A Chester GP practice is exploring plans for a social supermarket to help people living in food poverty on the Blacon estate.
The project by Western Avenue Medical Centre, Blacon, is still in its infancy but plans have been lodged to create temporary accommodation for a community food store at the side of the practice.
People living in Blacon would be invited to join a membership scheme for a nominal weekly sum (£2-£4) to purchase a box of food worth at least £20 which would be donated by supermarkets and other outlets.
Volunteers would run the project which would involve collecting unwanted food nearing its best before date that would otherwise go into landfill.
It would be distributed from a portable building next to the surgery where members would be able to choose from the stock available.
Food would be colour coded, for example, red for meat and fish, green for fruit and vegetables and so on. Members would choose one red item and two green items plus seven more.
A similar scheme, called The Port Grocery, is already in operation at Trinity Church, Whitby Road, Ellesmere Port, which receives some of its donated food from M&S Cheshire Oaks .
In addition, customers would have access to wrap around services such as housing, employment, debt and financial advice, carers’ network, drug and alcohol and mental health support. Cookery classes could be held to promote healthy living.
Drop-in sessions would be held within the practice.
Aims are to reduce food poverty, cut food waste, promote healthy eating and increase the take-up of community services instead of falling back on purely medicalised solutions.
Practice manager Jamie Ducker stresses the project is an aspiration at the moment but hopes it will happen.
Blacon in the news
He said: “It would be affordable food – there’s no supermarket in Blacon – but would also be a vehicle to promote social care with drug and alcohol support, advice on debt, housing and employment and cookery classes. We will start small.”
It's believed the Blacon social supermarket would be the first to be attached to a GP practice.
