Co-op News July 2022

JULY 2022 

SAVING SPACES 

FOR FUTURE 

GENERATIONS 

Plus … Updates from the 

UK Co-operative Congress ... 

Results from the International 

Cooperative Alliance elections 

... Meet James Alcock, CEO of 

the Plunkett Foundation 

ISSN 0009-9821 

770009 982010 

01 

£4.20 

www.thenews.coop

The 2022 Co-operative Press 

Annual General Meeting 

We will be convening a virtual AGM in 2022. 

6-7.30pm, Monday 25 July 

In accordance with Rule 20 of the Co-operative Press Rules, any member may submit a 

proposal to the Annual Meeting of members in writing to the Secretary. 

The timetable is as follows 

5pm, Monday 13 June 2022 

Closing Date for Receipt of Proposals 

Monday 27 June 2022 

Agenda and Proposals sent out to members 

5pm, Monday, 11 July 2022 

Closing date for receipt of amendments to Proposals. 

Tuesday, 12 July 2022 

Notice of the final Agenda and the Annual Accounts sent out to members 

and made available online. 

With regard to amendments to any proposals (as stated in Rule 21), any member may send to 

the directors any amendment to any proposal appearing on the agenda or any amendment 

to any matter forming part of the business of the meeting, and provided such amendment be 

received by the secretary prior to the Annual Meeting, it shall be circulated to members as 

soon as is practicable as an additional business paper for consideration at the meeting. 

Please note that by submitting a proposal, members are committing themselves to attend the 

Annual Meeting if their proposal is accepted onto the Agenda. 

For further updates on the AGM, please visit www.thenews.coop/AGM2022 

The Secretary 

Co-operative Press Ltd, Holyoake House, 

Hanover Street, Manchester, M60 0AS 

secretary@thenews.coop

Saving spaces, 

preserving places 

CONNECTING, CHAMPIONING AND 

CHALLENGING THE GLOBAL CO-OP 

MOVEMENT SINCE 1871 

Holyoake House, Hanover Street, 

Manchester M60 0AS 

(00) 44 161 214 0870 

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editorial@thenews.coop 

EXECUTIVE EDITOR 

Rebecca Harvey | rebecca@thenews.coop 

INTERNATIONAL EDITOR 

Anca Voinea | anca@thenews.coop 

DIGITAL EDITOR 

Miles Hadfield | miles@thenews.coop 

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT 

Alice Toomer-McAlpine 

alice@thenews.coop 

DESIGN 

Andy Bellis | andy@thenews.coop 

DIRECTORS 

Elaine Dean (chair); David Paterson 

(vice-chair); Sofygil Crew; Victoria 

Green; Tim Hartley; Phil Hartwell; 

Gillian Lonergan; Beverley Perkins; 

Shaz Rahman; Lesley Reznicek 

Secretary: Richard Bickle 

Established in 1871, Co-operative 

News is published by Co-operative 

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the Co-operative and Community 

Benefit Society Act 2014. It is printed 

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Membership of Co-operative Press is 

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statement is to connect, champion 

and challenge the global co-operative 

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CBP013274 

St Ives in Cornwall is one of the most beautiful places in the country. But 

it is also one of the places with the highest number of Airbnbs per capita, 

and has an astronomical discrepancy between the price of housing and the 

wages of the people who live and have a life there. 

The ‘First NOT Second Homes’ action group was set up in St Ives to raise 

awareness of the fact that people are struggling or unable to find homes to 

buy or rent due to issues associated with second home ownership. ‘Homes 

are for life, not just for holidays’, it says. ‘Every second home prevents a 

first home’. 

The group campaigns for urgent and immediate changes in legislation that 

“effectively tackles the problems associated with second home ownership 

and which contributes to communities being lost, families and individuals 

being displaced and homelessness.” 

St Ives is just one example of many around the country and the world 

affected by the issue of space, and how to safeguard it fairly for the 

people and community who need it, use it and love it. So this month we 

are looking at examples of how co-ops are involved in this preservation 

of space, both urban and rural, and how communities are finding 

ways to lead and support these changes, from CLTs in Cornwall 

and the USA (p36-37), to rural preservation in Minnesota (p40-41) 

and Canada (p38-40). 

We also hear how co-ops are using the power of communities to make 

a difference in spaces, such as the UAE (p46-47) and rural Britain 

(p22-23). And we hear about those setting up and preserving music 

spaces, with the Co-op Group’s Co-op Live venue set to be the biggest in 

the UK (p42-43) – and Sister Midnight sounding out their own space for 

a grassroots music venue in Lewisham (p44-45). 

