Prizes Available for taking part in Local Business Survey - Your thoughts please

 

Prizes include: Locally grown flowers from Common Farm Flowers in Charlton Musgrove (to the value of £55)
£50 Dining Voucher at The Ship at West Stour www.shipinn-dorset.com
Sausages and Bacon from the Ginger Piggery www.thegingerpiggery.co.uk
Selection of ales from Sixpenny Brewery www.sixpennybrewery.co.uk
Coffee & Cake at Divine Wines in Wincanton

The Heart of Wessex Local Action Group is working with local people and businesses to develop opportunities for improving the rural economy and quality of life for people living and working in the area through a targeted grants programme. The next round of funds (2015 – 2020) is focused on economic growth and jobs. 

LEADER is a community-led European funding programme that supports rural community development. The planning, decision making and implementation is done at a local level, carried out by a Local Action Group (LAG). The LAG is managed locally and made up of private, public and community sector volunteers with a wide range of experience and knowledge of local rural issues. 

We are currently engaging local communities and businesses to ascertain local issues and priorities. These will then be used to help write the bid (known as a Local Development Strategy) to Defra in September 2014 to bring investment into the local area. Grants are likely to be available from early 2015. 

We want to hear your ideas and we particularly welcome new innovations and collaborative projects. Give us a call if you have a business development or community project idea and think LEADER funding could help. We would particularly like to hear from people involved in: 

* Farming * Operating small businesses located in a rural area * Producing or selling locally produced food * Tourism attractions or providing holiday accommodation * Providing community services or facilities in a rural setting * Promoting low-carbon, energy efficiency or climate resilience * Restoring, preserving and enhancing eco systems dependent upon agriculture and forestry 

If you are a business, or are thinking of starting a business please take the time to complete this short survey, there are lots of prizes on offer.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HeartOfWessexRuralBusinessSurvey 

How to Legally Operate and Drive a Minibus Seminar

Finally a cure for the minibus law headache. Understanding how to operate and drive a minibus is going to become a lot more easier.

The Minibus Website, a source of minibus information, is going to host a “How to legally operate and drive a minibus” seminar - aimed at simplifying the complicated laws associated with operating and driving a minibus. Steven Caulston who created the minibus website and the seminar explains, “Minibus laws and regulations can apply to individual organisations in different ways – and that's why there's so much confusion.

The seminar will explain why and offer a simple solution to help organisations follow the right set of regulations that apply.” The seminar will demonstrate how a simple 'colour coded' solution eliminates the confusion and guesswork by separating and identifying the exact set of regulations individu! al organisations need to follow in order to stay within the law.

Other topics covered within the seminar also include: Hire and reward and Not for profit, Permits and operator licensing, who can legally drive a minibus and how to keep up to date with any relevant future changes. A place on the seminar is FREE to anyone who operates or manages a minibus within; schools, voluntary organisations, hotels, care homes, child care and any other new or existing group or business.

The event will take place in Reading, Berkshire on the 30th July 2014. For more information or to book a place on this seminar visit www.minibuswebsite.com/htm/e/events.html

Discover Chalke Valley Business Website - Your chance to be involved

Following the success of the Sustainable Rural Tourism project for the www.discovernadder.org.uk website we have secured further funding to develop a sister site for the Chalke Valley which extends from Nunton to Berwick St John.

A new website is planned to promote the area as an outstanding destination for people to visit benefiting businesses like pubs, shops and accommodation providers, and provide ready made experiences for visitors who are interested in the outdoors and who wish to discover more about the history and wildlife of the area. Online you will find an interactive map of businesses in the area and be able to download informative walking and cycle routes for visitors to enjoy. Information packs containing all of this may also be made available.

If you run a pub, restaurant, B&B or local shop to name a few do come along to learn more about how your business can be involved so that together we can demonstrate to visitors how passionate we are about promoting this wonderful area and supporting each other in their business endeavors.  

Each business will receive a free website listing and an opportunity to network with like minded local organisations together with useful marketing tools to market your business.

