Written evidence submitted by the Plunkett
Foundation (LOCO 38)
The response focuses on the Plunkett Foundation's
knowledge and experience of helping small rural communities to
establishing community-owned enterprises—community-owned
shops and pubs being just two examples—to take control of
the issues affecting them and how this relates to the committee's
considerations.
The main points included in the submission are:
¾ A cornerstone
of the Big Society proposals is for local communities to take
control of the issues affecting them rather than rely on Government
at various levels to do something to communities. There is no
better example than a community working together to form a community-owned
enterprise to help save their local shop or pub from closure.
¾ For
this to happen, communities must have access to mechanisms such
as national infrastructure organisations which allow communities
to learn from each other, to avoid having to reinvent wheels and
to overall make the process quicker and easier.
¾ If communities
are helped to learn from each other, this will lead to a greater
number of communities taking up the opportunity to take control
and a dramatic reduction in the time required to establish such
initiatives.
The submission is based on evidence of best practice
generates from our daily contact with communities looking to save
their local shop and local pub through community-ownership. If
you would like any additional information to supplement this response,
please do not hesitate to contact me.
1. SUMMARY
The summary of our submission is as follows:
¾ Community-owned
enterprises are a great example of the Big Society and localism
in action.
¾ There
is a growing demand for communities to set up and run community-owned
enterprises.
¾ Communities
need to be able to connect up via national infrastructure organisations
in order to learn from each other and avoid reinventing wheels.
¾ Do not
make engaging in the Big Society and localism hard for communities
by not supporting communities to connect up with others.
2. ABOUT THE
PLUNKETT FOUNDATION
2.1 The Plunkett Foundation helps rural communities
through community-ownership to take control of the issues affecting
them. Plunkett supports co-operatives, mutuals and social enterprise
models which enable communities to set up and run viable businesses
that are community-owned, community led and address challenges
that a community is facing.
2.2 Plunkett supports the network of community-owned
village shops across the UK. There are now 244 community-owned
village shops in the UK with a record 39 opening in 2009 alone.
Community-ownership now saves 10% of village shops that would
otherwise have closed. In 25 years, only 10 community-owned shops
have ever closed out of 254 that have opened.
2.3 Plunkett also works to raise the awareness
of and support for the potential for rural communities to set
up and run wider forms of community-owned enterprises whether
this comes in the form of co-operative pubs, community-owned broadband,
community-owned energy and using faith buildings for community
enterprise activity. The Plunkett Foundation has recently worked
with a range of co-operative development organisations to develop
a support package for communities looking to us co-operative approaches
to save their local pub.
2.4 Plunkett helps rural and urban communities
to establish community food enterprises as a way of helping them
to take ownership of their food and where it comes from. Working
with a range of partner organisations, Plunkett has supported
over 700 such community food enterprises since 2008.
2.5 Founded in 1919, Plunkett is true to the
vision that it was established to take forward. Plunkett helps
communities to address their own challenges as they are best placed
to identify and address such issues. We work with communities
to set up community based co-operatives, mutuals and social enterprises
as a way of providing a long lasting solution to the issues facing
rural communities.
3. THE ROLE
OF LOCAL
AUTHORITIES IN
EMPOWERING LOCAL
COMMUNITIES
3.1 It is clear that local authorities play a
key role in the delivery of localism as set out by the Coalition
Government. As a national organisation which operates on a local
level with small communities, the Plunkett Foundation is aware
of the critical enabling role that local authorities must play
to support communities to take action on a very local level.
3.2 This role, as a "gatekeeper", when
used at its best can help communities to pass quickly through
complex and time consuming processes such as the planning process.
3.3 If decisions are made on a community level
as to what is important to them, such as on a local level through
community led planning or through a community consultation on
an emerging issues such as the closure of the last pub or shop
in the village, we strongly recommend that these community based
decisions are supported by and not delayed or prevented by the
local authority planning system.