This issue we also include coverage of the ICA’s General Assembly 

(p26-29), and the Co-operative Congresses that took place in the UK 

(p30-33) and Canada (p34-35). As we approach the International Day of 

Cooperatives (2 July), co-operating for a better, fairer world – where 

everyone has the space to live, work and play – has never been more 

important. 

REBECCA HARVEY - EXECUTIVE EDITOR 

Co-operative News is printed using vegetable oil-based inks 

on 80% recycled paper (with 60% from post-consumer waste) 

with the remaining 20% produced from FSC or PEFC certified 

sources. It is made in a totally chlorine free process. 

JULY 2022 | 3

ISSN 0009-9821 

9 770009 982010 

01 

THIS ISSUE 

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: 

Co-operatives UK’s Rose Marley welcomes 

delegates to the UK Co-operative Congress 

(p30-33); Quay Co-op in Cork has become a 

local icon (p38-39); Co-op Live is one of a 

new wave of co-operative music venues 

(p42-43); Updates from the ICA General 

Assembly (p26-29); James Alcock, CEO of 

the Plunkett Foundation (p22-23) 

JULY 2022 

SAVING SPACES 

FOR FUTURE 

GENERATIONS 

Plus … Updates from the 

UK Co-operative Congress ... 

Results from the International 

Cooperative Alliance elections 

... Meet James Alcock, CEO of 

the Plunkett Foundation 

£4.20 

www.thenews.coop 

COVER: SAVING SPACE FOR THE FUTURE 

A Canadian Plains indigenous person 

at the Wanuskewin Heritage Park, 

Saskatoon, Canada, which is bidding for 

UNESCO World Heritage status 

(Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images) 

Read more: p36-37 

22-23 MEET ... JAMES ALCOCK 

CEO of the Plunkett Foundation 

26-29 ICA GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND 

COCETA CONFERENCE 

Updates from the International Cooperative 

Alliance General Assembly – including 

election results – hosted in Seville, Spain. 

30-33 UK CO-OPERATIVE CONGRESS 

Reports from the UK’s gathering of coops 

and co-operators, who explored the 

concept of ‘Empowering Co-operation’ 

34-35 CANADIAN CO-OPERATIVE 

CONGRESS 

A three-day event showcasing the power 

of co-operation in Canada, and sharing 

lessons from the pandemic 

36-47 SAVING SPACES 

As space on our planet becomes a 

premium, how are co-ops preserving it for 

future generation? 

36-37 COMMUNITY LAND TRUSTS How 

is the CLT model carving out space for 

affordable housing around the world? 

38-39: QUAY CO-OP, CORK 

The co-op that became a local icon after 

40 years in its community 

38-40: WANUSKEWIN HERITAGE PARK, 

CANADA 

A living reminder of peoples’ sacred 

relationship with the land 

40-41 TAMARACK LAND COOPERATIVE, 

MINNESOTA 

Creating a community hub in Cook 

County 

42-43 SOUNDING OUT CO-OPERATION 

The co-ops plugging in new music venues 

44-45 SISTER MIDNIGHT 

The mission to create grassroots music 

venue in Lewisham 

46-47 SHARJAH CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY 

Community co-operation in the UAE 

48-49 INTERVIEW: BHIMA 

SUBRAHMANYAM 

President, International Cooperative 

Banking Association 

REGULARS 

5-13 UK news 

14-21 Global news 

22-23 Meet 

24 Letters 

25 

50 

Obituaries 

Events 

4 | JULY 2022

NEWS 

COMMUNITY PUBS 

Stronger community rights ‘could boost urban co-op pub sector’ 

A report from the Plunkett Foundation 

argues that improved community rights 

legislation, flexible funding and support 

would boost the number of urban 

community-owned pubs in the UK. 

Plunkett, a support organisation for 

community-owned services including 

pubs and shops, says this will “breathe 

new life into neglected buildings and 

transform their neighbourhoods”. 

The number of community-owned pubs 

has grown rapidly in the last 20 years, it 

says, from four in 2002 to 147 now trading 

across the UK. However, only 22 (15%) of 

these are based in urban areas. 

Plunkett has carried out new research, 

funded by Power To Change, into why 

so few community-owned pubs are 

established in urban areas. 

The research revealed that the most 

common reason for an urban community 

pub failing to reach trading status is 

private competition for the purchase 

of the pub building. Over half (52%) of 

200 urban community groups that had 

contacted Plunkett for free support and 

advice were outbid when trying to buy 

their pub through a competitive process. 

