Co-operatives UK, the national trade association for co-operative enterprises,  launched the final part of its Community Enterprise Toolkit at the Co-operatives UK Autumn Forum on Tuesday 29 November in Manchester.

The last in a comprehensive set of guides and online resources for new and existing community enterprises has been published by Co-operatives UK, to offer simple, step by step advice for the increasing numbers of communities doing things for themselves.

The 'Simply Start-Up' guide has been produced as a finale to a four year project that has helped over 350 community groups turn their ideas for a local, collectively owned business into a reality - from community supported agriculture projects in rural Gloucestershire to co-operatively run market gardens in East London.

Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, believes that there is something very different about the sorts of community enterprises that are now being set up.

"Our work seems to have tapped into a real sense of activism amongst people who have a specific idea and are more than happy to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty, together,” he says.

"The co-operative sector as a whole has been outperforming the UK economy since the start of the credit crunch, reflecting a turn to more trusted businesses following the financial crisis of the last few years.

"The rise of communities doing things for themselves - whether it's growing together on land, taking over their local pub or wrestling some control back over their football club - shows that people are frustrated by waiting for others to help their community and are transforming it themselves instead."

To find out more about the Co-operatives UK Community Enterprise Toolkit and to download a copy, please visit www.uk.coop/simplyseries.