Plunkett Foundation News

The Plunkett Foundation’s Right to Try conference in London on 27 January provided a forum for debate on the sustainability of rural communities, by examining the barriers they are faced with and of the solutions needed to improve local services through community-ownership. A number of guest speakers attended including Jim Paice and Alun Michael MPs, along with social enterprise leaders and active rural community members.Jim Paice, Shadow Minister for Food and Farming said: “The Right to Try is about unlocking the enterprise spirit in communities and we must tailor local communities to local problems. He also said: “Right to Try...

Feckenham Village Shop in Worcestershire, a community-owned shop in supported by the Village CORE Programme has won a national award for the best village shop and post office at the Countryside Alliance Awards at the Houses of Lords this week, (Wednesday 3 February).Sue and Grey DarbyThe shop in Feckenham is one of over 230 community-owned rural shops currently in the UK, 37 of which opened in 2009. The shops come in various shapes and sizes, reflecting the needs of their communities. Some are based in purpose-built premises whilst other are based in previous shops, village halls, portacabins, churches and pubs....

 Rural communities should have the Right to Try to take control of the issues important to them through community-ownership.  This was the message from Rural Communities - The Right to Try, a Plunkett Foundation conference held on 27th January in London.Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of the Plunkett FoundationPeter Couchman, Chief Executive Officer of the Plunkett Foundation said: “Rural communities want to take ownership of the issues affecting them but are often prevented from doing so because of barriers around a lack of rights and a lack of support.  We are exploring why and how these barriers must be removed, to...

Congratulations to the Rural Services Network for being so quick of the mark in launching its manifesto on the first working day of the New Year. It makes fascinating reading to see the wide variety of needs identified by the Network's members, including ourselves. It also shows the huge challenge that whoever forms the next Government will face given the state of public funding. The challenge with a manifesto is that they always look lopsided as they have to be about what the Government should do, when we all know that life if never as simple as that. Plunkett is...

The Government’s Food 2030 report needs to go a step further by engaging communities in food production and food security according to Making Local Food Work, a partnership of organisations which help communities to take ownership of their food and where it comes from.Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation which leads the Making Local Food Work partnership said; “While we welcome this as the first major food report in sixty years, we feel that the vision set out in the report does not reflect the change in the relationships that consumers increasingly want to have with the food...

In 2009 we celebrated 90 years of helping rural people to believe in what they can achieve together.This year we have:Helped rural communities to set up and run community-owned shopsAssisted rural communities to take control of vital rural servicesSupported people to take ownership of their food and where it comes fromReconnected producers and consumers through local foodThank you to everyone we have worked with during the year to make this possible.Plunkett Foundation Christmas E-Card (pdf 121KB)

Faced with declining or threatened local services, limited job opportunities, not enough affordable housing and looming public expenditure cuts, we need new ways to sustain the quality of life in rural communities. DATE: 27th January 2010LOCATION: Cavendish Conference Centre, London (map and directions)Delegate Booking Form (download Word doc)Exhibitor Booking Form (download Word doc)Latest NewsJim Paice MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Agriculture and Rural Affairs and Alun Michael MP, Vice President of the Local Government Association confirmed as keynote speakers.Jim Paice MP was appointed Opposition Spokesman on Agriculture and has remained on the front bench ever since. Following the 2001 General...

 Ambridge, the village which the world’s longest running radio soap The Archers is based upon, has chosen community-ownership as the answer to saving the last shop in the community.  The Plunkett Foundation supports rural communities to set up and run community-owned shops.  It has worked with the show’s producers to highlight how real communities are combating village shop closures, by taking control of the very thing they are faced with losing.Currently in Ambridge, the only shop and post office is going to close. After serious consideration at a recent Parish Council meeting, villagers decided that the best way to keep...

The Community Transport Association (CTA) and the Plunkett Foundation have announced a new three year Social Enterprise Rural Community Transport Development Fund.  The new fund will offer grant/loan packages to eight organisations around England to enable them to significantly grow their contract income.  The funding package will be backed up by a range of training, development and networking support provided by the CTA and Plunkett over the life of the programme.  The funding, totalling almost £1 million, will be input by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Department for Transport, the Commission for Rural Communities and Futurebuilders England. Further information on...

Rural community-owned enterprise is on a roll. A banner headline in the Sunday Telegraph proclaims "The Rise of the Archers Co-operative". The best part of a million people tune in to hear the residents of Ambridge discuss how to save their village shop through community ownership. In the real world, store openings are at record levels with many more in the pipeline. It's a great time to be at Plunkett, but let's not get carried away.The boom in community-owned village stores is fantastic news, but we still have a long way to go in rural community-ownership. The shop is just...