PIONEERS of a plan to build an underground shop in Exbourne are weeks away from hearing if a lottery application, for the final funds to kick-start the construction, is successful.

Villagers have raised £206,000 towards the cost of the shop but will know by the end of October if they have been awarded the last £90,000.

Project spokesperson Sally Hordern said:?'If we get this money we will go out to tender. We have also applied to the Trusthouse Foundation for £30,000.

'The whole project will cost around about £317,000, which includes stocking the shop and everything, not just the building of it.'

The idea to build an underground shop in a field opposite the Red Lion Yard pub was first talked about more than eight years after the closure of the village shop and post office. Since then a part-time facility has been operating from the village hall.

Mrs Hordern said: 'We open on Monday and Friday mornings and Wednesday afternoons but we cannot carry on like that.

'We have to pack away everything at the end of each session and we only have half a storeroom which is very damp. Also, we are only reaching half the village because a lot of people work and we are not open when they need us.'

At the moment there is a mini shop with local produce a speciality, a coffee shop and an outreach post office service visiting on Mondays and Fridays.

Mrs Hordern said all the fresh produce sold came from within ten miles of Exbourne, including meat, dairy and vegetables, pasties and pies.

The shop employs a part-time manager who is grant-funded and an army of volunteers help out. The aim eventually, when the underground shop is built, is to have a full-time manager with a part-time assistant.

The project has received help from the Plunkett Foundation, which provides a network for community shops, and works with the Easterbrook Farm Trust to offer work to young adults with learning disabilities.