Bridport – Beacon Town
31
Population: 7,500
Including hinterland: 19,000
©SLewis
Bridport, Dorset
Beacon TownProud innovator for the Countryside Agency’s Market Towns Initiative
This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of
Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office
© Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and
may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings.
The Countryside Agency, John Dower House, Crescent Place, Cheltenham,
Gloucestershire GL50 3RA.
© The Countryside Agency 2004 Licence No. 100018881
Introduction
This small town nestles on the coast of
West Dorset. A lively working town, the
main industries are engineering, food,
tourism, rope and net making, and
agriculture. A large proportion of these are
small businesses, paying wages at the low
end of the scale and offering only limited
security of employment.
Bridport is nevertheless a thriving place, with a
fishing port, flourishing and visible arts scene, a
museum and numerous community groups with
many specific interests. So there is good reason to
want to live in Bridport.The town is also the local
service hub for a rural population of around 11,500
people.
Immediately evident is the abundant local food
industry, with its many outlets: cafes, delicatessens,
bakeries, even a local food celebrity or two.
Establishing itself over recent years, this local food
sector now includes local food markets, on-farm
processing and producer networks, a Food Week, and
local food directories. Much of this activity is driven
by the West Dorset Food and Land Trust, and by local
food businesses in the area.
Bridport – Beacon Town
32
©CountrysideAgency/IDalgleish
Why local food is important
If products are produced, processed and marketed
locally:
• people can buy fresh, seasonal produce –
resulting in healthier diets;
• by gaining back the middle ground for
producers that has been lost over past
decades, more of the ‘food pound’ is retained
within the local economy, providing local job
opportunities;
• links between producers and the community
are strengthened – customers know who has
produced the food they are eating (the issue of
‘traceability’ is becoming more and more
important);
• pollution from ‘food miles’ and packaging are
reduced;
• more sustainable systems of land management
are encouraged.
The Centre for Local Food
Opened just a year ago, the Centre has made
remarkably rapid progress in bringing the wider
benefits of local food to the community.
In diverse ways the Centre meets the needs of both
suppliers and consumers. It is the first such centre in
the UK. So, for example, producers and other food
businesses can go there for business support and
training, to network with other producers and to get
help with funding. And local people can learn about
growing and cooking food, participate in voluntary
activities out in the community, and enjoy finding
out about Bridport’s food heritage.
Only this time last year, the Centre was a semiredundant
rope and net industry building serving no
purpose. After refurbishment, it was opened and
within months transformed into a vibrant
community resource1
. At a cost of £100,000 this is
extraordinary value by any standards.
Peter Simpson of the Countryside Agency’s Eat the
View team says the Centre is unique in the way it
“manages to bridge the gap between the market
place and the producer” .
The building is now a recognised centre of activity. It
is equipped with commercial kitchens, ICT
equipment, workshops and food distribution
facilities.The Centre has developed in such a way
that it now engages with the community in the
widest sense. It is because it is a community project,
rather than a commercial proposition, that it has
Bridport – Beacon Town
33
The local food sector
Although many consumers are persuaded of the
benefits of local food, the sector remains relatively
small and fragmented.The main problems relate to
having to compete with economies of scale achieved
by the global food supply and distribution market.
Other barriers blocking the growth of local food
chains include government and EU legislation and
the lack of capacity of local producers.
So while there has been measurable progress in the
sector, and local food is definitely ‘on the up’,
serious growth will require much greater diversity of
supply, coordination and infrastructure. And
producers need support to achieve this.
The West Dorset Food and Land Trust
Founded in 1996, the Trust is a local communitybased
organisation. It has played a key role in
developing the local food sector in Bridport and West
Dorset. Its main aims are to:
• promote healthy eating;
• promote the local food sector;
• organise practical, community-based initiatives
that help to achieve these aims.
In 2003 it established the Centre for Local Food; the
Centre is a hub for many of the Trust’s activities.
From redundant building . . .
to a real community asset.
1
The Centre was developed by the Food and Land Trust with
partnership backing from SWRDA, Leader Plus, New
Opportunities Fund and the District and County Councils.
