Bridport Food Matters last week brought together food-related stakeholders from the local area to discuss plans for a new community food hub. 

The aim of the proposals is to address food poverty, security, and sustainability in the face of the pressing cost-of-living crisis, public health concerns, and the climate emergency.

The new Bridport Food Matters (BFM) community charity hopes to bring together a number of existing community food initiatives, along with some new ventures, in one, central high-street space. 

The vision for the hub includes capacity for:

• A People's Supermarket — a physically, financially and socially accessible shop for healthy food, to include low-waste refills (a transition of the Waste Not Want Not shop in South Street)  
• A Community Café — to be used also as a space for family activities and social cohesion, cooking classes, workshops, training, and other small-scale community events
• A Growing Space — an outside space for an edible garden to grow food for the café and supermarket, and to use for outside cooking demonstrations
• An Information Hub — with a range of food- and climate-related information provision and exchange, and access to resources and support and services

BFM trustee, Candida Dunford Wood, said: "We hope it will be a welcoming, inclusive, creative, and social space, where food is at the heart of the community."

From diverse community groups and local businesses, such as the town's free-food offers, farmers, growers, producers, retailers and schools, more than 45 representatives attended to discuss the plans over a bowl of hearty freshly made veggie soup.

In order to supply a food hub there is a need for suppliers and there was much discussion about the way in which local growers could supply the hub.

This also included exploring ways in which small parcels of land could be made available to enable growing on a market garden scale rather than farming.

Candida added: "There are many people and groups doing wonderful things around food, and if we work together we can be greater than the sum of our parts."

Working groups discussed barriers and opportunities, explored ways in which they each might collaborate on the project, and a range of ideas for pop-up events while the problem of the hunt for a suitable premises for the hub continues.

In the meantime, the short-term plan is to provide the people's supermarket/info in Waste Not Want Not's current location in South Street.

Bridport town councillor Sarah Carney said: "During the pandemic, we showed what can be done when we work together. 

"There are too many families struggling to access healthy food on less-than-subsistence incomes in our town. 

"Local housing is not affordable for key workers, such as our medical and care staff, teachers and agricultural workers, and we need to come together to look after each other, our children, and our planet."

The hub space will be open to all. It will be run democratically by the members themselves — by the community for the community, with an overall vision to help build our town's resilience and local economy, and make food the centre of community cohesion.

The BFM Steering Group will chew over the feedback from the event, and get busy planning further pop-up food events around town.