BRIDPORT Citizens' Advice Bureau helped 2,300 clients with 5,500 enquiries last year - recovering £800,000 for them in the process.

CAB manager Rovarn Wickremasinghe announced the figures at Tuesday evening's annual town meeting saying how much this had helped the wider community as well as the clients.

He said: "We managed to achieve funding gains for those clients in the region of £800,000 "Which not only is good for the client but also helps the wider community."

Mr Wickremasinghe was highlighting the importance of the work the bureau does and thanking both the town council for its grant support and Wessex Water for allocating more much-needed office space.

He said the bureau had not completely escaped cuts to its grants.

He said: "There have been cuts to our homelessness prevention work. That won't stop the work we do but it it makes things a bit more difficult. I have been surprised about the need for that type of work in the town.

"The other major uncertainty we have had is about our premises. We have been in talks with our landlord Wessex Water over the fact that our lease expired two or three years ago.

"The building needs substantial repair work but Wessex Water have now agreed to do that work.

"Currently we are talking to the county council a lot about the community hub and we have been looking at the possibility of premises there but with the negotiations that have gone on with Wessex I am pleased and I think most of our staff are pleased to remain there. I think we are ideally placed there to help the community here.

"We have also been fortunate that Wessex has given us additional accommodation at no extra cost."

The extra space means a new interview room and another room for the numerous volunteer staff, he said.

He said the CAB had been active in helping with a local advice network with the aim of bringing together a lot of the agencies who provide advice and support.

He said they were looking at a more efficient way of working with referrals between agencies and a database for all the organisations which provide help.

Mr Wickremasinghe thanked the town council for offering to pick up some of the costs of advertising for that.

Other work the bureau has been busy with is making sure its services become more accessible and it is providing support to everyone in the town who needs it.

To that end there was a new weekly outreach service in Beaminster and a financial literary programme in the Children's Centre.