The South West’s response to the Sustainable
Food and Farming strategy places emphasis on
local food chains; the Trust’s work is therefore
very much in accord with regional policy.
remained open to an interesting mix of people, with
diverse needs.
Any major enterprise of this kind needs a prime
mover.The Centre’s then Director,Tim Crabtree saw
the potential and set about getting the funding and
establishing the partnerships to make the Centre
happen.
“Nothing can happen until you start.The way the
Centre has developed shows that it is possible to
start an organisation and give it some free rein to
grow in a way consistent with community needs.
At the start of 2003 we had a redundant building
on our hands but lots of ideas. It is fantastic to see
people coming together here now, getting the things
they need to develop – either in business or as
people.That is engaging with the community in
the widest sense.”
Tim is an excellent example of how a person with the
right team, skills and vision can effect enormous change.
Funding the Centre’s work
The Centre has established an excellent track record
in attracting funding, and much of its income is
from charitable donations.This includes core
funding for the Director’s post and administrative
support. Neil Judd is the Centre’s new Director. He is
sure that the Centre is successful with funding
applications because it puts forward practical
proposals that are “eminently fundable” – funders
not unnaturally like to see results.
Most of the bids include an amount for core
funding.The Centre also receives rental income from
tenants in its building, and from renting out the
kitchens. Neil wants the Centre to be able to cover its
own running costs this year, although he recognises
that funding is always finely balanced.
Working in partnership
The Centre works with a whole range of
organisations from within the town, at county level
and nationally. For example, it liaised closely with
the town’s community partnership, Bridport
Community Initiative (BCi) when setting up a
community learning facility at the Centre. And it is
currently engaged with BCi, the town council and
West Dorset Food and Land Trust to take forward
Bridport’s Beacon Town work.
Bridport – Beacon Town
Expanding the area’s local
food sector
Working with the Countryside Agency to
develop a ‘foodcheck’ model
Local food is seen by many market towns as playing
a major role in regenerating the towns and their
hinterlands. But this can only come about if the
town has a clear grasp of existing food production,
distribution and infrastructure.
A structured stocktaking exercise, similar to the
market towns ‘healthcheck’ process, is now being
piloted by the Food and Land Trust, working closely
with the Agency’s Eat the View team.This national
pilot is also being tested in Faringdon, another
Beacon Town with an active local food economy.
The foodcheck will help towns to match food
production and processing with consumption.Towns
must first conduct an audit of the town’s local food
web, carry out a feasibility study to assess
opportunities, and develop and implement an action
plan.
The Countryside Agency plans to produce a
foodcheck handbook, similar to the healthcheck
handbook, detailing the process and giving examples
of good practice, including the experiences of the
pilots in Bridport and Faringdon.
The local food audit in Bridport
The work to audit Bridport’s local food sector started
in early 2004. Although the local food economy is
strong and diverse, the results of the audit will be
used to identify aspects that need further support
and any inhibitors to expansion.
The Food and Land Trust is interviewing 50
organisations at various stages of the food chain and
is reviewing existing local information, including
feedback from the town’s healthcheck.
Some interesting trends are already emerging. It is
apparent, for example, that at the moment it is
difficult for local producers to distribute their
produce to local outlets. A small-scale distribution
infrastructure could help meet this need, and the
Food and Land Trust could play a part in this.
34
Retail &
catering
DistributionProcessingProducers
Helping businesses to flourish
Local food businesses may want to grow but lack the
practical expertise or the confidence to take the next
step.The Centre provides businesses with access to:
• workspace, including a commercial kitchen,
distribution depot and office space;
• business support and training in areas such as
diversification, direct marketing and producer
cooperation;
• technical support, such as product development
and food hygiene training;
• finance, in partnership with the Wessex
Reinvestment Trust (see page 36).
Setting up any kind of food-related business can be
difficult and costly, in part because of the hygiene
regulations and the equipment and workspace
required.The Centre provides incubation support to
help new businesses get off the ground. For
example, they can hire the commercial kitchen at
reasonable rates as and when they need to.
