BIG Lottery is awarding over £1m to the Plunkett Foundation for woodland social enterprises . Fifty communities across the UK will receive support to transform unmanaged woodland into opportunities for jobs, leisure, education and services and to improve the health and wellbeing of local people. Find out more here. [Source: Big Lottery]
New rural public transport company provides lifeline in Northumberland
Bus driver Steve Hurst set up Spirit Buses having spotted a ‘gap that’s long needed filling’. The Coquetdale valley in Northumberland national park has long had it all – except public transport. All that changed this autumn, when a local man fulfilled a life-long ambition to launch his own bus company to link up the villages of his valley, providing a “lifeline” to pensioners and teens without driving licences who were otherwise stuck in their homes. Read more in The Guardian, 4 January 2015
Ideas for change: Community-led self-help housing
Over the last two years great strides have been made in putting community-led self-help housing back on the map. Jon Fitzmaurice, who set up self-help-housing.org, writes about some of the new housing organisations that are taking on empty properties and helping re-build communities. The article includes plenty of examples. Read more in New Start, 6 November 2014
Guidance on mutuals and social enterprises: a quick guide
A quick guide to mutuals and social enterprises has been published by law firm Nabarro. The government has championed mutuals and SEs as key enablers in the creation of the ‘Big Society’ in the hope that they will become important providers at the forefront of public service delivery. This guide summarises what mutuals and SEs are, their policy and legal context within the Big Society and some of the issues and challenges associated with them. Download the guide here