To apply you are invited to apply online providing a description of your business together with a promotional image. Please forward to info@cranbornechase.org.uk 

We are also seeking volunteers to help design a number of walks and cycle routes so if this interests you do get in touch.

Join us for launch of Chalke Valley Business Initiative 27/02/14

Sell Tickets Online through Eventbrite

FUNDING: Starter for 10 Programme for Creatives

Creative England is pleased to announce that due to popular demand this year’s Starter for 10 programme is no longer solely restricted to businesses under two years old. If you’re a creative business based in the South West and you have an idea for an innovative new product or service, you have until 23 February to submit an application form.

If your application is shortlisted, you will be given the opportunity to pitch your idea to a prestigious panel of judges who will select the 10 best ideas to receive a £10,000 grant and a comprehensive package of business support.

To qualify, businesses must be an SME operating within the sectors of digital, web and interactive, mobile and app, social media, TV or marketing.

If this isn’t you but you know a business that may be interested please do forward this on to them. Hurry, the deadline is fast approaching!

For more information and details of how to apply please visit www.starterfor10.biz

Starter for 10 is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and managed by Creative England.

Help secure funding for rural communities

We need your help!

The recent 5 year RDPE  (Rural Development Programme for England) of which the Sowing SEEDS Local Action Group (LAG) funding was part, has now ended. A number of projects in the AONB benefited from this funding including Hindon Village Shop, Semley Shop, Chalke Valley Community Hub, Mere and Tisbury Chambers of Trade, Stourhead Kindling,  Kingston Lacey Glasshouse project  and the AONB Sustainable Tourism Project - Discover Nadder.

Every LAG in the UK is now in a period of transition (2014) where we have the opportunity to develop a bid for future funding from the next RDPE which is expected to start in January 2015. There is no guarantee of further funding! We need your help to secure funding to support new projects from 2015 to 2020.

The photo below shows when and where forthcoming meetings will be held.  We really do need to show that many, many people are involved in Local Action and most importantly that we want it to continue into the next programme period. This is your chance to say what the priorities are for your area and to put forward project suggestions.

Please forward to your friends, colleagues and contacts and encourage them to come along and support the LAG.

We very much appreciate your support in helping us to secure these vital funds and we look forward to seeing you at one of the upcoming meetings

Discover Nadder Website Launched

www.discovernadder.org.uk

Discover Nadder, a new website promoting tourism and businesses in the Nadder Valley, is now live; ideal if you are running a tourism related business across the Cranborne Chase AONB.

The website was put together by Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, working in partnership with partners and local businesses, as part of a Sustainable Rural Tourism Pilot Project to help improve the visitor economy of the area. 



We hope the site will promote the Cranborne Chase AONB as an outstanding destination for people to visit benefiting businesses like pubs, shops and accommodation providers, and provide ready made experiences for visitors who are interested in the outdoors and wish to discover more about the history and wildlife of the area.

The Nadder Valley stretches from Wilton to Shaftesbury and includes part of Wiltshire and Dorset. It is a beautiful and largely undiscovered area with over 30 picturesque villages dotted along the River Nadder. Highlights include:

• Tisbury, the largest of the Nadder Valley villages; at its heart is a friendly and thriving High Street as well as a convenient railway station for day-trippers wishing to come from Salisbury.
• Postcard pretty historic villages like East Knoyle, birthplace of architect Sir Christopher Wren whose masterpiece was St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
• The wild open expanses and tranquillity of the chalk downs.
• Great historic estates of Dinton Park, Fonthill and Wardour.
• Ancient churches, Iron Age Hill Forts and ancient burial grounds.
• Major attractions like Old Wardour Castle near Tisbury, one of the Nadder Valley’s best kept secrets.

The AONB and South West Wiltshire Area Board have recently committed funding to create a similar website for the Chalke Valley. If you would like to be involved in this process or have any comments/suggestions on ‘Discover Nadder’ then please contact Steve Harris, Community Area Manager for South West Wiltshire Area Board. There will be an evening on Thursday 27th February when you can drop in to learn more about this exciting venture at the Crown Alvesdiston from 4 - 7pm. 