Bridport – Beacon Town
35
The Countryside Agency was asked by the Government to help consumers to understand the
connections between the food they buy and the countryside they value, and to work with others to
develop projects to achieve this aim and to improve the market for regional produce.
In response, the Agency’s ‘Eat the View’ initiative is working to raise public awareness and secure a
more favourable market that will enable farmers and other land managers to diversify and adopt more
sustainable practices.
The Eat the View team contributed to the Government’s regional food strategy and played a major
part in the cross-party work that in 2003 investigated the local food sector. This examined issues
related to local food and the impacts of local food initiatives. It is also working with, and funding, the
efforts of two Beacon Towns, Faringdon and Bridport, to expand the local food sector.
Over the last few years there has been growing interest in improving the food provided in the public
sector, including the provision of more local products. The Government has now established the Public
Sector Food Procurement Initiative to incorporate sustainable development into public sector food and
catering. At a national DEFRA conference in November 2003, Lord Whitty, Minister for Food, urged
public sector bodies, such as schools, prisons and hospitals, to start making meals more sustainable.
For information about ‘Eat the View’ see
www.countryside.gov.uk/livinglandscapes/eattheview/index.asp
Case study
Sarah Moore
Sarah Moore is a local business woman, and single
parent.The Centre is supporting her while she
establishes her business (MooreThan Enough) as an
outside caterer, using local or organic food where
possible. Sarah says she would not have got going
without the “fantastic support” she has had and
certainly could not have afforded all the
equipment that she would have had to buy to set
up at home. She uses the commercial kitchen to
create new food products and treats the Centre as
her base.
All those who handle food need to have been
trained in food hygiene and health and safety
measures. In addition, recent legislation has been
introduced concerning hazard risk assessment.
The Centre runs training on all of these
elements. Several farm shops, for example,
received hazard assessment training at the
Centre before they opened for trading.
Bridport – Beacon Town
36
The Wessex Reinvestment Trust
Rural businesses that wish to expand face
problems finding affordable business
accommodation and housing for employees; they
also need easier access to finance. The Food and
Land Trust has helped to set up the Wessex
Reinvestment Trust (WRT). This is the first entirely
rural community finance initiative in the UK.
The Trust provides a springboard for rural
regeneration by offering:
• funding to support small business and social
enterprise start-ups and expansion,
• loan finance for housing,
• access to property and workspace.
Community property trust
This year, the WRT and Countryside Agency have
joined forces to develop a community property
trust in West Dorset.
The community property trust will acquire land
and/or property on the open market, using a
combination of public sector grant, commercial
finance and local investment (raised through
share/bond issues). The assets would then be held
in trust and put to a combination of commercial
and community use. This would include affordable
housing, workspace, community facilities and
land-based enterprise.
Research and community consultation
over the past three years have
confirmed the need for greatly
increased investment in these
resources, but at present the local
community does not have the
capacity to turn them into reality. The
community property trust will be the
vehicle to take these initiatives
forward.
The long-term aim is to achieve
sustainability both for the trust and
for other community projects, such as
those that currently operate from the
Centre.
This would be either through the transfer of
surplus income or the provision of land and
property for enterprising activities.
The plan is to register the trust as an Industrial
and Provident Society for community benefit, and
to prepare feasibility studies for an initial
portfolio of land and property projects.
As an Industrial and Provident Society for
community benefit, a community property trust
would:
• secure community investment from local
people as well as public sector grants where
appropriate;
• identify, purchase and hold assets for the
benefit of the community;
• manage the property, and covenant surpluses
back to the community, for example funding
the ongoing revenue costs of community
regeneration projects.
The model that is developing here will be used to
help other market towns.
Community property trust: potential stakeholders and projects
‘Grow it, cook it, eat it’
Promoting healthy eating in schools
This project promotes healthy eating in schools
through gardening and cookery activities. It includes
introducing healthy eating weeks, holding healthy
lunchbox sessions, creating vegetable gardens,
advising people on low incomes about the
economies and benefits of healthy eating, teaching
new cookery skills, and implementing milk and fruit
breaks.