The second most common reason 

is the inability to raise the escalating 

purchase price of urban pubs, with some 

pub buildings costing up to £950,000 on 

the open market, due to their residential 

development value. 

Plunkett warns that community pub 

projects are often complex and timeconsuming 

for a volunteer-led sector. Its 

research identified that where groups 

struggle to recruit volunteers, accessing 

revenue funding to hire additional 

capacity, alongside any other programme 

p The Gardeners Rest in Sheffield 

p The Bevy in Brighton is one of the success stories of the urban community pub sector 

of advice and support, could be 

transformational. 

The research makes a number of policy 

recommendations: 

• Introduce a Community Right to Buy, as 

exists in Scotland, to allow communities 

first refusal on registered pub buildings 

when they come up for sale 

• Provide dedicated advisory and 

capacity-building support, to nurture 

the development of community-owned 

pub projects in urban areas 

• Offer more varied and flexible funding 

programmes, such as the provision of 

revenue and capital funding. 

In the report, many urban community 

pubs and developing projects highlight 

the value of business advice, peer 

learning and mentoring, without which 

their projects might not have succeeded. 

Plunkett says this is supported by the 

results of its More than a Pub programme 

where the chances of success for 

community pub projects increased from 

one in ten to one in three, where bursaries 

and advisor support were provided. This 

success rate rose to 100% where a loan 

and grant package was provided. 

Claire Spendley, head of community 

business at Plunkett, said: “Despite the 

challenges involved, urban community 

pubs can bring huge benefits to local 

people. They can rebuild the social fabric 

of an urban area by offering a place to 

meet, vital services and providing many 

social benefits, such as affordable meals, 

children’s activities, club meeting spaces, 

community gardens, dementia cafes, 

and pop-up health surgeries. Community 

ownership of a pub can restore a feeling 

of pride in place, and allow people to 

transform a closed business into a thriving 

community hub. 

“This research shows that the interest 

in community-ownership of pubs in 

urban areas exists. Plunkett Foundation 

is committed to growing the communityowned 

pub sector and we look forward 

to working with partners to achieve this, 

implementing the recommendations 

proposed.” 

Nick Plumb, policy and public affairs 

manager at Power to Change, said: “With 

vacancy rates at an all-time high, urban 

community pubs have an important role 

to play in securing the future of our high 

streets. They are a clear example of local 

people reclaiming important social spaces 

and as big retail moves out community 

pubs will provide the destination spaces 

to draw people in. It is therefore vital that 

communities have the power, tools and 

funding needed to secure these spaces 

and ensure our towns remain vibrant.” 

Communities wishing to safeguard their 

local pub through community ownership 

should contact the Plunkett Foundation 

for free advice and training on 01993 

630022. 


COMMUNITY ENERGY FORTNIGHT 

Energy co-ops face their toughest year yet – and are calling on the 

government for help in their battle against climate change 

The UK marked Community Energy 

Fortnight (11-24 June) with events including 

a conference on the carbon transition and 

report on the challenges facing the sector. 

The State of the Sector 2022 report, 

compiled by apex bodies Community 

Energy England (CEE), Community Energy 

Scotland and Community Energy Wales, 

warns that energy co-ops face their most 

challenging year yet and calls on the 

government to support their efforts on 

local climate action, jobs, community 

wealth-building and energy bills. 

The report is critical of the government’s 

failure to support the sector, after it had 

been urged to do so by MPs on the all-party 

Environmental Audit Committee. 

It says the sector managed a number 

of achievements in 2021, delivering 

“new community owned renewable 

electricity generation, new jobs, millions 

in community benefit and savings to billpayers, 

and is leading on the emergency 

response to the energy bill crisis”. 

These include £21.5m raised in 

investments for new projects across the 

UK, with £15m of community energy 

income spent in local economies. 

There was a 38% increase in the delivery 

of community-led energy efficiency and 

energy saving services, the report adds, 

and there are now 123 community energy 

organisations working on local energy 

efficiency. Projects include fuel poverty 

and energy advice, building improvement, 

community education, and direct funding 

to localities. Energy efficiency interventions 

are estimated to have reached 57,600 

people or organisations and saved over 

£3.3m for UK households. 

Survey data recently released by Ofgem 

suggests UK households would back more 

urgent action, with 41% of consumers 

now concerned about the affordability of 

household bills, and declining consumer 

satisfaction with fossil fuel providers 

across the country. 