Fingerpost Champion Campaign shows the way forward

Our neighbouring Dorset AONB is running a Fingerpost Champion Campaign. There are many reasons to become a champion you could be a small community group or maybe a tradesman who can offer your workshop or services,  or maybe supply of wood as people seek to restore the fingerposts that are very much a feature of our local countryside. 

Alternatively you could simply help them survey these special fingerposts. 

Contact the Dorset AONB who will be very happy to discuss the process, and provide the information and advice that you will need.

HELP US ENSURE FUTURE FUNDING FOR AONB PROJECTS

The AONB and the Community Partnership Executive of North Dorset (CPEND) jointly prepared the ‘Sowing SEEDS’ bid to Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) in 2008. It was developed to support innovative activities and projects by rural communities, businesses (including farmers, growers and foresters) and community organisations within the area.

This funding was the first of its kind to cover the entire AONB area and offered new prospects to local communities of all ages, with innovative project ideas.

Between 2009 and 2013, the Local Action Group (LAG), made up of representatives from the local community, decided which community based initiatives or projects received funding from ‘Sowing SEEDS’. The contribution that the Sowing SEEDS LAG has made to the rural community has been significant. In total it has supported 35 initiatives and awarded grants worth over £1.28 million to grassroots focused, small-scale, innovative projects , generating an impressive range of benefits for the area.

Case Studies

A number of individual case studies which reflect the diversity and range of the projects the LAG has supported throughout this programme period will shortly be available on the Sowing SEEDS website, please visit: http://www.sowing-seeds.org.uk/projects.html

Successful Projects

The following projects received funding through Sowing SEEDS.  Those highlighted in bold are within the AONB. These come to a total of just under £500,000 but each project will have levered in significant amounts of additional match funding. Many of the other projects directly and indirectly benefit the AONB communities and environment.

Hindon Village Shop	£19,231.00
Blackmore Vale Butchery	£8,750.00
Shaftesbury Film Unit	£8,000.00
Dorset Farmers Market	£5,938.00
Blandford Allotments - Machinery Ring	£9,996.00
Feasibility Study, Training Unit	£10,000.00
CPEND Broadband	£9,500.00
Motcombe Community Shop	£29,556.00
Future Roots	£128,600.00
Food Mill Feasibility Study	£9,350.00
Kingston Lacy Growing Spaces	£30,914.00
Let's go H20	£9,200.00
Gillingham Town Design Statement	£4,800.00
Mere Chambers	£8,546.00
Wimborne BID	£10,000.00
Countryside Centre Phase 1	£6,378.50
Henry's Buttons	£10,000.00
Economic Spine	£9,950.00
Tisbury Chambers	£8,546.00
Leisure Credits	£113,525.68
Rural DORMEN	£22,500.00
Lordsmead Mill Micro Hydro	£34,347.55
Peggs Farm Micro Hydro	£21,807.00
Benjafield Farm Micro Hydro	£31,213.00
Employability Skills Base	£146,827.00
Semley Shop	£49,548.50
Driving Rural Business	£62,221.00
Sustainable Tourism	£58,285.00
Trailway Wood Fuels retort system	£11,654.40
CHAT Hub	£198,369.00
Chalke Valley Community Hub	£91,734.00
Bangers & Bacon	£10,000.00
Stourhead Kindling	£9,960.00
Blandford Car Club	£9,266.00
Kingston Lacy Glasshouses	£38,345.00

The next Rural Development Programme

The next Rural Development Programme is anticipated to start during 2015 and will run until 2020. The Sowing SEEDS Local Action Group has been awarded funding to cover the period of transition between the current and future Rural Development Programmes during 2014. The funding will allow the Sowing SEEDS programme staff to begin a thorough participatory consultation period with communities across the whole LAG area. The LAG will be seeking views from local communities and businesses to inform the content of the new strategy. Activity to gather these views will include:

• A series of public consultation meetings
• Recruitment of new LAG members and formation of a new LAG Executive Committee
• Gathering background information about the Sowing SEEDS LAG area
• Seeking views from previously funded LEADER projects

The information gathered from these meetings will inform the preparation of a new Local Development Strategy (LDS). This strategy will set development priorities for the next funding period.

How you can help ensure that local action continues in this area:

1.    Complete a very short on-line survey - The future success of Local Action relies entirely on the local community. Your input is needed to help shape the future of Local Action in this area, so even if you feel you have had little or nothing to do with this programme your response is very much appreciated.

All completed surveys will be anonymous and a summary of the results will be used to help prepare the final programme evaluation. Please follow the link below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M8ZP98Y  

2. Project ideas – Although currently there isn’t any funding available for the remainder of this programme period, we would still like to hear from you if you have a project idea that you would like to discuss. We are keeping a list of prospective projects so we can contact you when we know when future funding becomes available. Please contact the Sowing SEEDS office if you would like to be added to this list and receive further news of funding opportunities.

3. Take part in one of the of Consultation Workshops - The current LAG have organised six meetings that will take place across the LAG area throughout February and March 2014. The workshops will be an opportunity to share your views, opinions and ideas about the future of LAG activity in the area. As always light refreshments will be served on arrival.

Schedule of meetings: ·         Wednesday 19th February 2014.  6pm - Sturminster Newton ·         Wednesday 26th February 2014.  6pm - Broad Chalke ·         Wednesday 5th    March 2014.     6pm - Bourton ·         Wednesday 12th March 2014.      6pm - Sixpenny Handley ·         Wednesday 19th March 2014.      6pm - Maiden Bradley ·         Wednesday 26th March 2014.      6pm – Semley

4. For up-to-date information about the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) visit: http://rdpenetwork.defra.gov.uk/

Please contact Sarah Dyke-Bracher – Programme Manager on 07826 907361 for further details

Link2Nature Coordinator Role Available

A new Coordinator for Link2Nature, the Wiltshire and Swindon Local Nature Partnership, is being recruited – please note the closing date for applications is Monday 3rd June at 12 noon.
The post is based at Wiltshire Wildlife Trust in Devizes; the full advertisement is below and further details are on the WWT website: http://www.wiltshirewildlife.org/who-we-are/workingforthetrust/LNP_Coordinator_Vacancy 

Please circulate this advert widely within your organisation, networks and other contacts to help us reach as many potential candidates as possible.

----------------------------------------------------- 

Local Nature Partnership Coordinator

-----------------------------------------------------

• Salary : £26,969 pro-rata per annum
• Hours : Fixed term to 31st March 2014 / Part Time 4 days/week (30 hrs)
• Based : Devizes

This is an exciting and challenging opportunity to play a key role in the development and implementation of the Wiltshire and Swindon Local Nature Partnership. You will play a pivotal role in liaising with a wide range of organisations and stakeholders across a diversity of sectors, including NGO’s, Business, statutory agencies and local communities.

The successful applicant will be able to work at a strategic level and demonstrate a practical understanding and experience of the complex relationships and agendas which exist in a partnership led initiative. A confident individual, you will communicate with a diversity of people across a range of levels of understanding and experience.

Organised and efficient, you will possess the ability to work on your own initiative and as part of a team, with a desire to succeed and deliver high quality outcomes. A track record of successful partnership management and co-ordination is required.

This post is funded by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council and hosted by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. For more information about the Partnership, please visit: http://www.link2nature.org.uk/

Closing Date : Monday 3rd June 2013 @ 12 noon

Interviews : Friday, 14th June 2013

If you are interested in this position, please download the application pack from the right hand column, complete and return to recruitment@wiltshirewildlife.org. Or post to: Recruitment LNP Coordinator, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Elm Tree Court, Long Street, Devizes. SN10 1NJ. If you would like to discuss this opportunity informally, please contact Stephen Davis on 01380 725670.

Cranborne village becomes a Vodafone local “Champion”

The Dorset village of Cranborne is the latest rural community to receive a helping hand from technology giants Vodafone in an effort to improve 3G mobile phone coverage. Cranborne has become one of a cluster of local Champions to use the new Vodafone ‘open femto’ technology which provides vital connectivity in rural areas battling with poor broadband and 3G signal coverage. Low or no connectivity makes economic growth impossible given all the other problems that these areas share with urban communities.

