LAST December, Britain’s first social supermarket opened in Goldthorpe, near Barnsley, to sell to people on benefits surplus food that is both within date and wholesome.

It is a great idea, not only because buyers benefit from savings up to 30 per cent, but the supermarkets should cut the amount of waste sent to landfill. It will also tackle the increasing problem of food poverty.

On the surface York appears more affluent than Barnsley, but even here you don’t have to look far to find hardship. Indeed official figures show that in Westfield ward a quarter of children live in poverty and a third of pensioners rely on credits.

So we applaud the pupils at Westfield School who have come up with their own plan for a community shop, where supermarkets and other retailers provide surplus groceries to be redistributed to people who are struggling to make ends meet. Now the youngsters want the Archbishop of York and City of York Council chief executive Kersten England to back their idea. We hope they get their wish, because it is great to see young people leading the way with such imagination.

And, judging by the success of the Goldthorpe shop, the boys and girls are onto a winner.

Westfield head teacher Tracey Ralph tells us the York project is just an idea at the moment, but she hopes the school’s links with York Cares will help to get things started.

So do we. This fantastic scheme deserves to be given full backing. Well done to everyone at Westfield School who came up with the idea.