Brightwell cum Sotwell Community Village Stores Ltd

Extracts from South Oxfordshire LEADER Casestudy

Since 2002, when Brightwell’s former village shop closed suddenly, a group of committed volunteers has been working to see a new stores opened in the village. A suitable site at the rear of the Village Hall finally became available in 2008. This would place the village stores alongside the post office service which has been running successfully in the Village Hall five mornings a week. Planning permission was granted in March 2009 to construct a new purpose built stores. The funding package for the build element of the project was secured in May 2009.

Fund Raising for the project’s longer term delivery continues. Tenders for building were sought in May/June 2009. Building began in November 2009, the construction phase completed by May 2010, with fitting out and stocking taking place thereafter. In May 2010, the Operations Team completed interviews for stores Manager and Assistant Manager and offered the roles to two people. The Stores opened for trading in July 2010.

Against an overall project estimate of £202,000 which included contingencies and six months’ estimated operating costs, LEADER granted us £30,000, almost 15% of the total estimate. The list of other main funders was: our Parish Council (seed/enabling money), community donations and pledges, including fund raising events (at about 40% of the total, easily the largest source of funds for the project), Plunkett Foundation's Village Core Programme (£20,000 grant from Esme Fairburn Foundation and £20,000 loan from Co-operative and Community Finance), COMMA, Trust for Oxfordshire Environment (TOE) and SODC’s Community Investment Fund. We have also had a lot of help and support from the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council’s Village Shops Development Worker.”

Nick Spencer says: “We are very fortunate in that we have a good skill set in the village including a surveyor, financier, logistics expert and publicity specialist, so that we have been able to put a team together to make this project a reality. “Our project also has a number of important features that are worth emphasising to other potential applicants: the facility will be run by volunteers, we have had strong community backing, we have evidence of the importance attached to having a new local stores in the parish plan, and it will be an asset for elderly folk and young families.”