Last year the Food and Land Trust ran a very
successful pilot scheme to put local fruit on the
menu at primary schools, with 180 children eating
fruit at break time. At first, some teachers said there
was not enough time and that there might be
problems with take up. In fact, the scheme has been
a runaway success, with 100% participation.The
fruit works out at only 10 pence a piece, so is
affordable for families on low incomes.The Trust
now has plans to employ a driver to extend this to
older age groups and more schools.
Other school projects include breakfast clubs and
fruit salads on sports days. Many children do come
to school having had little or no nourishment;
breakfast clubs provide a sociable and nutritious start
to the day.
Bridport – Beacon Town
Bringing people together through
local food
Many people today lack the skills to cook basic
meals, create recipes, grow produce and maintain a
healthy diet and lifestyle.The Centre runs cookery
workshops through the West Dorset Cookery
Workshops Project, which is supported by the
Department of Health Opportunities for
Volunteering.The workshops are led by volunteers
and are run in partnership with schools, youth
organisations and community groups.
Recently 20 volunteers went out into local schools to
discuss what local food means all over the world.
This was an enjoyable and educational experience
not only for the children but also for volunteers,
who gain much from passing on what they know
and getting together with others.
37
The Trust runs projects that teach children about where food
comes from and its importance to their own health.
Case study
Giving young people new opportunities
The Centre is working with the LEA’s ‘Children
out of school’ service with children who have
been excluded or are not at school for some other
reason. It gives disaffected young people
opportunities to learn cooking and ICT, and to
garden at the community allotment. In a nonschool
environment, children learn from some socalled
‘ordinary’ people whom they see as less
authoritarian and so less threatening.The ‘Children
out of school’ service is now a tenant within the
Centre, allowing the groups to work closely
together.
Bridport’s year of local food
2004 is Bridport’s ‘Year of Local Food’.Working with
other partners, the Food and Land Trust is planning a
series of activities and events with a food flavour.The
activities planned include a Food Festival, Food
Directory and website.They also include a local food
heritage project.
Celebrating Bridport’s food heritage
Since the 1940s and 1950s there has been a gradual
loss of the tradition of community-based food
production, such as allotments, school gardens and
home preserving.The Food and Land Trust is
planning a wide range of activities which celebrate
the area’s rich food culture and allow those with
skills and knowledge to pass them on to a younger
generation in the area.
The project, which is funded by the Local Heritage
Initiative, aims to involve a wide range of local
groups and individuals in investigating and
recording Bridport’s rich food heritage over the past
75 years and to celebrate and share this heritage with
the local community and in particular young people.
For example, a series of workshops based on
growing, cooking and preserving local food is
planned. Research will take place using Bridport’s
museum, library and record office and the project,
including the memories and knowledge of older
people, will be recorded by a photographer and film
maker. By happy coincidence, the project ties in with
the town’s World War II events. Members of the WI
and local history society will help to coordinate the
project. An exhibition to be held in the town’s arts
centre will show off the fruits of everybody’s
labours.
Bridport – Beacon Town
Sharing best practice
The Food and Land Trust is very conscious of
Bridport’s role as a Beacon Town that is well thought
of and expert in local food. It is continually sharing
good practice, through cookery and gardening
workshops, seminars, a local food website, and by
working with other agencies.
In March 2004, for example, the Trust hosted a
national Beacon Towns seminar on local food.
Funded by the Countryside Agency as a networking
event, participants in market town partnerships and
community regeneration came to see for themselves
what can be achieved.
38
Case study
Washingpool Farm Shop
Washingpool Farm Shop is a successful and
expanding outlet just outside Bridport. It employs
30 staff, including 6 family members and a fulltime
chef in its cafe.The farm shop stocks 50 local
products. Its success is very much down to the
quality of its produce.The family set up the shop
in response to a downturn in farming. It has used
the Centre for Local Food for basic food hygiene
training, seminars on marketing, and to share
good practice.
