Community endeavour

Recently I visited the Ide Community Shop. This modern wonder is nothing short of a triumph of local community endeavour.

The new shop cost £175,000. £70,000 was raised in less than a month via subscriptions to a Community Share Scheme with local people investing in the project. These funds helped lever in matched funding through the Big Lottery.

Local builders constructed the attractive new structure with the timber sourced locally. The build quality is so high and the insulation so effective that despite weeks of cold weather there has been no need to have the heating on at all.

The outlet sells groceries, including milk, meat, fruit and vegetables alongside wines and beers. Small amounts of each item — but one of virtually anything you are likely to need from a local shop. And 'local' is the word — much of the produce is produced within a few miles. And at a time when the horsemeat scandal continues to run it is particularly comforting to know where produce originates.

Others have gone before of course — there are several hundred community shops throughout the country and my constituency boasts some of the finest examples of how this kind of approach can really work.

Northlew has a marvellous Community store run by Christopher Marson (whose local efforts on this project and in developing local broadband solutions I recognised in Parliament during a recent debate), then there's The Burrow in Exbourne (beautifully designed and part-underground) and the Post Office in Sandford which was saved, some years ago, by going into community ownership — but we need others to follow.

If you are interested in learning more then please get in touch and I will be very happy to put you in contact with people who can share their valuable experience with you.