Y Cletwr Newydd Siop, Caffi a Hwb Cymunedol Shop, Café and Community Hub Cynllun Prosiect / Project Plan Fersiwn 5 / Version 5 Mai / May 2014 Gan Tom Cosson ar ran Cwmni Cymunedol Cletwr/ By Tom Cosson on behalf of Cwmni Cymunedol Cletwr Contents Page 1. Executive Summary 6 2. Organisational Summary 8 2.1 Background 8 2.2 Purpose, Vision & Outcomes 8 2.2.1 Purpose 8 2.2.2 Vision 9 2.2.3 Project Outcomes 9 2.3 Governance 10 2.4 Experience and Expertise 10 2.5 Volunteers 11 3 Project Background 12 3.1 Community Consultation 12 3.2 Project development to date – Siop Cynfelyn 13 4 Strategic Context 16 4.1 Our Community 16 4.2 Evidencing the Need for our Project 16 4.2.1 Local need 17 4.2.2 Visitor Profile and Need 17 4.3 Market Research – What People Want 18 4.3.2 Consultation Outcomes – Local Community 19 4.3.3 Consultation Outcomes – Visitors and Passing Trade 20 4.4 Strategic Fit 20 4.5 Further Analysis 24 4.5.1 Risk Analysis 24 4.5.2 SWOT Analysis 25 4.5.3 Analysis of Competition 26 5 About Our Project 28 5.1 The Premises 28 5.2 Services and Activities 28 5.2.1 Our Core Offer 28 5.2.2 Additional Services 28 5.2.3 Additional Activity 29 5.3 Considering Our Options 32 5.3.1 Do Nothing Option 32 5.3.2 Exploring Alternative Sites 33 5.3.3 Purchase or Lease? 33 5.4 Options Appraisal 34 5.5 Our Chosen Option 37 5.6 The Proposal 40 5.7 A fall-back position 41 5.8 Project Beneficiaries 41 5.9 Project Timescales 43 5.10 Equality and Access 44 5.11 Exit Strategy 45 2 6 Project Resources 46 6.1 Staffing Resources 46 6.1.1 Paid Staff 46 6.1.2 Voluntary Staff 48 6.1.3 Training 48 6.2 Management and Supervision of Resources 48 6.3 The building works and purchase 48 6.4 Further skills required 49 6.5 Policies 49 6.6 Partners 49 7 Financial Appraisal 52 7.1 Introduction 52 7.2 Critical Success Factors for our Business 52 7.3 Trading Analysis and Assumptions used in the Cash Flow Estimates 52 7.4 Projections including Cash Flow for Years 1 to 4 55 8 Project Costs 59 8.1 Capital Costs 59 8.2 Revenue Costs 61 8.3 Future Phases of Project 63 8.4 Value for Money (VfM) 63 9 Marketing and Communication 65 10 Monitoring and Evaluation 67 3 List of Annexes Annex 1 List of Advisers/Professional Expertise Consulted Annex 2 Community Learning and Activities Plan 2014- Annex 3 Letters of Support Annex 4 Community Consultation 2011 Annex 5 Summary of Visitor Consultation 2011/12 Annex 6 Community Survey December 2013 Annex 7 Volunteer Survey May 2014 4 “It has brought the area to life again” “Encouraging to see a rural community being pro-active and providing for its own needs” “It is a great pleasure to volunteer in the project. I have made new friends and know others better” “It gives a centre to the community and provides community activities. It keeps money in the community through employing staff” “Every £1 spent with a local supplier is worth £1.76 to the local economy, and only 36 pence if it is spent out of the area” “Community shops act as service centres, providing easy access to essential goods and services that can be hard to reach in rural locations. They also stimulate social activity as a result of their volunteer base, and through the through flow of customers. This social environment can lead to increased social contact for individuals, give people an opportunity to be involved in community life, create support networks for the vulnerable, and for some people provide a sense of belonging, purpose and self-worth.” 5 1. Executive Summary Cwmni Cymunedol Cletwr, a social enterprise company limited by guarantee, formed in 2012 in order to re-open the village shop and café at the Cletwr Services on the busy A487 in Tre’r Ddôl, Ceredigion. Following a successful volunteer recruitment and fundraising campaign, including £46,000 from the Village SOS scheme, it opened Siop Cynfelyn, comprising a shop and small café, in May 2013. The business is thriving and profitable. This success reflects a trend across the UK. Community-owned shops are profitable, resilient and increasing in number and impact. The site is currently on a short-term lease and for sale on the open market. Securing the capital funding to purchase the services will enable the community to retain and expand the services being offered, and develop a building that will benefit people long into the future. In order to secure the long-term sustainable future of the business, and expand its operations in order to have a greater economic and social impact within north Ceredigion and to provide a more attractive offer to tourists, the company is seeking funds to purchase the Cletwr Services site and erect a new, attractive, sustainable building in place of the current uneconomic and dilapidated one. Crucially, the business will operate on behalf of