Duncan Law, acting co-CEO (policy 

& advocacy) at CEE, said: “Community 

energy organisations across the UK 

continue to explore new ways to accelerate 

the transition to a fair, sustainable, smart 

and net zero energy system. The State 

of the Sector 2022 report highlights not 

only the increasing local engagement and 

impact of community energy projects, but 

also the sector’s adaptability and resilience 

in the absence of support from government. 

“Community energy will continue 

determinedly to drive local climate action 

and deliver community benefit. With a 

little investment from the government 

it could grow exponentially and be the 

indispensable local champions of net zero.” 

Scott Mathieson, director of planning 

and regulation at SP Energy Networks, 

added: “We are delighted to support the 

State of the Sector report for a fourth year. 

This year’s report is providing timely data, 

which we will study carefully to ensure we 

can support our local communities in the 

best possible way.” 

The report calls on the government to 

create a national community energy fund 

to invest in and re-mobilise community 

energy. It also wants ministers to “prioritise 

demand reduction and behaviour change 

by enabling community energy leadership 

in retrofit, energy advice/ fuel poverty 

alleviation for the energy crisis”. 

And government should “put community 

energy at the heart of local energy planning 

initiatives”, it adds. 

This would require a change of tack: 

the report warns that “despite COP26 and 

increasing public support for renewable 

UK’s biggest DNO 

appoints specialist 

engineers to support 

renewable co-ops 

Britain’s biggest distribution network 

operator (DNO) has become the first in the 

country to pledge operational support for 

local energy co-ops. 

DNOs are companies that own and 

operate the infrastructure that connects 

electricity networks to customers, making 

the decision by Western Power Distribution 

(WPD) important for community energy. 

WPD said the engineers will liaise over 

business plans with the co-ops active in its 

energy, government support mechanisms 

have been removed and in 2021 the sector 

installed only 7.6mW of new electricity 

generation capacity”. 

It adds: “This is a notable achievement 

given the additional challenges of the Covid 

pandemic, but when seen alongside a 65% 

increase in the number of organisations 

reporting stalled projects, totalling 68mW, 

the slowdown indicates the significant 

potential of the sector held back, in part, 

by the government making it harder rather 

than easier for communities to take their 

own action towards net zero.” 

Community energy groups have 

increasingly relied on their own resources 

to provide events such as community 

workshops and cafes; energy switching 

and energy monitoring support surgeries; 

building audits and retrofit assessments; 

installation advice on clean energy tech 

such as heat pumps; insulation and 

four licence areas, which stretch across the 

south from Cornwall to East Anglia. These 

areas have more than 20% of the UK’s 

community 271 community energy groups, 

generating 100mW of renewable power 

between them. 

A company statement said: “Interest in 

decarbonisation, renewable power, energy 

efficiency and helping people in fuel 

poverty is growing at a local level resulting 

in the rise of community energy groups. 

“Providing more expert support for 

them is among commitments in our 

£6.7bn business plan for 2023-28, which 

has a major focus on helping customers 

achieve net zero carbon emissions, for 

example by connecting electric vehicles 

and heat pumps. 


draught proofing services; and glazing and 

lighting refurbishment services. 

The sector has also provided over 4,000 

recipients with over £470,000 of direct 

support through community funds and 

other mechanisms, to support building 

upgrades for those not able to pay, training 

for local energy advice champions, and 

fuel vouchers for those in energy poverty. 

Community energy organisations had 

a total community benefit fund value last 

year of £4.9m across 98 organisations, and 

distributed £1.35m, the report adds. 

There was further discussion of the state 

of play for the sector on 18 June in Bristol, 

when CEE, with Bristol Energy Network, 

hosted its Energy Transition Conference. 

The event included a look at the value 

of local council partnerships, with a 

presentation from Bristol City Council of its 

work to support the sector. 

This includes City Leap, a project to 

deliver low carbon energy infrastructure, 

such as solar PV, heat networks, heat 

pumps and energy efficiency measures at 

scale. More than 180 businesses applied to 

be strategic partner on the scheme and the 

council selected Ameresco Ltd, a cleantech 

integrator and renewable energy asset 

developer, owner and operator. 

It will work on the project in collaboration 

with Vattenfall Heat UK, Sweden’s 

nationally owned energy company, which 

specialises in low and zero-carbon heat. 

Private sector partners will contribute 

capital funding, including £424m over the 

first five years of the 20-year partnership, 

and the expectation is that the scheme will 

remove around 140,000 tonnes of carbon 

across the city in the first five years. 

