLaughlin