During March and April the Pitton Community Shop Steering Group organised a community survey and held two public meetings to review the potential for the creation of a community shop in Pitton. The group promised to keep everybody in touch with the survey results and any ongoing plans.
We are pleased to announce we received an overwhelming positive response to keeping a shop in Pitton village.
The main details from the survey results are shown below:
- 167 households responded, representing 343 people. The response rate for Pitton was 64%.
- 156 felt that it was important to have a village shop in Pitton.
- 139 felt it was very important to have a Post Office in Pitton.
- Pitton residents said they were more likely to use the shop more frequently (daily or 2-3 times a week).
- As expected, Firsdown and Farley residents were more likely to use the shop once a fortnight or occasionally.
- 97 said they would use the shop on both weekdays and weekends.
- Opening hours between 8am and 6pm were the most popular.
- The most popular products to sell were newspapers/magazines, greeting cards/wrapping and local produce – followed by bakery, meat and dairy, fresh fruit and vegetables. Several commented that a modern farm shop style, well-stocked with fresh produce, would encourage them to shop more locally.
- Postal services were seen as by far the most important service followed by prescription collection. 76 gave support for a tearoom and coffee shop.
- Most people surveyed do not have regular food deliveries to their homes. However, there was little difference in the level of importance placed on the shop and post office between those who had deliveries and those who did not. This suggests that deliveries do not remove the need for local convenience shopping.
- Most respondents travel into Salisbury for their main weekly shop so the average round trip for a main weekly shop was 11.6 miles. Some cited supermarkets for convenience shopping, while others mentioned the One-Stop at Laverstock, the Winterslow shop or the BP garage – with an average round trip of 7.7 miles.
- 62 expressed an interest in buying shares and 61 in volunteering in the shop. People also offered to make donations, help with fundraising and/or provide a loan.
- 10 offered to provide professional advice or services and/or to join the steering group.
- The age range within households reflects the village demographic. There was good support for the project across the age ranges with a similar number of responses from adults over 65 (151) and adults under 65 (158).
We are now moving forward to create a legal entity which will be a Community Benefit Society. The initial committee members of the CBS will be the existing Steering Group members who will be responsible for reviewing potential locations and for developing a business plan detailing the funding, share offer, establishment and operational plans for the shop.
We will then hold a public meeting, around late summer/early Autumn, at which the business plan, location, funding requirements and details of the share offer will be presented for discussion.
This will be followed by a share offer. Then the members of the management committee of the CBS (or board of directors) will be elected at an AGM attended by those who have purchased shares. An important factor in the rules of a CBS is that voting is based on one vote per shareholder i.e. votes are not counted by number of shares held.
If you would like a copy of the full survey results please contact Brian at briancudby8@gmail.com.
Please address any other questions to any member of the Steering Group being; Brian Cudby, Ken Howard, Rachel Morrison, Lorna Taylor, Cliff Whitley and Lyn Whitley.
Pitton Community Shop Steering Group – May 2022