TELEVISION chef Dave Smith helped stir up interest in an innovative healthy eating scheme on a Pendle housing estate.

Dave, who comes from Darwen, featured in the television documentary Hotel, which looked behind the scenes at the Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool, where he works.

He was in the limelight again yesterday when he helped launch a food co-operative on the North Valley estate, Colne. The project could help hundreds of residents save up to £500,000 a year on their food bills and encourage healthier eating habits.

Estate worker Mark Storey explained: "It's all about buying food in bulk at wholesale or discount prices by pooling orders from a large number of people. That way the savings we get can be passed on to the people involved."

The members-only non-profit making scheme will concentrate mainly on fruit and vegetables, although other foods will be available.

Members, who must live on the estate, will pay a £1 annual membership fee plus a 25p handling charge for each weekly order to cover running costs.

Orders will be taken from a set "menu" of items each Monday and be ready for collection from the estate community centre every Wednesday afternoon.

The scheme will be run by a committee of local residents and any profit made will be redistributed to members at the end of each year by discounts on food.

The Mayor of Pendle, Councillor Jo Belbin, who helped launch the scheme at the community centre, said: "I think it's a superb idea and I hope it will be a huge success."

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