HERMON COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTRE

PROJECT PLAN

1. Project Plan

2. Project Description

3. Demand for Project

4. Funding Need

5. Project Delivery

6. Management and Monitoring

7. Financial Management

8. Project Funding

9. Project Work Plan Strategy

10. Exit Strategy

Appendix 1 Cash Flow

Action Plan for Development of a community owned resource Centre

2006-2008

1. Project Description

The purchase and renovation of Hermon Community Resource Centre is in line with one of the issues in the Action Plan of the Welsh Assembly Government 2004-7, Liveable Places, Strong Communities. ‘The places in which we live shape the way we live our lives.’ Helping communities such as the area of Hermon to identify and tackle local issues. The starting point for our developments was to conduct a Community Audit and hold numerous workshops with the assistance of PLANED. This led to the formation of a new Community Resource Centre Committee.

Once the building is purchased we will look to provide a new and improved facility at the village community resource centre site for use by the whole community and for the benefit of the Hermon area without distinction of sex or of political, religious or other opinions. In particular, the facilities will be used for meetings, lectures, classes and other forms of recreation and leisure time activities with the object of improving the skills and the quality of life for the local inhabitants.

Areas within the community resource centre will be designated as an information point, where local residents can pick up leaflets on energy saving, council tax, local services, environmental issues and events and activities held locally.

We will be planning to utilise additional areas within the building and grounds to assist developing new (independent) social enterprises and co-operative initiatives such as a Credit Union branch of Credcer Credit Union, a community voluntary run Nursery Provision, Community Shop and Tourist Information Point. All these activities will provide rental revenue to ensure a robust business model for the new centre.

2. Project Objectives

Objectives

• Purchase the old school building and facilities at the Hermon Primary School Site.

How: Create a social enterprise to draw in funds via grants bids, fundraising and rental from various community and social groups.

Also to renovate the community resource centre, to improve heating and insulation, kitchen, additional small committee/meeting room and to improve disabled access and toilet facilities.

When: 2006/2008

What: Purchase and renovate, adapt and extend the existing building to incorporate the new facilities.

Impact: To create a thriving, social enterprise, non grant dependant community centre offering opportunities to improve the skills and leisure time activities of the community.

• Increase number of community groups that will use the community resource centre

How: By publicity, by implementing results of survey and the renovated, comfortable community resource centre will attract more use.

When: 2006 and thereafter.

Impact: A vibrant community using the facilities of the community resource centre to their full extent, to develop their skills and leisure activities and encourage integration in community life and empowering the community to lead its own local development.

Targets

• Community groups to be assisted, 14 groups,

• Community services and community-owned sustainable assets supported. New social enterprise catalyst.

Activities

• We aim to assist all local community groups as itemised above and provide a fit for purpose pleasant meeting place.

• We will continue to promote and encourage the use of the Welsh language and providing opportunities for the acquisition of the language for non Welsh speaking inhabitants.

• In particular, we want to encourage more young people to become involved in activities to nurture their leadership skills, so that the village will have a viable future with people able to continue to promote village activities. At present we have a several ‘youth’ representatives on the community resource centre committee and will increase this representation to encourage more young people to become involved. The Hermon Young Farmers Committee is fully supportive and wishes to utilise the Centre as their new Club House space.

• We will engage in activities to attract those members of the community who traditionally have had little input into social activities, by introducing language and IT courses and new leisure activities, e.g. short mat bowls.

These targets have been identified by holding Community Workshops and previously by the circulation of a questionnaire, to ascertain the need for the project.

Results

The results will be achieved by purchase use of the new community resource centre facilities. The results will be a more vibrant and socially integrated community centred on the focal point of the village community resource centre.

Economic Development

The project will raise the skill levels of the communities through attendance at courses held in the Village Community resource centre and also the skills of the committee members during the lifetime of the project. It will assist in the regeneration of the Hermon community which has lost many of its basic services in the last few years. The focus of our community on Social Enterprise will be captured within this building and developments such as the New Cwm Arian Community Energy Company, The Youth Arts Association and the Community Marquees Projects will be able to receive support from the centre resources.

