A roadshow promoting a scheme which encourages people to use local shops will come to Dereham this month.

The roadshow is part of Breckland Council's www.shopappy.com initiative, which aims to make it convenient and easy for people to shop local by giving independent shops an online presence.

Around 100 independent traders across Dereham, Attleborough, Swaffham, Watton and Thetford have joined the ShopAppy venture.

Councillor Paul Claussen, Breckland Council's Executive Member for Place, said: 'This initiative aims to give our local shops, restaurants and businesses a chance to fight back against the big online players and national chains.

'With our ShopAppy scheme, you can shop whenever you want and collect the goods at a more flexible time and place. It's a great initiative and I hope as many as possible will attend our roadshow events to find out how they can make the most of it.'

An information stall will be set up in Dereham Market Place on Friday, May 25, from 9am until 12pm.

It will give people an opportunity to hear how the scheme works, sign up for more information, see the website for themselves and even collect money off vouchers for their first online shop.

Using ShopAppy is a very easy process, shoppers just need to visit www.shopappy.com, select their town, browse the shops and goods on offer, then place an order. The shops pack up their part of the order and you can either collect it during normal trading hours from the store direct, or select to have it sent to a central pick up point if out of hours.

The shops already signed up to the scheme sell everything from fridges to fruit and veg, bread to bikes, clothes to cakes.

Breckland Council has committed to subsidise the first 200 shops joining the scheme, reducing the normal £20 monthly fee down to just £5 for a limited period.

ShopAppy is part of the Breckland Council Market Town Initiative. Around £230,000 has been committed to help deliver a range of projects to strengthen the economic, social and cultural standing of Breckland's five market towns.