A Community Store in Pitton

*NEW*  23 MARCH 2023  Pitton Community Store Limited (PCSL) And Pitton Village Hall (PVH) Joint statement (scroll down)

Introduction

Early in 2022, Rachel Morrison announced that the Pitton village shop is not a viable proposition past 2025 and that the current premises will not be available for use as a shop after that time. A group was then set up to investigate the feasibility of replacing the shop with a community shop run by, and for, local people. Community Shops have proved to be
very successful in many villages, if fully supported by the community.

Our current shop is a vital lifeline and for some people, especially those without transport, it is an important connection with the world beyond their front door. It is a meeting place, communication centre and an important lynchpin of village life. Much of the appeal of our villages rests on its sense of community. It is the reason many people have moved here and remain here. The continued presence of a shop would, we feel, greatly enhance that community spirit.

On this page, you’ll find all of the newsletters and other news about the development of the Village Store Project. If you’d like to get involved, please contact Lorna Taylor at lornatayloruk@icloud.com.

Questionnaire

During March and April 2022, the Pitton Community Shop Steering Group organised a community survey and held two public meetings to review the potential for the creation of a community shop in Pitton. The group promised to keep everybody in touch with the survey results and any ongoing plans.

The results of the questionnaire can be found .

Pitton Community Store Newsletter – February 2023

Since our last update there has been good progress in setting up a community shop. Here are the headlines:

• We have received a generous donation which will enable us to cover some of our set-up costs including initial legal advice. Community initiatives rely on local support, and so we are very grateful!

• We have completed our analysis of potential locations for a village shop and the only feasible location is the Village Hall. Discussions between the community shop and village hall committees will take place over the next few weeks. The village hall committee has formed a shop working group and they are currently seeking legal advice to understand how a community shop can be achieved within the objectives of the original trust deed. Given that both organisations aim to benefit the local community we anticipate a positive and productive discussion to agree the best way forward.

• We have completed the first draft of our business plan. If you would like an electronic copy please contact Lorna Taylor on lornatayloruk@icloud.com. We are still aiming for the shop opening towards the end of 2025, though as mentioned in our last newsletter, we can only firm the dates once more detailed planning is completed.

• Several other applications for initial funding have been developed, including a request to the Parish Council.

• All going well, we still plan to launch the community share offer in summer 2023. We will hold a public meeting at that point to outline the offer in detail and answer any questions from prospective shareholders. A share prospectus will be made available well in advance of the meeting.

• We will continue to provide a regular newsletter. If you have particular questions in the meantime, please send them to the Board via Lorna Taylor and we will do our best to answer them and also include questions of wider interest in our next newsletter.

• We had one question from our previous newsletter to ask if we had fully explored using the current shop and whether putting an ACV on the shop would make a difference.

Rachel has confirmed that she intends to stay in her own property after retirement and that she has no intention of selling or leasing all or part of it for use as a shop, or for any other commercial venture. As the property is not for sale, and there is no indication that it will be put up for sale in the foreseeable future, the raising of an ACV now will neither prevent the closure of the shop nor require the owner to sell it to a community entity. Our approach therefore, has been to find an alternative site and open a new shop at the point of the current shop closing. Timing is important as without continuity we will lose the current Post Office contract and this will mean, at best, an occasional visit from a Post Office van rather than a regular service.

• Lastly – thankyou to those of you providing encouragement and offers of help to get this initiative started. So many villages have lost their village shops and post offices altogether and it is good to see that people in Pitton are willing to give their time to prevent this happening.

Lorna Taylor on behalf of
Pitton Community Store Limited
Board of Trustees

November Newsletter

The November Newsletter can be found .

Pitton Community Store Limited (PCSL) And Pitton Village Hall (PVH) Joint statement

PCSL and PVH have started discussions concerning an extension to the front of the Village Hall to house a new community shop.

PCSL have identified that the Village Hall is the only viable location for the community shop and PVH confirmed that their position is to make every effort to support PCSL’s efforts to open a community shop.

There are likely to be a number of steps to go through over the next few months. The PVH Deeds of Trust will need to be modified and permission received from the Charity Commission. Once these are in place, the next step will be to gain approval of residents and we will do this at a public meeting.

The process will take some time to complete, and while there is no guarantee of success, PVH and PCSL are committed to making it happen and we will keep you informed as things develop. Many community shops are in or next to village halls so we hope this is a well trodden path.