3. The Demand for the Project

Hermon is in the North East of Pembrokeshire in the ward of Llanfyrnach. The village shops have long closed and the bus services curtailed. With the closure of the primary school on the 30/06/06 there will be little opportunity for members of the community to meet and discuss community issues. Therefore the purchase of the School Building is a crucial element to sustaining this community. The community resource centre will become the focal point for the village; the need for the project has been evident for some time. Local groups have been complaining about the lack of meeting space in the village. The purchase of the old school building as a meeting place will allow community groups to plan for the future development of the site and to upgrade the current facilities. We will ensure that access issues comply fully with the current disabilities act requirements.

Evidence for the project came from the results of an initial questionnaire that was distributed around the village and local area. Over 90% of the questionnaires were returned, which clearly highlighted the need for the project. Subsequently village appraisals and workshops reinforced the need for a resource centre.

Copy and results of questionnaire attached in included in The Menter Preseli annex

We have written support from the various local organisations. Letters of support have been received from: Young Farmers, Llanfyrnach Church, Capel Hermon, Gardening Club, Marquee Committee, The Welfare Committee and Hermon Nursery School.

All groups contacted commented on the following:

Lack of space for small group meetings

Improve facilities needed for village

Use of community resource centre for youth activities

Improved facilities for welsh language & heritage enrichment

No meeting areas in Church and chapel for social functions

Lack of facilities for older people

If we are unable to obtain funding for our project the community school building and groups will be sold to a private party and the site will be lost to the community. The site is adjacent to the community owned playing field and pitches. The site offers an ideal opportunity to develop a community resource centre.

The other community halls that are located in a few of the neighbouring villages are not easily accessible also they have their own bookings and could not accommodate our activities. Without our own community resource centre the heart will go from the village and the community will disband, they will not travel to outlying community resource centres because this will not preserve the village’s community spirit.

4. Funding Need

The new Voluntary Committee for the Hermon Community Resource Centre will seek to attract funding to purchase the building at the cost of £120,000. Any legal and professional fees will also need to be covered and a request will be sent to the 14 community groups for donations to cover these additional costs.

We are applying to the Welsh Assembly for a £90,000 Community Facilities Activities Programme (CFAP) grant and we have currently £15,000 raised from fundraising sources. We will be working with development agencies such as PLANED and PAVS to seek additional Trust and Lottery funding as well as investigation gift and cooperative non-profit distributing shares or bonds form the local inhabitants.

5. Project Delivery

1. The project will provide meeting space and community resource, accessible by all the local community. We will be encouraging more community activities i.e. whist, bingo, welsh conversational classes and coffee mornings. Also new social enterprises will be encouraged to start-up in the resource centre to offer additional rent to maintain the running of the community resource centre. To ensure delivery of purchase and development of this project continual monitoring will be undertaken through personal contact of committee members and by feedback forms through which the projects success can be evaluated.

2. The Village Community resource centre Committee will oversee the development and monitoring of the project. The committee is composed of representatives from all group users and the local community.

3. We have kept close links with the various community and social sector organisations, the Pembrokeshire Association of Voluntary Services, PLANED, Pembrokeshire National Park which have assisted with the various sustainability initiatives to ensure future income streams for the resource centre.

4. The project will be focused on the Hermon Community Resource Centre and the surrounding area. The catchment area will include the villages of Glogue and Llanfyrnach, a new village forum by the name of Cymdeithas Cwm Arian has been created to oversee social and cultural developments within the area.

5. Our project is complimentary to other community initiative develop in the area. We would not be duplicating existing facilities but in fact could advertise and promote the other initiatives on our information board. There is a need for a community venue within our own area, travelling to a venue outside our own area would lead to the fragmentation of Hermon community; another rural community would be lost.

6. Our project will take account of the relevant local and regional strategies by being all inclusive in that we aim to bring together and make provision for the entire community. This will be done by trying to provide a wide and varied range of activities in a new community resource centre which has not been the case to date. By catering for all sections of the community we would hope to draw in many more people to participate in all activities whether these are of a social, health or educational nature. By doing so and investing in people’s various talents these will all help to make for a healthier, friendly and more business environment which in turn will aid in the regeneration and revitalisation of the local area.

In developing this project we will be working towards one of the key objectives in the National Economic Development Strategy of the Welsh Assembly Government, Winning Wales.

Creating Strong Communities

• By encouraging community regeneration and community and social businesses;

• By encouraging people from all backgrounds to gain the confidence and skills to participate in their local communities;

Supporting Rural Wales

• By recognising the importance which rural towns and villages play in rural regeneration?