In 2011 Ofcom released a report highlighting the poor state of the UK’s communications infrastructure. Ofcom found 3G coverage was concentrated in urban areas and revealed that typically 2G signals reach only 66 percent of the country, with 3G signals reaching only an almost unbelievably low 13 percent.

In an effort to tackle these mobile not-spots, Vodafone has launched 12 trials for community-wide femtocells; the Dorset village of Cranborne being one of these to benefit. “These trials present a very real opportunity for rural communities to play a positive role in extending mobile coverage locally,” said the operator.


With the help of a Community Champion the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs AONB, local MP Bob Walter and the local Parish Council, Cranborne village put together an application to be a trial community, fighting off some stiff competition which resulted in 170 initial applications that in turn were shortlisted to 20 from which the final 12 were chosen. As a result Cranborne now hosts 5 village Metro Cells which generate a Vodafone mobile signal which will doubtless be of enormous benefit to those living and working in the area. This will help everyone from delivery drivers, the local vet or doctor out on their rounds, the local B&B helping its residents to the local teenager wishing to use their social media apps.


On the 15th March a celebratory event launching the Cranborne village femto programme will be held. Bob Walter MP and Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, together with members of the local Parish Council, and key local businesses and residents will meet to celebrate; almost certainly with mobile in hand. Bob Walter commented in his letter of support that, “bringing a mobile phone signal to the area will not only make the day-to-day lives of residents, considerably easier, but will also help to sustain the economy of this rural village and create jobs and growth at a time when many rural villages are stagnating.”


Debbie Ward, chief executive of Dorset County Council, added "It's great that people in Cranborne Chase have been connected to 3G mobile phone signal. There are huge benefits for local people and businesses in having mobile access to the internet. Technology is advancing rapidly and it's vital that rural communities in the county are not forgotten."

Sure Signal

Vodafone is one of the few operators in the UK to offer femtocells to customers in order to solve the vexing issue of poor mobile phone reception. Otherwise known as Vodafone Sure Signal this small device, about the size of a broadband router, is available relatively cheaply from the operator for householders or businesses suffering signal failure. Whilst it does completely transform the mobile phone signal within a building, its coverage is limited and it only works with Vodafone handsets.


This ground-breaking femtocell technology has now been extended to make a real difference to rural communities similarly suffering. The open femto boxes are slightly bigger in size, and are more robust for the outdoor environment. Boxes are mounted on the outside of buildings and enable a signal to be generated within 300 meters, although the signal can be weakened by trees, walls, or anything else that gets in the way, hence the need for this new pilot study.

In time Vodafone hope the process can be rolled out to many more communities although it does require a lot of community co-operation. Unfortunately though this new technology will not be a green light to solving connectivity issues across the UK as by its very nature, open femto technology is only suitable for small areas, so ideal for small communities, especially public meeting places or focal points which are being called 'community hubs'. For coverage over a wider area, the installation of mobile phone masts remains the best option.

Community Shops Awards

The Plunkett Foundation has embarked on a search for the best examples of community action by launching the first ever Community Shop Awards - click here to find out how to nominate one of the ever growing number of community shops in South West Wiltshire!

Cranborne village becomes a Vodafone local “Champion”

The Dorset village of Cranborne is the latest rural community to receive a helping hand from technology giants Vodafone in an effort to improve 3G mobile phone coverage. Cranborne has become one of a cluster of local Champions to use the new Vodafone ‘open femto’ technology which provides vital connectivity in rural areas battling with poor broadband and 3G signal coverage. Low or no connectivity makes economic growth impossible given all the other problems that these areas share with urban communities.  

In 2011 Ofcom released a report highlighting the poor state of the UK’s communications infrastructure. Ofcom found 3G coverage was concentrated in urban areas and revealed that typically 2G signals reach only 66 percent of the country, with 3G signals reaching only an almost unbelievably low 13 percent.

