There are now over 200 village shops in the UK owned by their local communities and the boom is set to continue with the extension of a special programme of financial support.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of Co-operative & Community Finance in Windsor on 26 June 2009, Gill Withers, project director at the Plunkett Foundation, described how the Village CORE Programme had supported 36 community-owned shops to open since May 2006 and a further 17 were due to open by the end of the year. The extension to the programme, which had just been announced would be able to support a further 60 communities in the next three years.
The Village CORE Programme is a partnership between the Plunkett Foundation, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Co-operative & Community Finance. It provides a combination of grant and loan finance up to a maximum total of £40,000 matched with the equivalent community contributions of up to £20,000 alongside specialist enterprise support. Co-operative & Community Finance manages the loan element of the package and so far has released nearly £720,000 in loans.
Ian Rothwell, development manager of Co-operative & Community Finance, said: “While the communities we support work impressively hard to raise enough money to purchase their local shops, the loan finance we provide in addition makes community ownership a reality. Traditional lenders can be reluctant to give support to community-based enterprises, whereas the Village CORE Programme is run specifically to help community ventures that might otherwise be unsupported.”
The meeting also heard from Helen Melia, the chair of the Strood Green Shop Association which reopened the shop in this Surrey village in March 2009 with support from the Village CORE Programme. She described how the combination of grant, loan and community investment offered by the programme had been a real incentive to community involvement. Just three months after opening sales were better than expected – weekly turnover was £6,000 instead of the modest £4,000 forecast in the business plan.
The meeting also conducted the formal business of the constituent parts of Co-operative & Community Finance (the Industrial Common Ownership Finance Group and ICOF Community Capital). Co-operative & Community Finance’s core business is making loans to employee-owned co-operative businesses either from its own funds or from funds that it manages on behalf of others. Jon McColl, the chair, said: “Loans released during 2008 totalled just over £1million, a significant decrease on 2007 - clearly a reflection of the deteriorating economic climate. However, 2008 was still in the top three years for the level of funds released. Sound management of the business, including tight control of expenditure resulted in a profit just under £68,000, an increase of over 9% compared with 2007.”
For further information contact Co-operative & Community Finance’s Bristol office on
0117 916 6750 or email info@co-opandcommunityfinance.coop
For more information about Village CORE, go to http://www.plunkett.co.uk/whatwedo/rcs/ruralcommunityshops.cfm
Notes to editor
· Co-operative & Community Finance, formerly known as ICOF, has been providing loan finance for co-operatives, employee owned businesses and social enterprises since it was established in 1973. It raises the money to do so primarily by public share issue.
· Co-operative & Community Finance is regulated by the financial services authority in the conduct of investment business.
· The head office of Co-operative & Community Finance is situated at Brunswick Court, Brunswick Square, Bristol BS2 8PE, (T) 01179 166750, (F) 01179 166751, email: info@co-opandcommunityfinance.coop
· Co-operative & Community Finance is the trading name of Industrial Common Ownership Finance Limited, Company No. 1109141, registered in England & Wales.
