Progress by December 2009
Funding
The Committee spent considerable time earlier in the year preparing a comprehensive Business Plan for the shop. It was an exercise well worth the trouble as we now have attracted significant funding on the basis of it, and are looking for more. So far we have received:
- Vital Villages: £5000
- Community Chest: £20,000
- Parish Council: £1000
Building and planning
After site discussions with the AVDC representatives from planning, conservation and highways, we now have plans for the proposed temporary shop building and the necessary improvements to the Village Hall car park. The building we have selected will both look good and fit in well with the surrounding buildings. We have been consulting with residents near to the site and discussing any concerns they have, and we are now about to apply for formal planning permission.
Legal structure
We were originally intending to set up a Community Interest Company to run the shop, a new form of limited company that locks the assets and profits irrevocably into the interests of the North Marston community. However it has proved difficult to do this in a way that guarantees fair and democratic control by all Marstonians, and for that reason it is less attractive to some of our potential funders.
So we now intend to use an older and well-tested structure, the Industrial and Provident Society, which has similar aims and provisions but is known to work well for village shops and will provide everyone in the village a say in its running.
When the legal set-up is complete, we will be organising a public meeting at the Village Hall where a full prospectus for the shop will be available and ways in which you can be involved will be discussed.