Stroud Common Wealth Community Benefit Society
Building Community Wealth
for Social, Cultural & Economic Renewal
Stroud Common Wealth exists to own and develop property for community benefit and to enable social enterprise development.
Stroud Common Wealth has achieved local and national prominence by enabling, assisting and contributing towards the success of a wide range of innovative projects.
Established in 1999 by a group of Stroud activists, SCW is an enabling organisation.
It doesn’t seek to become a large organisation, to “scale” – to use the current parlance.
Rather, it identifies needs and opportunities in the community, develops business plans to address them, assembles and capacity-builds groups of key people to manage the initiatives, raises funds for their establishment and maintains a close and active interest in the projects until they are ready to support themselves. Then lets them go.
Projects
Stroud Communiversity
Stroud Communiversity offers the opportunity to learn from a range of innovative land, food, farming, sustainability, social enterprise and housing projects in the Stroud area. Events include an annual summer school, day workshops, action learning and exchange visits.
Community Farm Land Trusts
The purpose of the Community Farm Land Trusts (CFLT) Project is to enable the development of CFLTs for sustainable agriculture and horticulture, controlled by and for the benefit of local communities.
Stroud Social Enterprise Centre
The SEC offers tools for individual and social enterprise, with business start up advice, information, action learning groups, specialist social enterprise support, newsletters, mentoring, drop in clinics, workshops, fundraising networking and office space.
Gloucestershire Land for People
SCW was funded by Gloucestershire County Council to carry out a feasibility study into setting up a community land trust for affordable homes in the Stroud area in 2003-4. This resulted in setting up Gloucestershire Land for People, a pioneering community land trust.
The Exchange
The Exchange is an innovative shared workspace located in the centre of Stroud. The new office space housed in the former Selsley Herb & Spice building on Brick Row has undergone a phased refurbishment and now offers shared workspaces, meeting rooms, hot desks and event hosting.
The Exchange provides cost effective furnished workspaces to local companies, charities, social enterprises and community groups. It also offers meeting rooms and hot desking. To arrange a viewing or to find out more, please email info@theexchangestroud.org.uk or to find out more visit The Exchange.
The SPACE
Lansdown Hall was bought for £112,500 from Gloucestershire County Council in February 2000 at less than market cost because of the social benefits of an arts centre.
SCW enabled the successful running of The SPACE by Reclaim Arts Project Charity Ltd, and sold it to Reclaim in 2006 for the same price, so that Reclaim could make the most of conversion grants to make it into a first class performing arts venue. A covenant restricts resale to arts and educational uses.
Rodborough Fields?
Possibly a write up here?