Best Practice: Berrynarbor Community-Owned Village
Shop and Post Office, Devon
3.4 The small community of Berrynarbor in Devon
was faced with the prospect of losing their local shop and post
office in 2004 as the postmaster and shopkeeper announced their
retirement. The owner of the shop premises wanted to convert
the premises which he felt was unviable into housing. The would
have left the community with no shop or post office. What happened
next was the development of a three way agreement between the
community, the shop premises owner and the local council. The
community would be given the opportunity to run the shop as a
community-owned venture. If they failed, the business would be
considered unviable and planning permission granted for housing.
If successful, the community would be expected to have found arrangement
for an alternative shop building within four years. The shop has
been a great success winning a range of national awards and in
2009 unveiled their new premises. The community venture keeps
going from strength to strength in many parts due to the enabling
intervention of the local council.
4. THE CHALLENGE
FOR LOCALISM
IS SUPPORTING
COMMUNITIES TO
LEARN FROM
EACH OTHER
Role of National Infrastructure Organisations
4.1 The Plunkett Foundation strongly believes
there is a crucial role for national infrastructure organisations
in enabling localism to become real for local communities looking
to take control of issues affecting them. The need for this role
has not been discussed or debated and if not addressed, will make
it far more challenging for communities to take the initiative.
While we welcome legislative changes such as the Community Right
to Buy and the focus on removing barriers for business and civil
society organisations, there is a need for the localism debate
to include considering what mechanisms are best placed for communities
to use to learn from each other.
Best Practice: Community Shops Network
4.2 As an example of best practice, the Plunkett
Foundation established a Community Shops Network, an online portal
(www.plunkett.uk.net) where communities looking to set up a community-owned
village shop, and those who have already done so, can support
each other, post questions and learn from each other. This network
was established as a direct result of the requests that the Plunkett
Foundation received from communities who wanted to learn from
others that had already gone through the whole process to avoid
them having to reinvent wheels. This principle, of communities
being able to learn from each other, is one that the Plunkett
Foundation has supported and the results are stark. When these
mechanisms were not in place, only 10 community-owned shops were
opening per year and each was taking between 18 months and two
years on average to open. Since we have helped to connect up communities,
community-owned shops are now opening at a rate of almost 40 per
year and each takes on average between three and six months to
open.
Best practice: Co-operative Pubs support
4.3 The rapid development of community-owned
village shops in the UK is in stark contrast with the number of
communities who have been able to form a co-operative to save
and run their local pub. There are only four legally registered
co-operative pubs in the UK despite the considerable interest
from communities in this approach. What has prevented their development
is that lack of an infrastructure to enable local communities
to learn from each other and avoid reinventing wheels. The Plunkett
Foundation worked with a range of co-operative and pub support
organisations to develop a Community-Owned Pubs Support Programme
to address this issue. The programme was announced as part of
a 12 point plan to save pubs in March this year and was unfortunately
cancelled in August. In response, the Plunkett Foundation has
worked with a range of organisations to develop a package of support
which builds on the skills and experience develop by the four
existing co-operative pubs. This approach helps local communities
through a challenging process by using infrastructure organisations
to develop and share best practice between communities looking
to address similar problems.
Best Practice: Study Visits and Networking Meetings
4.4 Communities need to be able to learn from
each other. Other mechanisms Plunkett and others have used with
great success are hosted study visits where a community goes to
visit an existing community-owned enterprise. This enables communities
to speak to a range of people who have been through what they
are about to go through. This gives communities confidence that
they can achieve what they are setting out to do whether this
is setting up a community-owned village shop, a co-operative pub
or a community food enterprise. In addition, there is a consistent
demand for networking meetings on a local, country and even regional
and national level where communities can connect up and learn
from each other.
Do not make it hard for communities to engage
with the Big Society agenda
4.5 By following a pure localism approach, you
may miss out on the potential of communities to connect up, learn
from each other and avoid reinventing wheels. The Plunkett Foundation,
as a national infrastructure organisation, provides such opportunities
and the benefit that it provides needs to be acknowledged for
localism to become a driving force for rural communities across
the UK.
October 2010
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