One of the best ways to help people to appreciate good food
is for them to have the experience of growing and eating their
own produce.
Bridport – Beacon Town
39
Update:
Bridport
2004 truly was the ‘Year of Local Food’ for Bridport.
The work of the West Dorset Food and Land Trust,
through the Bridport Centre for Local Food, has been
able to move on, even from its very promising start.
And its reputation is growing nationally.The Trust
was a finalist in Radio 4’s Food and Farming Awards
for its educational and campaigning work.
In the last 12 months the enormous demand for the
facilities and programmes that the Trust and the
Centre for Local Food offer has been confirmed.They
have continued to put on a well attended range of
events, workshops and initiatives, of which examples
are:
• skills training and technical support;
• providing workspace, specialised equipment and
business incubation support for local businesses,
community organisations and social enterprises;
• working with disadvantaged and unemployed
young people aged 14-24 to provide vocational
training in horticulture and cookery;
• encouraging children and parents at local schools
to grow, cook and eat healthy local food;
• hosting cookery workshops and other events to
introduce local and organic food to people from a
wide range of ages and backgrounds, and to
encourage people to get involved in volunteering.
The Bridport Food Festival 2004, which promoted
and celebrated the local food sector, was a
resounding success. More than 1,000 people
attended the tasting day to launch the festival. It
brought together many different local producers and
retailers.With cooking demonstrations and
workshops, heritage talks, visits and walks, no-one
could be left in any doubt that Bridport is the hub
for local food activity in Dorset.
FruitTime!
The pilot fruit tuck scheme in Bridport Primary
School has been an astonishing success, with
nearly 400 children eating fruit daily and
20 volunteer parents helping. The scheme
encourages children to eat fruit every day and to
try out different types of fruit that would not
always be available at home. Funding from Defra
has now been secured for the Trust’s trading
subsidiary – Local Food Links Ltd – to purchase a
vehicle to extend the scheme to schools
throughout West Dorset.
The ‘local foodcheck’
Bridport, together with Faringdon in Oxfordshire,
was a pilot ‘foodcheck’ town in 2004.The foodcheck
is a specific adaptation of the Countryside Agency’s
Market Towns healthcheck, aimed specifically at the
local food sector in market towns. It enables towns
to develop a detailed understanding of their local
food economy, and to identify the key issues that can
form the basis for future action.
The foodcheck in Bridport was completed in
December 2004. First, an audit was carried out to
collect information and identify the key issues to be
addressed in the local food chain. Questionnaires and
interviews provided a systematic way to engage with
local producers and consumers.The three priorities
for action in Bridport are summarised overleaf.
The Local Food Group
One of the first steps in the foodcheck was to set up
a steering group to ensure good communication
between the many parties with an interest in food.
This group is now intended to become a permanent
feature in the town to oversee action.The Bridport
Local Food Group includes representatives of
Bridport Town Council,West Dorset District Council,
producers, retailers and community organisations.
The Group will organise a coherent programme of
activities such as a local food programme, specific
activities to promote the area’s local food products to
tourists, branding and regional coordination.
Distribution
The foodcheck audit identified the need for access to
distribution systems and improvements to the local
distribution infrastructure. A distribution constraint
identified by local businesses related to the need for a
wholesale service which links producers to retailers and
caterers.The proposed solution is to set up a distribution
centre initially based at the Centre for Local Food.
Business support and training
With partners, the Centre is developing the range of
courses it offers, to include Business Funding,
Business Planning and Marketing; it will also offer a
wide range of computer courses. A local food sector
business network will ensure ease of accessibility to
information and support. A longer term aim is to
develop a business cluster to provide coordinated
professional intervention, including technical
support, managed workspace facilities and greater
collaboration.
The Countryside Agency will be producing a
handbook as a practical guide for other towns
that wish to conduct their own foodchecks.
The handbook will detail the elements of the
process, offer tools for those carrying out a
foodcheck and provide examples from
experiences in Bridport and Faringdon.
See www.eat-the-view.org.uk for regular news
updates and further information.