In an effort to tackle these mobile not-spots, Vodafone has launched 12 trials for community-wide femtocells; the Dorset village of Cranborne being one of these to benefit. “These trials present a very real opportunity for rural communities to play a positive role in extending mobile coverage locally,” said the operator.

With the help of a Community Champion the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs AONB, local MP Bob Walter and the local Parish Council, Cranborne village put together an application to be w trail community, fighting off some stiff competition which resulted in 170 initial applications that in turn were shortlisted to 20 from which the final 12 were chosen.  As a result Cranborne now hosts 5 village Metro Cells which generate a Vodafone mobile signal which will doubtless be of enormous benefit to those living and working in the area. This will help everyone from delivery drivers, the local vet or doctor out on their rounds, the local B&B helping its residents to the local teenager wishing to use their social media apps.

On the 15^th March a celebratory event launching the Cranborne village femto programme will be held.  Bob Walter MP and Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, together with members of the local Parish Council, and key local businesses and residents will meet to celebrate; almost certainly with mobile in hand. Bob Walter commented in his letter of support that, “bringing a mobile phone signal to the area will not only make the day-to-day lives of residents, considerably easier, but will also help to sustain the economy of this rural village and create jobs and growth at a time when many rural villages are stagnating.”

Sure Signal

Vodafone is one of the few operators in the UK to offer femtocells to customers in order to solve the vexing issue of poor mobile phone reception. Otherwise known as Vodafone Sure Signal this small device, about the size of a broadband router, is available relatively cheaply from the operator for householders or businesses suffering signal failure. Whilst it does completely transform the mobile phone signal within a building, its coverage is limited and it only works with Vodafone handsets.

This ground-breaking femtocell technology has now been extended to make a real difference to rural communities similarly suffering. The open femto boxes are slightly bigger in size, and are more robust for the outdoor environment. Boxes are mounted on the outside of buildings and enable a signal to be generated within 300 meters, although the signal can be weakened by trees, walls, or anything else that gets in the way, hence the need for this new pilot study.

In time Vodafone hope the process can be rolled out to many more communities although it does require a lot of community co-operation. Unfortunately though this new technology will not be a green light to solving connectivity issues across the UK as by its very nature, open femto technology is only suitable for small areas, so ideal for small communities, especially public meeting places or focal points which are being called 'community hubs'. For coverage over a wider area, the installation of mobile phone masts remains the best option. 

New networking website for rural professionals

An experimental new Landbridge networking website for rural professionals has just gone live.  Landbridge provides a platform for inter-professional learning and opportunities for knowledge exchange with the research community.  

The challenges facing farmers and land managers have been exacerbated by pressures such as climate change and food security, and improving the skills and knowledge of the people who provide them with specialist advice, such as land agents, vets, ecologists and agronomists, has become a key imperative for the UK Government and for the industry.  

A panel from the professions has assisted with planning and implementing the initiative and continues to advise on its development.  Landbridge is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, Rural Economy and Land Use Programme and the Living With Environmental Change Partnership. 

Funding for Shops and Pubs - Act quickly

Rural communities across the UK are set to benefit from a new injection of funding to help them revive their villages through community enterprise.

The Plunkett Foundation has been awarded over £450,000 from long-term supporters the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to create a new comprehensive support service for rural communities considering setting up or diversifying community-owned services – like shops and pubs – to help turn the tide on rural decline.

For more information go to the Plunkett Foundation website: http://www.plunkett.co.uk/newsandmedia/news-item.cfm/newsid/655

Dorset residents are being urged to register their interest in superfast broadband ahead of a planned roll-out next summer.

The plan to improve network speeds across rural areas of Dorset is being finalised at the moment with Dorset County Council apparently close to determining a supplier for the infrastructure.


Dorset residents can improve the chances of the new network reaching their area by filling out a short questionnaire on DCC's website.
Under the Superfast Dorset project, all areas of Dorset are to receive a minimum of 2megabits per second (Mbps) by the end of 2014. 90-95% of Dorset will be able to purchase packages from their supplier of at least 24Mbps (current average is 6Mbps).
Robert Gould, Dorset County Council Cabinet member for the environment, said: "We need to demonstrate to suppliers that people in Dorset want this. The more people who register their interest from a particular area, the more likely that area will be included. Please register now, at www.dorsetforyou.com/superfast or by ringing 01305 221048."