In that first five years, £4m of the funding 

has been earmarked for community energy 

projects, the conference was told. 

There was also discussion of Smart 

Local Energy Systems (SLES), which use 

smart meters and big data to optimise the 

electricity grid to provide a more flexible 

and reactive system, and could make use 

of local micro-grids using community 

renewables. 

Other events for the fortnight included 

webinars on fuel poverty and retrofitting, 

guided tours of Westmill wind and solar 

farms in Oxfordshire, and an eco marquee 

on clean energy issues by Harbury Energy 

Initiative at the Warwickshire village’s 

summer carnival. 

“We are planning to employ four new 

community energy engineers to provide 

extensive assistance for around 100 

existing community energy groups in its 

area, as well as enabling 150 new ones to 

get started by 2028.” 

The first community engineer to be 

hired is Faithful Chanda, who said: “We 

want to encourage more groups to connect 

their solar, wind or hydro projects onto 

the network and my job is to help them 

understand they are not alone.” 

WPD says the scheme will see engineers 

combine their technical understanding 

with local knowledge to help community 

energy groups connect to our network, 

offering personalised one-to-one sessions, 

signposts to sources of finance and 

introductions to additional contacts. 

They will also supply training, how-to 

guides, webinars and case studies, and 

organise events to raise awareness of 

low-carbon technologies and renewable 

connections. 

WPD’s business plan for 2023-28 commits 

it to connecting 30 new community 

energy groups a year to its network – a 

150% increase – and it pledges to hold 60 

community energy surgeries a year. 

“The role of community energy engineers 

is important if the UK is to decarbonise by 

2035,” said Mr Chanda. “Communities and 

companies like WPD will have to work 

closely to ensure low carbon technologies 

are adopted to bring about the scale of 

change needed.” 

p Faithful Chanda 


CROWDFUNDERS 

Shrub low-carbon co-op needs £8,000 for its sustainability hub 

A community co-op in Edinburgh which is 

working to build a low-carbon society has 

launched an £8,000 crowdfunder to help 

it qualify for National Lottery Funding. 

Shrub supports sustainability efforts 

in the city, providing “a welcoming space 

for rethinking our relationship to waste, 

reducing consumption and developing 

effective use of resources”. 

It develops and shares skills, supports 

community empowerment, and delivers 

“innovative waste prevention, creative 

reuse and repair practices in a living 

laboratory of circular economy”. 

Initiatives include the Swapshop, where 

people can swap, donate or buy secondhand 

clothing, books, shoes, bags and 

household items; upcycling workshops; 

a food sharing hub; the Zero Waste Hub 

Cafe; and the Wee Spoke Hub where 

trained mechanics run bike-fixing lessons. 

Shrub has just been awarded a 

Community Led Grant from the Lottery for 

its Zero Waste Community Hub – but one 

of the conditions is that it secure £8,000 of 

match funding. On the crowdfunder page, 

which offers rewards for donations, the 

p The co-op runs the Food Sharing Hub - “Scotland’s first rescued food shop” 

co-op says the money will allow it to 

continue efforts such as making a circular 

economy accessible to those on lower 

incomes, and saving unsold clothing 

away from foreign textile markets and 

landfill by directing it to hostels and 

other charities. 

Educational initiatives include teaching 

people to repair clothing through 

workshops, educating the community on 

the importance of slow fashion, climate 

behaviour change and employability 

training – offering skills in customer 

service, communications, governance and 

policy, barista work and shop pricing. 

The funds will also allow it to continue 

using its premises as a Zero Waste Hub 

and to run its vegan cafe and community 

space, to organise community events 

and Freeshops to keep unwanted items 

from landfill, and to help local people 

struggling with food poverty. 

Bread + Roses venue 

raises £20k in a week to 

save community space 

A co-operative community hub in 

Bradford has smashed its crowdfunding 

target of £20,000 to save the space from 

immediate closure, and is now seeking 

a stretch target of a further £10,000 to 

secure its future beyond 2023. 

In just one week, 150 people have 

donated a combined total of over £10,000 

which has been boosted by a further 

£10,000 from the Power to Change 

Crowdmatch Fund, to save the memberowned 

cafe and venue Bread + Roses. 

Bread + Roses is a co-operative cafe, 

workspace, and community venue that 

offers a programme of creative workshops 

and wellbeing events and provides local 

volunteering opportunities. 

This is the third crowdfunder Bread + 

Roses has run since it was set up four years 

ago, having previously raised £2,500 and 

a further £10,000 from the community. 

Despite generating the majority of its 

income from its trading activities, Bread 

+ Roses is dependent on grant funding 

for 20% of its revenue, which equates to 

around £40,000 a year. Though trading 

income has grown over recent years, grant 

funding has become harder to secure, 

leading to the threat of closure. 

The campaign has sparked support 

from the city’s creatives, including 

producer and podcaster Richard Dunbar, 

who said: “Bread + Roses defines a sense 

of community and what Bradford is really 

about, there’s so much going on here. 

“More importantly it’s really about what 

being co-operative stands for, it’s about 

community, it’s about looking after each 

other – and let’s not forget that’s what 

Bradford’s radical history, present and 

future is built on.” 

Gina Riley, Bread + Roses officer, added: 

“This place is a sanctuary for many and 

there’s no other place like it in Bradford. 

It is so important that we nurture and look 

after what we have built here, especially 

with Bradford winning city of culture 

recently. It would be such a shame to lose 

such a valuable asset to the city.” 

The team is now aiming to raise another 

£10,000 to further safeguard the co-op’s 

future. Reaching their stretch target of 

£30,000 would give the co-op time to 

restructure and secure sustainable grant 

funding as a charitable community benefit 

society. 


RETAIL 

Tech partnerships drive new co-op initiatives on food waste 

The Co-op Group and East of England Coop 

have announced separate initiatives 

to continue their efforts to eliminate food 

waste, both involving digital partnerships. 

The Group has teamed up with 

Microsoft to develop Caboodle, a not-forprofit 

digital platform which will connect 

supermarkets, cafés and restaurants with 

community groups and volunteers to 

redistribute surplus food. 

The project, supported by technology 

consultancy BJSS and Team ITG, is being 

tested by environmental charity Hubbub, 

which runs the Community Fridge 

Network – another project which has had 

involvement from the Group. 

Built on Microsoft’s Power Platform 

technology, Caboodle aims to “create 

a single place where food retailers 

and businesses across the hospitality 

sector can connect with volunteers and 

community groups in every city, town and 

village in the UK, helping to share food 

when and where it is needed”. 

Shirine Khoury-Haq, interim CEO of the 

Group, said: “The amount of good quality 

surplus food that’s not currently being 

redistributed is astounding. 

“We’re currently trialling Caboodle 

in over 100 food stores and the results 

we’re seeing so far are incredible. We’ll be 

rolling it out across our entire estate next 

month and hope that all other retailers 

and businesses within hospitality will see 

the benefit too. 

“The more organisations use Caboodle 

the simpler and more effective it will be for 

volunteers and community groups to gain 

access to good food.” 

The platform, on trial at Group stores 

in Northern Ireland, Milton Keynes and 

London, goes live this month across a 

further 2,500 food stores. It is open to a 

range of charities and community groups, 

from food banks and family support 

networks to youth groups and schools. 

Caboodle will make it easier for 

supermarkets, cafes and restaurants to 

share their surplus food on a daily basis, 

says the Group. Community groups will 

be able to book and schedule slots and 

receive live notifications when new slots 

are available via a digital noticeboard. 

Estelle Herszenhorn, food lead at 

sustainability campaign organisation 

Wrap, said: “Surplus food redistribution 

has been a success story over recent years. 

320,000 tonnes of food worth £1bn was 

saved from going to waste between 2015 

and 2020, providing the equivalent of 220 

million meals. But much more good food 

is still going to waste. 

“Innovations like Caboodle that can 

help to overcome common barriers and 

ease redistribution of surplus food are 

really exciting and have the potential to 

make serious inroads into the estimated 

200,000 tonnes that could still be 

redistributed.” 

Alex Robinson, CEO of Hubbub, said: 

“We’re pleased to be supporting the 

development of Caboodle by providing 

insight from communities and trialling 

the platform with our Milton Keynes 

Community Fridge. We’re passionate 

about supporting initiatives that help to 

reduce food waste and have a positive 

impact on the environment.” 

Richard Smith, deputy head of food 

supply at food charity the Felix Project, 

said: “As a charity which has tested 

Caboodle and is already seeing the 

benefits, we know it will make a real 

difference to others like ourselves. 

“The process for us is just easier and 

unlike other systems it works in a way that 

allows us to notify stores if we can’t make 

our collection slots”. 

Meanwhile, East of England Co-op has 

partnered with food saving app Too Good 

To Go as part of its effort to eliminate 

edible food waste by 2030. 

Following a successful pilot, Too Good 

To Go is now available in all the society’s 

food stores, making it the biggest grocery 

retailer to be on the app in the region. 

Too Good To Go lets customers buy 

and collect ‘Magic Bags’ of unsold food 

at a great price so it gets eaten instead of 

wasted. These are available at the co-op’s 

stores for £3.30 and contain food worth 

at least three times that value. Customers 

don’t know what is in the order until they 

pick it up, but can expect a mix of chilled 

and ambient products, from meat and fish 

to cakes and bread. 

East of England has been at the 

forefront of tackling food waste for several 

years since launching its pioneering 

Co-op Guide to Dating scheme, where it 

became the first major retailer to sell food 

past its best before date for a nominal 10p. 

Since 2018, it has saved nearly one million 

products from waste which were sold 

under the scheme. 

Steven Fendley, head of sustainability 

at the society, said: “Since making our 

pledge to reduce edible food waste to zero 

we have looked at a myriad of ways we can 

keep perfectly edible food from going to 

waste. Launching on Too Good To Go was 

a no brainer. 

“We have also been delivering other 

work in this area, including using new 

intelligent technology in our reduced to 

clear section, improving how and when 

we mark down chilled food nearing its 

‘use by’ date, giving customers better 

discounts, earlier in the day.” 

Too Good To Go was piloted in 42 East 

of England stores over 44 days, with more 

than 4,678 magic bags sold. 

Sophie Trueman, managing director 

for Too Good To Go, said: “Food waste 

accounts for 10% of global greenhouse 

gas emissions, and so by reducing the 

volume of perfectly good food going to 

waste together we can take huge strides 

towards combatting climate change. I’m 

incredibly excited to see the impact our 

partnership can have.” 

Too Good To Go has over 8 million users 

in the UK and the app is available from 

Google Play or Apple App Store. 


p Fans hold a protest against the club’s owner in April (Photo: Charlotte Tattersall/Getty) 

SPORT 

Community football squad drafted to bring Oldham Athletic to fan ownership 

Supporters of Oldham Athletic Football 

Club are making plans for community 

ownership with the backing of Greater 

Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. 

Mr Burnham announced the launch of a 

new taskforce to give fans an active role in 

their club at Co-op Congress on Saturday 

18 June. “Latics are at the heart of the 

Oldham community,” he said. “To protect 

its future the club should, ideally, be in 

the hands of the community, not private 

individuals. If successful, the club’s future 

should be secured for the next 100 years 

and beyond.” 

Co-operatives UK, the Football 

Supporters’ Association and Greater 

Manchester Combined Authority 

are working with Oldham Athletic 

Supporters’ Foundation to discuss plans 

for a community share offer that would 

give groups and individuals a chance 

to own a stake in the club, bringing it 

under community control. The work is 

supported by the Hive co-op development 

programme, funded by the Co-op Bank 

and delivered by Co-operatives UK. 

The plans follow Oldham Athletic’s 

relegation from the Football League 

in April. A fan-led campaign has been 

running since 2019 calling for the club’s 

owner, Abdallah Lemsagam, to sell up. 

Before the club’s relegation, Mr Lemsagam 

announced that the club would be sold. 

Paul Whitehead, from Oldham Athletic 

Supporters’ Foundation, said: “After a 

long period of upheaval for the club, we 

are committed to finding solutions that 

can unite the fanbase and command 

the support of all those who care about 

Oldham Athletic. We are putting in the 

work now to establish a structure for the 

longer-term stability of the club.” 

Mr Burnham drew comparisons between 

Oldham and Bury FC, which folded in 

2019 and was expelled from the Football 

League, saying “we are determined not 

to let this happen with Oldham.” Though 

Bury FC is now on the road to recovery 

with a fan-owned takeover announced 

this year, the taskforce working with 

Oldham Athletic aims to ensure fan-led 

solutions are in place before crisis point is 

reached. 

Oldham Athletic could lead the way 

for more supporter-led initiatives to 

receive backing from mayoral combined 

authorities. Andy Walsh, from the Football 

Supporters’ Association (FSA), said their 

work of developing model constitutions 

for community benefit societies and 

governance frameworks for football clubs 

“gives supporters a voice but began before 

devolved powers existed. This task force 

has the opportunity to really innovate 

and find new ways to help clubs and 

supporters embed community wealth 

through football’s engagement with local 

economic and social impact initiatives.” 

Rose Marley, CEO of Co-operatives UK, 

said: “Famously started by Oldham’s 

sister town Rochdale, co-operatives are 

becoming the go-to business model for 

communities and businesses that want to 

take control and ownership of their assets. 