Bridport – Beacon Town
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Bridport – Beacon Town
41
Food, people, art
This project brought together an amazing
assembly of local groups and individuals to find
out about and record Bridport’s rich food
heritage, to celebrate it and share it with the
local community. Through oral history
recordings, older members of the community
shared their ‘living memories’ with younger
generations who are more familiar with
supermarket culture than growing or preserving
their own fruits and vegetables.
The project focussed on five main areas –
farming, fishing, home growing and cooking,
cider making, and young people’s views on food.
Expert advisers, a poet, photographer, food
producers, volunteers, gardening clubs, the WI,
schools and young groups all worked together to
create different events for each area.
Amongst the manifest results were an exciting
installation at Bridport’s Arts Centre and a recipe
book, both called ‘Preserve’, which combined
visual art and colourful food in an enticing way.
As well, a group of 12-15 year olds spent two
weeks with a film maker, learning about film
making and then producing their own film about
food.
An exhibition, ‘Preserve’, was shown at Bridport’s Arts
Centre, with 78 glass preserving jars. The display drew
attention to food through art. All of those involved agreed
that the results looked pretty amazing. This free booklet
features recipes from those who contributed.
Bridport – Beacon Town
42
Bridport Community Property
Trust
The Bridport Community Property Trust was
launched in March 2005.The Trust is a new
community-led regeneration organisation that will
develop and manage affordable housing, workspace
and community facilities.
An organisation established for the benefit of the
community, its aim is to create community-owned
assets of land or property, through purchase or
through asset transfer.
The Trust will work with two partner organisations:
• Wessex Reinvestment Trust will provide access to
finance and technical support;
• Social Enterprise West will provide management
services and develop a business incubation
programme for potential new enterprises which
would be housed in Community Property Trust
workspace.
The Trust has the following innovative features:
• A combined focus on affordable housing,
enterprise workspace and community facilities –
this contrasts with the usual approach of, for
example, housing associations, development
trusts and community associations as separate
elements. The housing developed by the Trust
will be for the ‘intermediate market’ between
social housing on the one hand and full-cost
market housing on the other. The small
surpluses created by this housing will be used in
the long term to subsidise community facilities.
It is assumed that the workspace will break even
rather than make profits, but it will offer the
opportunity to spread property management
costs across the combined portfolio of housing,
workspace and community facilities.
• By using a community land trust approach to
affordable housing and workspace, the market
cost of the land is separated from the cost of
using the buildings.This will address the problem
of the high cost of land. Land will be held in trust
for the benefit of the community, and will be
acquired as part of planning gain arrangements
for regeneration sites, or on the open market prior
to planning permissions for change of use. In this
way the community can ‘capture’ increases in land
value which result from the granting of planning
permission or the injection of public funds into
regeneration schemes. In turn, this will mean that
the Community Property Trust does not need to
pass on the full market cost of the land, thus
ensuring that any housing, workspace or
community facilities developed on that land are
affordable.
• The use of a local reinvestment approach to
finance property developments. The Trust will
seek to access grants and commercial finance
for the development of land and property
assets. However, it will also look for local
investors who are prepared to provide finance
at a discount. This local reinvestment
approach will be developed in partnership
with Wessex Reinvestment Trust (WRT), which
will offer ring fenced loan funds and the
opportunity to invest in withdrawable share
capital. WRT has received funding from the
South West Regional Development Agency to
develop this approach.
• Linking the local reinvestment approach with
a proactive business incubation strategy, in
order to support start-up businesses and
social enterprises operating from the Trust’s
workspace. The Trust will operate managed
workspace for suitable businesses, and will
work in partnership with the Centre for Local
Food and a new organisation, Social Enterprise
West, to operate a proactive business
incubation programme. This will target in
particular sectors such as local food,
environmental technologies and creative
industries. These will then become customers
of Wessex Reinvestment Trust, drawing down
loans, and customers of the Community
Property Trust by occupying workspace. The
aim is to create a ‘virtuous circle’, which will
lead to long-term sustainability.