News Archive

Friday 25th June, 10.30 - 5.30 School of African and Oriental Studies, LondonLocal Action on Food, London Food Link and SOAS Food Studies Centre are organising a national conference to explore what steps can be taken to help community food growing projects generate income and become economically viable.  Morning and afternoon sessions will focus on: successful models and replication, increasing the scale of food production, diversifying your income from a range of activities, and finding support in the community.  Visit http://www.localactiononfood.org/ for a list of speakers and to book a place. Contact Anna or Polly for more information on 0207...

Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation, said:“There are great expectations for change from the new government.  This combined with the public sector finance squeeze means that there are huge challenges ahead.  "Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have included fantastic commitments for support community activity as a way of improving people’s lives and we believe that the Right to Try for rural communities is a tool that can be used to achieve this. "The Right to Try for rural communities through community-ownership to take control of the issues affecting them is a model which has been increasingly used...

Plunkett Weekly News is the latest news from the Plunkett Foundation and that affecting social enterprise and co-operatives, farming, food and rural development.Download Plunkett Weekly News This week in the Plunkett Weekly News:Plunkett Foundation News-Plunkett Foundation Welcomes New Coalition Government-Plunkett Annual Seminar and AGM-Media and Communications Officer Vacancy-LlankellyChase Foundation to Support the Development of Community-Owned Shops-Market Overton, Rutland, Celebrate Their New Community-Owned Shop-Loxley Valley Community Farm on Radio 4-Community Food Enterprises up to the Challenge of Climate Change Co-operative and Social Enterprise News-Nick Hurd Appointed Minister of Civil Society-Cameron and Clegg Launch The Big Society-Communities and Local Government Ministerial Team Announced-The Role...

The Plunkett Foundation is pleased to announce that The LankellyChase Foundation is working with the Plunkett Foundation and its partners in supporting the development of community-owned village shops.The LankellyChase Foundation is an endowed grant making Charitable Trust which works to promote positive social change and aims to improve the quality of people’s lives, has begun providing support for the Village CORE Programme. The programme is a support programme which has enabled 48 new community-owned village shops to open over the last four years.Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation, said, “We are delighted that The LankellyChase Foundation has joined...

Market Overton, a village in Rutland, celebrated the re-opening of their village shop as a community-owned enterprise on Saturday 15 May.The community-owned shop, the latest to open following support of the Village CORE Programme, opened just sixteen weeks after the previous shop owners announced that they were closing the shop.Andy Cleverdon, Chair of the committee which oversaw the shop development said, “After a crazy 16 weeks we think we've pulled off an amazing feat. When the old shop shut no-one really knew what would happen but the whole village rose to the challenge and with the fantastic funding support from...

See the latest Plunkett Weekly News (download pdf.) for: Plunkett NewsPlunkett Perspective on the latest Local Food and Climate Change Report Co-operatives and Social EnterpriseCommunity Groups Set to Lose out in Asset TransferCommunity Awards from Kerrygold!Social Entrepreneurs Called Upon to Defend Civil SocietySocial Enterprise: Must Stay Vigilant Says the SEC Farming and FoodShoppers Not Responding to Climate ChangeUN Policy of Doubling Food Production on 'Flawed Data.'Scholarship to Fight Poultry Skills Shortage Rural DevelopmentAmerican Bank to Target Disgruntled Rural CustomersCRC Look into Mobile Phone CoverageWinners Announced of BBC's Village SOSSouth West RDA Invests £50k to First 3D Testing SystemEconomic Impact of the NWDA 1999-2009 Published International NewsOnline...

Community organisations trying to build affordable homes in the rural towns and villages of Somerset and Dorset are to get valuable business support from a new partnership. Resonance and Wessex Community Assets are today revealing details of a two year partnership to pilot a support business for Community Land Trusts across Somerset and Dorset. The 'action research' project is being supported by the Carnegie UK Trust, which promotes sustainable rural communities, using funding secured from the Department for Communities and Local Government. Paul Sander-Jackson, Executive Director of Wessex Community Assets, says there's a huge challenge ahead: 'We are very excited...

The Regional Assembly will now take place in Brussels on 31 May 2010. A key plenary session will be the discussion of plans for activities for the ’UN International Year of Co-operatives – 2012. The Assembly will also address the statutory issues of activity reports, accounts etc and elections to the Board of Directors. The delegate fees paid by the member organizations for the Regional Assembly in Moscow are automatically transferred for the Assembly in Brussels. Substitutions in each delegation are permitted. Any new registrations will be billed the registration fee.http://www.coopseurope.coop/spip.php?rubrique392. © Co-operatives Europe

Over 140 villagers in remote North Yorkshire are receiving a superfast internet connection that rivals city speeds. The community broadband project is helping to reverse the rural social and economic exclusion resulting from a lack of internet access. Newton-on-Rawcliffe has long suffered from a slow or nonexistent internet connection, which has stifled economic opportunities. The scheme aims to reverse the trend of urban migration by enabling residents and businesses to remain in the village.  Internet provider NYnet has provided an optic fibre-based link to within striking distance of the village centre. Connections are then beamed to homes wirelessly by community...

After a hotly contested debate the shortlist for The 2010 Observer Ethical awards has been announced. Now in their fifth year the awards pay tribute to those that have an innovative way of looking at ethical issues and those who create practical solutions to these problems.  Infinity Foods Shop and Bakery, a worker co-op based in Brighton have been shortlisted for the Best Local Retailer award.  Also nominated for this award is Growing Communities, a social enterprise based in Hackney, East London, which set up and runs London’s first veg box scheme.  They also run a weekly farmers market and...