the local community and will provide a major social and economic stimulus to the area. We will extend the scope of the services offered to provide community space for events and to showcase local artists and producers, as well as linking with key tourism partners to promote awareness and increase engagement with the area’s natural, cultural and built heritage. We will also be a business that supports and facilitates formal and informal learning opportunities, through offering tailored placements to help people back into work, for Welsh Baccalaureate and other students, and offering digital skills and other training. We will support a number of high-quality, year-round jobs in a rural area which suffers from underemployment with a prevalence of part-time, low-paid, seasonal work. The consultation exercise has established significant support for the project. A large majority of local people, passers-by and tourists are already supporting the current business which is returning a profit. Most importantly, as well as restoring vital services, it is viewed as a vital community hub and meeting place. Consultation has also confirmed support for an expansion of existing services, development of new ones, within a financially and environmentally sustainable physical setting. Our vision is of an expanded, well-stocked, well-used village shop that provides an economic and social stimulus to the community. We will sell everyday goods but also local produce, promoting local producers. We will provide a larger cafe, serving simple, high quality food. We will offer meeting and event facilities and a full and varied events and social programme for the area, encompassing Welsh classes, arts workshops, lectures, food events, and music. 6 The new building will act as a ‘gateway’ for visitors to Ceredigion by providing an introduction to the varied heritage of the county and will be an information hub for the Wales Coast Path, which passes the door. It will also be a business with a strong Welsh identity, and operate to a high environmental standard. The building will be extremely energy efficient and through a PV array will also generate its own electricity. The re-opening of the services, operating for the benefit of local people, would provide a huge boost to the parish. The shop is already staffed by local volunteers, giving people opportunities to interact, gain skills and self-worth through contributing to their community. The redevelopment will enable us to extend and deepen volunteering opportunities, to become not just a social activity but one which can link, for example, young people to improved employability and acquisition of other hard and soft skills. It will provide a valuable economic boost to a rural area by increasing the current staffing from 2 FTE staff to 5 FTE, and by supporting local producers. As an employer the business aims to use the Living Wage as its minimum. We will support other services to reduce poverty such as a food bank. All profits will be re-invested in the enterprise and the local community and we are establishing an annual fund to enable us to support bodies such as the local chapel, school, and local societies. Partnership working is embedded in the company’s way of working. We are actively working with other local organisations and businesses in order to complement them, rather than compete. We have burgeoning and mutually beneficial partnerships that include local schools and colleges, training associations, several local societies including the WI and local Heritage Society, the Cwm Cletwr nature reserve and the Dyfi Biosphere. In 2013 we received a Stage 1 pass from the Big Lottery Fund’s People and Places scheme, and a Capital Development Grant of £17,500, to develop more detailed plans to support a Stage 2 application. We have carried out a detailed options appraisal, guided by building professionals, and have identified the most appropriate option for the building. This is a modern, attractive, highly energy-efficient building which will cost £390,000 + VAT (in addition to the purchase price of £300,000 plus stamp duty and legal costs). This redevelopment will best enable us to meet our project outcomes. Crucially, it will enable the current building to remain, and the business to continue trading, during construction, thus avoiding damaging the established momentum and custom of the business. We are seeking this funding from a range of sources, primarily from the People & Places Scheme (£499,000) in addition to other sources including European funding, trusts, an affordable loan taken out through a reputable lender to social enterprises, and local fundraising including the offer of Community Capital Bonds enabling local people to invest in the development.