Timing

The Program & Next Steps

The Covid pandemic has caused considerable delay to the momentum of the project but the team remains committed to its original objective. The survey being conducted by the Parish Council will open the gate to the next stage of work and fundraising if the Parishioners support the project.

Once the green light is in place we need to define exactly what sort of facility we want to create, and in particular what sort of retail facility best suits the parish’s needs.

During the pandemic, the Club set up a part-time essentials store in the basement and this has proved durable. The range of goods has gradually increased and the shop now opens 26 hours a week. The Hub group has committed not to compete with or undermine the Club shop assuming it remains a permanent and viable facility. The retail component of the Hub, therefore, needs to be sympathetically considered to either complement or provide a completely different offer to the one offered by the Club, that is viable in its own right. One example could be a deli and a coffee shop. Other suggestions received so far include a baked goods store, a bookshop, a hairdressers, a fresh fruit and vegetables shop, and a chemist. The Hub group hopes that parishioners will use the village survey to put forward their suggestions for the retail component of the scheme.

A retail unit run under the CBS rules is set up to be staffed, in part, by volunteers and the rules are flexible enough to allow a range of permutations and business models. The original concept was for an ‘open all hours’ style model that would require the shop to be staffed from 8am - 7pm Mon-Sat and 9-12 on Sunday (approximately 70 hours per week). Once the team has a clearer sense of what the community wants, the hours and the number of volunteers required, will be reviewed.

The total timeline for getting the community’s green light is 15-18 months so the target for completion is the end of 2023.