January 2012

A purpose built community shop opened in Milland, West Sussex in December after receiving a loan from Co-operative & Community Finance to assist with building works.

The Milland Community Shop was opened following a survey in June 2010 which showed that about half of the 1000 local residents would use a community shop two or three times a week.

200 people, and a famous face in the form of Downton Abbey actor Hugh Bonneville, attended the opening on Saturday 3 December. The shop is now open seven days a week

The shop is run by an experienced managerial team, with one paid member of staff on duty at all times and volunteers to cover all other roles within the store.

One of the aims of the shop is to encourage volunteering and to deliver a range of supportive services into the community. They hope to enable young people to develop skills and gain experience vital to obtaining a first job

With the assistance of The Plunkett Foundation the shop has installed a state of the art till system which boats user friendly controls, so that volunteers can pick up and use the equipment with minimal training.

The building which was designer by a local designer, was purpose built to the needs of the villagers, and is eco-friendly in construction.

Philip Watts, Secretary of the Milland Community Shop, said: “We have received a very warm welcome from villagers since we opened. Many people say that the shop completes the village hub. We have also had a great deal of interests from tourists, ramblers and cyclists who are visiting the National Park in which we are located.”

The shop provides a range of amenities including groceries, freshly baked bread, and a modern café specialising in fresh Italian coffee. A limited postal service is also being explored in the coming months, and events such as book signings have been organised.

Mr Watts, said: “The shop has already been a success. We have a good trade in selling produce sourced from the local area, and the café is doing particularly well.”

A social enterprise in Oxfordshire aims to increase the amount of wood being reused and recycled rather than being sent to landfill sites, following a loan for equipment purchases and working capital from Co-operative & Community Finance.

Oxford Wood Recycling operates a waste wood collection service from an industrial unit in Didcot, collecting timber from businesses in a 30 mile radius.

The team collects waste wood, timber and pallets from construction sites, business premises, and universities/colleges carrying out 60 plus collections a month.

Collections are made by paid staff who load by hand into a caged truck, separating clean re-usable timber as they load. Up to 12 cubic yards of waste wood can be collected, over 1,200kg in weight- which is approximately 50 pallets in size.

Fees for collection are always lower than the cost of a mixed builders skip, because the collectors stack the material very efficiently in the truck.

Richard Snow, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Wood Recycling, said: “We are the only wood collection service in Oxfordshire that offers to reuse timber. We are an economic and environmental alternative to a skip.”

The truck is then driven to the Oxford Wood Recycling industrial unit where, on average 15% – 20% of the timber is stored for re-use. The remainder is taken to a licensed recycler for shredding, with the end use mainly being energy generation..

Re-useable timber is then sold for DIY use or sawn and bagged for firewood. Prices for second hand timber are generally half of what a customer would pay for new . Customers are able to buy directly from the business at The Wood Shop which is located at the industrial unit, and special bulk buys of wood can be purchased online.

Part of the loan was used to design and fit two bespoke vehicles with features such as a tipping body, a custom fitted cage and onboard weighing scales. The completed vehicles were introduced to the fleet in November and December. One original truck is still in operation, and is now used to offer a reclaimed wood delivery service to customers. The rest of the loan was been used to purchase machinery to help grow a firewood business.

Kindling and firewood is sold wholesale to more than 30 convenience stores. The hope is to increase this to 70 shops, garden centres and 20 petrol stations in the coming three years.

As well as the environmental benefits the business aims to provide employment and volunteering opportunities for those people facing real barriers to working.

Ian Taylor, from Co-operative & Community Finance, said: “We were very impressed that the business not only had a realistic commercial approach but also had a beneficial social function, offering employment and volunteer opportunities to people who are finding a route back into work difficult.”

A community shop opened in brand new premises in Wiltshire in December following a loan from Co-operative & Community Finance.

The Ashton Keynes Village Shop, which is run by a community co-operative, was developed after a privately owned store faced closure when the owner wished to retire.

Following a survey from 1600 local residents 85% of responses indicated that the village shop was either very of extremely important to them.

Dave Sheppard, Treasurer of The Ashton Keynes Village Shop, said: “It was clear that we had to do something to make sure that we preserved the existence of the shop. Everything we have done so far has been supported by the local residents, businesses, and Parish Council.”

The existing premises was set to be returned to residential use, so plans for an Annexe to the Village Hall were put into place, with the agreement that the Village Shop can use it for as long as it wants.

The new shop which opened for trading on 14 December is situated on the main road through the village next to a bus stop and very close to the local school.

Much of the materials for the building, which is an annexe on the end of the village hall, were donated by local companies.

The shop is run by a team of paid staff members and volunteers and offers conveniences such as groceries sourced locally where possible, freshly bake cakes, newspapers’ and lotto tickets. The Management Board of the shop are volunteers.

In the future the co-operative hopes to harness excess heat created by the grocery chillers into a heating system for the village hall.

The Renewable Energy Co-operative (R-ECO) is helping to a major regeneration project in Cornwall to become carbon neutral by installing a range of sustainable energy technologies including solar photovoltaics.

The project called Heartlands is a £35m transformation of 19 acres of old tin mine land into a cultural space for community and visitors. On completion, the development will feature a working tin mine, business units, community facilities, performance and event areas, and residential accommodation.

Abraham Cambridge, technical director of R-ECO, said: “Heartlands is an amazingly innovative and ground breaking project. We are witnessing the transformation of a symbol of the bygone days of Cornish tin mining, and replacing it with a delectable selection of sustainable technologies.”

Co-operative & Community Finance made a loan to R-ECO to be used for working capital as the co-op takes on more work. Formed in 2008, it now has 10 employee-members who all share an interest in green energy and have a background in the building trade.

Prior to the work on the Heartlands development R-ECO celebrated the completion of its first community project, which saw the installation of a PV system on a theatre roof in Cornwall. Its work resulted in a 70% reduction in the theatre’s energy bill.

Other work includes the installation of a ground mounted system at a farm in Oxfordshire and various projects involving a factory roof, police station and agricultural building in the south west of the country.

The co-operative is passionate about driving the renewable energy industry forward. R-ECO is a pioneer of solar farms in the country, and won a business innovation award in 2010.

Abraham Cambridge said: “We had a desire to provide a more ethical, affordable and accessible service to the public.”

With this purpose in mind, R-ECO is working to alleviate fuel poverty, which is common in areas throughout the UK and especially in the south west.

R-ECO has big plans and far reaching social goals in mind for the future. The members desire to help set up other worker co-operatives under the same model.

They hope to partner with community organisations to provide free electricity for schools and community centres, and plan to use various profits to install more energy units on additional community sites.

R-ECO has expanded out of Cornwall by setting up a new office in the Reading area. It also plans to diversify into installing solar thermal units and wind turbines. The members hope more renewable energy co-ops will grow out of the company.

Heartlands will be opened later this year including a working model of a tin mine engine house, conference facilities and low cost office space.