SCOTLAND’S first ‘Foodbank Supermarket’ could be coming to North Ayrshire, the Herald can reveal.

North Ayrshire Foodbank bosses have put ‘ground-breaking’ plans in place to start up a community shop which would source surplus food from big supermarkets and provide it at a discounted price for disadvantaged people in the community.

Craig Crosthwaite from North Ayrshire Foodbank, said: “As far as we know there is nothing else like this in Scotland.

“We know of a couple already in existence in London although they operate slightly differently in their methodology to how we plan to, but they are successful.

“I’m cautious to say what we are doing is ground-breaking. It’s always easier to be the follower than the inventor – but we have not discovered anything else like what we are aiming for in Scotland which is comparable in size and scale.” The shop would have charitable status and be run by volunteers who would be given formal training in retail through employability programmes and modern apprenticeships.

Craig said: “We want to run a training scheme so that the people who run it are working towards something. We would get them training in retail so they would be able to eventually move on to mainstream retail.” There is no location for the shop so far, but it could consist of a central hub with a mobile ‘pop-up shop’ which can move around the entire area. The shop would be open to all local people but customers on low income will receive a higher discount provided they are eligible.

Craig said: “The idea is that we tap in to the food that goes to landfill sites. If we are able to access that then the supermarkets will sell that to us at 25 per cent of the retail price which would allow people on low incomes to purchase it rather than receiving free food boxes which is the situation right now.

“We want to have at least 100 lines of products that people can come in and shop for and choose between but how we achieve that is the difficulty and we need to find out if that’s viable or sustainable.

“What we don’t want is to be in a situation where we only have 10 items to choose from. We need a reliable and reasonable amount of choice but with a regular supply so that is going to be the make or break. The question is, can we make it work?” Councillor Ruth Maguire said: “As a council, we have had to be innovative and flexible to deal with our own budgetary issues.

“The North Ayrshire Foodbank are always being creative and forward thinking in their approach to providing healthy and affordable food to some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

“We hope that their plans come to fruituion and we will support them moving forward.”