OVERWHELMING SUPPORT FOR THE ODDIES PLANS

What a fantastic turnout again at the Community Consultation meeting last week! The Parish Council and Higham CBS jointly hosted the meeting to allow us to bring the community up to date on our progress and to undertake a consultation on the Public Works loan. The church was full again (should we say “as usual”?) with residents and supporters, some who have lived here for decades and some who are relatively new to the community but all united in the same goal.  The atmosphere was really positive and the discussion very productive. We hope we managed to answer all your questions and give you a good overview of the progress we have made and the next steps we will be taking. Thank you for engaging so enthusiastically with the team.

The Parish Council used the meeting to consult the residents of the parish to confirm their ongoing support for the decision to use a Public Works Loan to purchase the pub and car park area that we have agreed with the current owners. The community previously voted in favour of doing this, and using an increase in the parish precept element of the community charge to cover the repayments on the loan. This equates to about £1 per week on a band D house which everyone agreed is a bargain to regain the pub as a community hub!

community votes to renew PWL

The indicative vote allows the Parish Council to submit a renewed PWL application under the same terms as the previous loan approval to purchase the pub for the community. The vote was overwhelming – 96.5% in favour of a renewed application. The Parish Council can clearly evidence the ongoing support from the local community for the plans!

This model of ownership is a common approach amongst community businesses and means the CBS can lease the pub from the Parish Council at a peppercorn rent to allow us to plough all profits back into the community business and develop the facilities at the community pub. We have worked from the outset alongside the Parish Council to develop the project and to support the local community and this will continue throughout the coming years.

The CBS team are working on refining the refurbishment schemes and our business plans. We will continue to support the Parish Council as we work together to complete the negotiations.

As part of our next steps, we will be announcing our community share issue soon – this will raise funds to sit alongside grants and other funding sources to facilitate the refurbishment of the buildings and the setting up of the pub business. Many of these grants are ‘matched funds’ so the more shares we sell the more funding we can get! We’ve had significant sums pledged already from people who have said they want to buy shares. If you want to show your support you can do so on the pledge page of the website. We’ll be in touch with all the people on our ‘shares’ list and the subscribers list to keep you up to date on the progress and to let you know when it’s ‘live’ so you can secure your share bundles. Exciting times!!

As we’ve said before – we are looking for people with a wide range of skills. We will be using professional advice for the early stages, and project planning but this will run alongside local volunteers and trades who will contribute to the process as we progress.  Clearly, we will be in need of plenty of willing hands to help with bringing the pub back into use, so if you would like to volunteer your time please let us know.

We also would welcome ‘expert’ input into the refurbishment plans too. Can you provide expertise in any element of the planning and refurbishment parts of the project? Does your ‘day job’ mean you could be of help? We’ve already had quite a few very helpful offers of support so if you would also like to offer your services please get in touch, or talk to one of the STOP or CBS team. We’ll be working on our project schedules and getting appropriate groups together as soon as we get the green light!

In the meantime, look out for posts on social media about the pub project and our fundraising events – we’re planning a ‘festive quiz’ and other fun events! Share our story with your friends and encourage them to sign up for the ‘Oddies updates’ and to pledge to become part of the Oddies community.

If you want to know any more about the project or how to donate please drop us a message on social media or via the contact page. You can even pop in to ‘Oddies HQ’ if you’re in the village!