Villagers’ vision for a community shop (From Cotswold Journal)

Villagers’ vision for a community shop

10:00am Friday 5th October 2012 in News

BLEDINGTON is one step closer to a new community shop after plans were submitted to Cotswold District Council.

The village, near Kingham, has been without a shop for six years but a small band of dedicated volunteers have been working hard to get plans for a new one off the ground.

So far about £30,000 has been raised from the community and there are now 200 members who have joined the Bledington Community Shop Ltd. The new shop and café would be built on land at Middle Orchard and will include a wide range of services including locally sourced produce and a post office.

Benjamin Ball, committee member, said they were very keen to get a shop back in the village.

“There’s so much support,”

he said. “All the organisations are keen on this. It’s a real credit to the village.

“If we can get planning permission then the next stage is to gear up the fundraising.

We still have quite a lot of money to raise to get it built and to buy the land. It’s looking very positive.”

The committee has been encouraged by the strong support from the community, with 35 people volunteering since February to work in the shop and more have expressed an interest to volunteer once planning permission has been granted.

Michael Lear, Bledington Shop Committee chairman, said: “The community has been crying out for this. It’s been six years since the shop closed down. I think everyone is relieved we’ve finally got a real plan, a real location and we can see now that the shop is going to be built in Bledington.”

To view the plans, visit cotswold.gov.uk and follow the links for planning.