7. The project will be promoted through publicity for example local radio, local press, publicity posters and information board at the community resource centre.

6. Management and Monitoring

The Chair of the Community resource centre committee will have the responsibilities to ensure that the project is monitored correctly. The Chair will assume overall responsibility and therefore be the project manager.

As previously stated the Village Community resource centre Committee is composed of representatives of the various users. It is the responsibility of each representative to communicate information to their respective group.

The Chair of the Committee is Councillor Lynn Davies who has close links with the various public bodies and can draw on the expertise of public sector staff to advise and mentor our community group. We will also be working with PLANED with regards to obtaining assistance with various aspects of the project management.

Members of the committee have attended the Workshops arranged by PLANED regarding “Plugging the Leaks” i.e. losing people, resources and cultural identity from our rural communities. Members of the group regularly attend PAVS and PLANED’s community training and development courses.

We will communicate to the wider community through public meetings, newsletters and social functions. Monitoring and feedback will be brought to the committee by the various representatives.

All committee members are volunteers and give of their time free of charge. They bring to the committee a wide and varied experience of management and finance; local farmers, small businesses, mainly tourism, the building trade and retired professionals.

Through regular meetings and SWAT analysis, problems will be detected at an early stage giving the committee time to take the necessary steps to evaluate progress and to solve any problems that may occur.

Monitoring and Evaluation of the Objectives

• Regular review of funding developments, regular meetings with community funding advisors.

• Regular monthly full Community resource centre committee meetings to assess feedback from local user groups.

• Feedback from the community will be from the various representatives. In a small community verbal feedback will be given on all aspects of the project. User satisfaction can be assessed through a comments book.

• A further newsletter/questionnaire will be sent to every household within a year of the project starting, requesting feedback and further suggestions. The results of this survey will be monitored by the committee.

• Review progress of newly formed groups, inviting representatives onto community resource centre committee.

• Monitoring bookings diary and accounts. At end of year review booking fees and further publicise community resource centre for generating additional income.

7. Financial Management

Within the development plans for the resource centre we will wish to offer a social enterprise based on book-keeping and payroll. Many of the identified social enterprises have aspirations for employing staff that will be sited at the Resource Centre. The financial management of the initial purchase of the building will be controlled by the Treasurer of the newly formed committee. As expansion plans materialise and funding for staff is secured – we will look to a dedicated admin function to control all bookings and accounts for the resource centre. The community resource centre committee will keep financial control of the project.

8. Project Funding

Anticipated Cash Flow Forecast

Appendix 1. attached

10. Project Work Plan

The initial focus of the project will be to clinch the purchase of the building. The securing of the CFAP funding will greatly improve the chances of the community being able to raise the full funds quickly and taking up occupancy before the site deteriorates due to being empty.

The second phase upgrading of the building falls outside the scope of the CFAP grant but without the CFAP grant assistance the building might be lost to the community. We are planning for a Lottery Bid to assist with the kitting out of the site in 2007/2008 and upgrading the facilities offered

Work envisaged will include:

• Alterations to interior with new Toilets

• Renew roof coverings including eaves boarding and rainwater goods

• Renew Heating with Bio-fuel system.

• Reline walls including insulation and skirting

• Renew existing windows and external doors

• Renew floor finish with laminated wood flooring

• Additional Digital Notice boards

10. Exit Strategy

• The Committee are working closely with the other community groups to develop social enterprise initiatives for revenue generation, organising and holding fund raising events and looking at bookings at regular intervals

• This project will finish once the purchase and construction work is complete.

• The Committee will in the future look to appointing a centre coordinator/caretaker when finances are in place.

• Frequently monitoring feedback from community resource centre users. Use form for monitoring.

• The rental agreements with the 14 community groups will ensure an average of £500 rent per group thus a £7,000 income stream has been identified from community groups

• Social Enterprises who have healthy surpluses will be asked to contribute additional resources to maintain and develop the centre. i.e. the Cwm Arian Community Owned Wind Turbines are planning to erect 2 x 1.2MW wind turbines in 2007. This initiative will see over £100k per annum devoted towards community renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives – many of which will be promoted form the Hermon Community Resource Centre.

April 2006