TOWN councillors in Dorchester have agreed to a £500 grant to help set up the town’s first community fridge project.

It will be based in the foyer of the Trinity Street Co-Op offering free surplus food, with a similar project also planned for Poundbury.

Most of the food for the fridge will come from the Co-Op with other food businesses also being encouraged to contribute.

Cllr Les Fry and Cllr Janet Hewitt both welcomed the project at Monday’s town council management committee but questioned some of the initial costs, which Cllr Fry pointed out amount to £7,500 for the first year.

He said he could not understand the £500 sum for ‘marketing’ and thought the £75 allowed for 15 volunteer id badges was also high.

The accounts produced for the town council by Dorchester Volunteer Centre show £3,184 for a part-time co-ordinator at £15.31 an hour and £500 for ‘volunteer expenses’ with £1,738 set aside the management fees, premises costs and office expenses. In total the costs amount to £7,530.

“Why are they spending £500 on marketing, with social media that won’t cost much?” said Cllr Fry, “£7,500 would buy a lot of food for people,” he said, stressing that he supported the project and wanted to see it up and running.

Cllr Ralph Ricardo said he believed some of the figures were estimates and were unlikely to be repeated in future years.

“At the end of the day its about getting the project started. If we find the costs are still high next year we can turn them down…the need now is to get this up and running,” he said.

The committee also backed a plan for a community fridge at Poundbury and delegated town councillors who represent the area to carry out further discussions for a suitable venue. One site, in a café, has been offered, but the committee feared that once restrictions were lifted the venue might not be available permanently.

Ward councillor David Leaper said while he was grateful for the café offer it would have a limited footfall: “Waitrose would strongly be my first choice,” he said.