better business brochure a1 final

8/8/2019 Better Business Brochure A1 Final

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rural communities unlocking their potential together



betterbusiness

economicviability

communityengagement

socialimpact

The Plunkett Foundation sees that there is a better

way to do business in rural communities.Co-operatives, mutuals and social enterprises rangingrom community-owned shops and woodlands toco-operative pubs and broadband, have demonstratedthat they are sustainable, robust and not onlysurvive but thrive in rural communities acingchallenging times.

We believe that the combination o positivesocial impact, economic viability and communityengagement unlocks a better orm o business.

This report lets the evidence speak or itsel.

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97% business survival rate o community

owned shops since 1975

Over 1,000,000 hours o volunteer time are

donated to community-owned shops across the

UK each year

10% o all village shop closures are savedthrough the community ownership model

Hill Holt Wood generates a staggering £47,600

turnover per hectare, which is 178 times morethan Forest Enterprise, demonstrating there is

a better way to do business

Fordhall Community Land Initiative secured

£800,000 o nancial investment within six

months, thanks to a unique marketing campaign

Feckenham Village Shop is 100% volunteer run

with a team o over 90 trained volunteers3



Taunton Farmers’ MarketThere was strong resistance when the co-operative behind the Vale o

Taunton Farmers’ Market proposed a move rom once a month to everyweek ater our years o trading. But the weekly vote prevailed, and sevenyears on, it is a marketing success story that many blue chip companieswould envy. Not only has the move to a weekly market increased ootalland repeat visits to the High Street, it has enabled several stallholders toexpand their businesses, resulting in doubled revenue. Through workingco-operatively all stallholders benet rom reduced overheads, a wider poolo customers and established lasting networks. The advantage o workingco-operatively has culminated in an extremely successul model rom whicheach business benets with the support o the others.

Cybermoor, Alston Moor, CumbriaCybermoor started in 2001 under Voluntary Action Cumbria with start-upunding as one o seven ‘Wired-up-community’ projects. It is an Industrialand Provident Society Co-operative owned by its members on Alston Moor.In 2003 the original wireless network was completed and was so much o a success that when BT enabled a local exchange in 2005, the memberspreerred to stay with the community solution. Cybermoor has widereaching impacts and has created and sustained approximately 25 FTE jobs.In 2009 the network was upgraded and extended as part o a Department

o Health unded project investigating the benets o telehealth andtelemedicine or remote communities. Today the WiMAX network covers40 sq miles and reaches 3000 people. Cybermoor has connected a separatecommunity in a village close to Oswestry (some 200 miles rom Alston) andis continually striving to help other isolated communities (both rural andurban) who recognise that i they don’t it themselves they will most likelynever get a broadband service.

The George and Dragon, Hudswell

When their village pub closed in 2008, the residents o Hudswell expectedsomeone would buy it, but ater a year o waiting they decided to takematters into their own hands and ormed a co-operative to re-open itthemselves. Registering as an Industrial and Provident Society Co-operative,Hudswell Community Pub Ltd has raised a staggering £250,000 in sharecapital which has been used to purchase and reurbish the pub.The investment prospectus and business plan with detailed nancialorecasting has persuaded over 190 members to join the Co-op and theGeorge and Dragon now has a secure uture. They have appointed tenants tomanage and run the pub on a day to day basis, but as a democratic structure,all shareholders are consulted on the overall direction o the business, itsassets and uture development. The George and Dragon is ar more than apub, as it also provides 10 allotments, a village shop, library and internetaccess to its community.

delivering better business today

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Fordhall Community Land InitiativeAs England’s rst community-owned arm, Fordhall Organic Farm is

managed by tenant armers, brother and sister, Charlotte and Ben Hollins.When aced with eviction in October 2003, Ben and Charlotte incorporatedan Industrial and Provident Society or the benet o the community calledthe Fordhall Community Land Initiative. This society now owns FordhallFarm and allows or £50 non-prot making shares to be sold to the generalpublic. Through an intense campaign in 2006, a staggering £800,000was raised through the sale o shares and interest-ree loans. This enabledthe arm to be purchased rom the private landlord and placed the landinto community ownership, subsequently ofering a 100-year lease toBen and Charlotte Hollins. The Fordhall Community Land Initiative and its8000+ shareholders as landlords utilise the land around the working arm

to develop Fordhall as an educational resource, making the most o itsorganic heritage and wildlie attributes. This is an exciting and pioneeringenterprise with wide-reaching benets demonstrating how working armscan provide long term benets to their local communities, and in a symbioticrelationship the community provides a secure long term tenancy to new andyoung armers.

Hill Holt WoodHill Holt Wood was initially a 32 acre woodland which was bought by Karenand Nigel Lowthrop in 1995. In 1997 the Hill Holt Wood Management

Committee was established as a link between the owners and thesurrounding community. Originally representing our parishes, thisdeveloped in the ollowing ve years to eleven parishes, with a populationtotaling in excess o 10,000. Hill Holt Wood has now incorporated a secondpiece o woodland and covers a total o 72 acres, o which 72% is owned bythe community as a social enterprise and charity. Hill Holt Wood’s missionsare centred around environmental management, education, sustainabilityand protability. Hill Holt Wood generates employment within the localcommunity by providing opportunities or young unemployed people,providing consultancy on a range o orestry issues and ofering a sustainablebuildings design service.