Community Right to Bid comes into force

The Community Right to Bid, created in the Localism Act, came into force on the 21 September. The new right allows people to express an interest in acquiring property, such as buildings or land for the benefit of their community should they come up for sale.

The Community Right to Bid, created in the historic Localism Act, which has recently come into force across the country so communities can 'stop-the clock' on the sale of valuable local assets and amenities like post offices, village shops or community pubs, giving them time to put in a takeover bid of their own and protect it for the wider community's benefit.

The new right gives voluntary and community organisations and parish councils the opportunity to nominate an asset to be included on a list of 'assets of community value', pausing the sale of a successfully listed asset for six-months, giving communities the time to prepare a bid and get a business plan together. Previously the community had no opportunity or time to gather resources to bid to buy or take them over.

Communities are already showing their determination and appetite to get involved in saving and running local facilities and amenities and over 500 people are looking into using the Right to Bid in their community.

In Norden, local people formed a Trust to buy and refurbish the historic old library building and reopen it as a community facility. The group purchased the lease form the Local authority and since then the building has been transformed into a modern community hub and a doctor’s surgery.

In Cranleigh, the community is already planning to use the Community Right to Bid to return the first village hospital in the community back into the hands of the local people to provide support to the elderly in the community and ensure that the long history of the building as a community facility can continue.

The Community Right to Bid, is just one of the Community Rights measures brought in by the Localism Act. In June, the Government announced a £30million package of specialist support to help communities take advantage of their new rights.

Further information can be found on the following websites:

· A plain English guide to the Localism Act is available at: www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/localismplainenglishupdate.
· A Community Rights website has been launched to give people more information about the new powers and opportunities available to them. The website will continue to grow and expand as more of the Rights come into force. The site can be viewed here: www.communityrights.communities.gov.uk

· Practical help and guidance for those wishing to use the Community Right to Challenge is also available on the My Community Rights website. The site can be viewed here: mycommunityrights.org.uk/community-right-to-challenge/

Support needed for the village hall advice service

Village and community halls play important roles in their community as they provide a facility for social, recreational and cultural activity. An active hall can greatly improve the quality of life for the community. They are run by dedicated groups of volunteers, who have the responsibility for all aspects of management of the building in line with current legislation. ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) and the Rural Community Action Network (RCAN) have provided advice, information and support for rural communities managing village halls since the 1930s. As rural communities have changed and developed so has the support service but it is still as vital now, as it was then, in helping to shape the future sustainability of rural villages in England. In the current economic climate grant funding is in decline and there is more legislation and compliance for volunteers to deal with.

The RCAN states that the vital service it provides to support volunteers and the 10,000 village halls across England is at risk due to cuts in funding.

What can you do?

Write to your local Member of Parliament and express your concerns

Let your Local Authority know the value of your hall to your community and ask them if they are investing in the local Rural Community Action Network to support volunteers manage halls if not, why not?

Join your local Rural Community Action Network member organisation and use their services. They will understand your needs and the local area surrounding your hall.

New Community Blogsite for South West Wiltshire

New community blogsite in South West Wiltshire; the site is now live and you can access it via the link below:


www.southwestwilts.ourcommunitymatters.org.uk

If you have any issues or questions about using the site then please let me know; if I’m passing through your area I’m more than happy to drop by and show you how quickly you can post events, courses and news items or just give your opinion on something that you have seen on the site. If you notice any glitches then again please inform me so that we can get things ironed out as soon as possible. The site will only be as successful as the number of people who use it, so I really hope that groups and individuals in the area will be able to make use of such a useful tool.

If your local group/club/organisation has a website that we can provide a link to just let me know the details. Also, if you have a twitter account please follow @SW_Wiltshire which is the account I run for the Area Board. I will then be able to add your account to the list of those pulled in by the website.