At last Wednesday’s full Council, the Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, called on the Labour Administration to back his proposal to establish a Community Shop in Oldham with hard cash.
Following the opening of an outlet in London last year, Cllr Sykes wrote to Community Shop suggesting Oldham would be a suitable location for a store. He then had an invitation to visit the Community Shop’s flagship store in Barnsley in February this year and also had a behind-the-scenes exclusive tour of the food distribution warehouse.
Cllr Sykes said: “At February’s Council, I asked the Council Leader if he would be willing to work with me to establish a store in Oldham. Cllr McMahon has now referred the matter to the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Board but I am keen to see the store up and running as soon as possible as I am convinced about the great benefits it would bring for the poorest households in our borough.”
Community Shop is a social enterprise that helps benefit claimants by providing them with the opportunity to purchase heavily-discounted ‘surplus’ food sourced from commercial supermarkets and the support they need to get back into employment.
Other than the prices, to all intents and purposes, the shop looks just like a regular supermarket with all food in date and fit to eat; it is cheaper because this is surplus food discarded by other retailers because it is misshapen or it has damaged packaging.
Describing the Community Shop concept as “worthy and practical”, Cllr Sykes also described his impressions of the merits of the project:
“Not only does this reduce food waste by selling ‘surplus food’ at discounted prices to local people on a low income, but you the project also addresses the waste of human potential and talent by engaging its members in productive training and activity that leads to employment.”
“The project provides participants with dignity, because they are able to purchase a range of quality goods at low prices, rather than receiving donations; with continuity, because they are able to access such food purchases on an ongoing basis as required; and with hope, because alongside this retail offer they are able to access support to move into work.”
Community Shop is keen to open up in Oldham. Its business model is sustainable with sales income being used to run the store and finance the activities that help members find work, but there is a sticking point.
Cllr Sykes described what this is: “The Community Shop model is sustainable but it requires significant initial capital investment to renovate an identified building to make it welcoming and fit for purpose.”
“At Wednesday’s full Council I asked the Council Leader to use some of the massive underspend in the Council’s Local Welfare Provision budget to back Community Shop. This Administration has previously given a commitment to use this money in other ways to benefit Oldham’s poor, so I asked the Leader and his Cabinet colleagues to commit to making available from this budget the £200,000-300,000 that will be needed to make an Oldham Community Shop a reality.”