Feckenham Community ShopSince opening in January 2009 Feckenham Community Shop and Cae hasbeen 100% run and managed by volunteers rom the local community.With an impressive 90 volunteers on the rota, the shop is ar exceeding theaverage o 30 volunteers per community-owned shop in the UK. The highlevel o community engagement has ensured that the shop is always stafedand able to open 60 hours per week. Feckenham Village Shop clearly deliversan exemplary service to its local community and, as such, was named asBritain’s Best Village Shop in the Countryside Alliance Awards 2009.

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Nenthead’s community snowplough, Alston Alston Moor is a part o Cumbria where co-operativesolutions are high on the agenda. The most recent o these enterprises is a community-owned (and built)snow plough or Nenthead, a remote village in themoors above Alston lying at over 1500 t. As thevillage is requently cut of by blizzards in the winter,residents o Nenthead are even more determined

to avoid uture isolation. The Nenthead communitysnow plough – a combination o a big tractor, asnowplough, a gritter and a snow blower – is beingput together by a retired engineer withinthe community with unding support rom theresidents themselves.

Driven by volunteers it will clear and grit the sideroads under contract to the local authority togenerate income but will then be ree to clear otherareas around the village as well.

Berrynarbor Village Shop and itsunique planning agreement

It is not by chance that Berrynarbor CommunityShop stands where it does today. It is the result o aunique three way agreement between BerrynarborCommunity Enterprise Ltd (BCE), North DevonDistrict Council and the then shop owners. Theagreement stated that the owner would lease theshop premises to BCE or a maximum o our years.

During that period BCE would run the shop, provingthat either it was not viable, in which case they wouldleave, or that it was viable, in which case they wouldundertake to create new premises and leave withinthe th year.

In either case the owner would then get permissionto incorporate the old shop premises into his house.Berrynarbor is now enjoying its sixth year o tradingwith an impressive 52% increase in annual turnoversince the community took over the shop.

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the community advantage to better business

“The life of the rural community mustbe made physically more comfortable,intellectually more stimulating, sociallymore agreeable.”

Sir Horace Plunkett, 1915



Headingley Pig and Fowl Co-ops

Working closely with an established local organic armer,Headingley Development Trust, which runs the localarmers’ market, set up the Fowl Co-operative in 2008to provide organic ree range chicken at a air price. Anominal sum is paid to cover administration costs and toregister as a co-op member, but ater that one lump sumsecures a pre-agreed ood order over the next six monthswhich is collected at the monthly armers’ market.Members are also able to take part in a arm visit. Aterthe success o the Fowl Co-op, a Pig Co-op was set up onthe same lines. Both are examples o how an efectiveworking relationship between a armer and the localcommunity can be ormed. As well as reliable incomeor the armer, the co-operatives provide access to highquality, humanely reared meat at a air and reasonableprice to its members.

Bread and Butter Pudding atThorncombe Village Shop

Thorncombe Village Shop is owned and run by itslocal community. As well as being a successul shopthat provides a wide range o everyday groceriesor its community, it also incorporates a small caéinto the community business. With an awarenessthat the caé provides the highest prot margin, theshop business is keen to contribute to the caé as

much as it can. A simple but efective way has beento promptly turn any o the day’s letover resh breadinto a delicious bread and butter pudding.The result is minimal ood wastage, optimal use o stock purchased and a number one seller that cannotbe purchased at any other shop or caé.

A beer dividend at The Old Crownin Hesket Newmarket

As the rst co-operatively owned pub in Britain,The Old Crown in Hesket Newmarket is an inspirationto communities across the UK acing the closure o their village pub. Hesket Newmarket saved its localby incorporating the business as an Industrial andProvident Society Co-operative, meaning not onlythat it could raise unds through the sale o shares,

but that it could also reward its shareholders with adividend rom the prots. As the community boughtshares with the The Old Crown’s interests at heart, it isnot surprising that a number o shareholders considerreceiving their dividend in liquid orm over the bar tobe the best way to invest their prots!

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a better form of business for all

rural communities

Rural communities are acing unprecedented challenges to retain

their local services. They are increasingly turning to

themselves to solve a range o issues that afect

them and they are solving these challenges

through enterprise - co-operative, mutual

and social enterprise orms o business.

By harnessing the creativity and energy o a wholecommunity, a better orm o business is unlocked that

is sustainable and more viable in the long term.

With the Government’s commitment to creating

the ‘Big Society’, more needs to be done to recognise

the role that enterprise could play in creating

empowered and entrepreneurial communities thatare more able to help themselves. We are calling or a

‘Business or All’ approach, where orms o enterprise that

communities own and run are at the oreront o deliveringthe Big Society.

Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation

Plunkett Foundation

The Quadrangle

Woodstock

Oxordshire

OX20 1LH

T: 01993 810730

F: 01993 810849

[email protected]

www.plunkett.co.uk

www.plunkett.uk.net

Twitter:

@PeterCouchman

@Mike_Plunkett

@HarrietPlunkett

@Kat_Plunkett

Published November 2010

Registered in England No 213235Registered Charity No 313743

better business brochure a1 final

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