“We’re seeing it more and more across 

community energy companies, data 

ownership and control and of course, 

everyone is familiar with The Co-op 

shops, owned by their customers, but 

this opportunity with Oldham will create 

a blueprint for other clubs and sporting 

assets to ensure they have a stake and a 

say in their club’s day-to-day operations 

as well as all future decisions.” 


ENERGY 

Scottish co-op ANM continues eco-drive with new EV charging points 

Scottish auctioneering co-operative ANM 

Group has installed an additional nine 

electric charging points at its Thainstone 

Centre, as part of its efforts to boost 

sustainability. 

The investment brings the group’s total 

charging points to 17, placing it among 

the largest providers of electric vehicle 

charging points in north east Scotland. 

The new chargers are available for 

staff use and will also accommodate 

the group’s plug-in hybrid and electric 

vehicle fleet, used by its auctioneers and 

procurement team when canvassing the 

north and north-east of Scotland, helping 

to reduce group emissions. 

Out of the 17 charge points, eight are 

available to the public at 30pkw/hr with 

members of the co-operative charged at 

a reduced rate of 20pkw/hr. The chargers 

available are triple outlet eVolve rapid 

charger AC = 43KW and DC = 50KW, and 

22KW dual outlet eVolve charger with a 

maximum output of 22KW. 

ANM says it continues to invest in 

its sustainable practices across the 

Thainstone Estate to help cut emissions 

and improve energy efficiency as part of 

its Environmental, Social and Corporate 

Governance (ESG) strategy. 

Solar panels and a biomass system 

installed at the Thainstone Centre 

CREDIT UNIONS 

Clockwise Credit Union 

launches debit card and 

current account 

Clockwise Credit Union has partnered 

with community banking service Engage 

to launch its own branded credit union 

debit card and current account. 

The Midlands credit union says the 

account will expand services offered to 

its 20,000-plus members – many of whom 

are excluded from, or underserved by, the 

traditional financial services industry. 

It adds that the move will transform 

it into a “one-stop-shop for banking 

services” for people in Coventry, 

Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Rutland 

and Northamptonshire. 

ensure that the group’s heating and hot 

water is powered through clean, green 

energy. ANM Group is also taking steps 

to manage its waste more efficiently, 

with the installation of waste recycling 

and compactor facilities on site to reduce 

landfill. 

CEO Grant Rogerson said: “Investing in 

our future is key to ANM Group’s values. 

In our 150th year we have launched our 

#ANMBeyond150 campaign, that will 

Digital banking functions on offer 

through the new account include realtime 

debit card transactions and account 

information through the Clockwise 

mobile app. All funds will sit in Clockwise 

accounts, which means member funds are 

protected under the Financial Services 

Compensation Scheme (FSCS). 

Chief executive Teresa Manning said: 

“We pride ourselves on being one of 

the UK’s most progressive financial cooperatives, 

as evidenced by the expansion 

of our partnership with Engage – another 

organisation that is committed to making 

the financial services sector fairer for all. 

“The partnership means we can provide 

members with a modern, cost-effective 

card and account, allowing us to compete 

effectively with major banking brands.” 

Since 2010, Engage has partnered with 

more than 150 UK credit unions and 

highlight the good work that is already 

underway in the industry to tackle the 

climate challenge head on and futureproof 

the industry for the next generations. 

“As one of the only businesses in 

Aberdeenshire to host 17 electric charging 

points, we are delighted to be at the 

forefront helping to build an infrastructure 

for hybrid electric vehicles and continuing 

to support our sustainability plans for the 

next 150 years.” 

offered more than 250,000 debit cards and 

accounts. It says it provides “state-of-theart 

digital cloud-based banking and backoffice 

technology to credit union partners, 

enabling them to remain sustainable and 

compete effectively with big banks and 

fintechs”. 


AGRICULTURE 

Farmers face ‘eyewatering’ 

input costs, 

warns buyers’ co-op 

UK farmers face “eye-watering” inflation 

in input costs, the country’s biggest 

farmer-owned buying group says in its 

latest report. 

The Interim Aginflation Index from 

AF, which represents more than 3,000 

farmer members, says that no farming 

enterprise has been able to avoid double 

digit inflation – and the cost of farming 

inputs has increased by 23.28% in just six 

months to the end of March 2022. 

This comes on top of the almost 22% 

increase recorded in the annual Index 

recorded in the year to September 2021, 

the co-op adds. 

Four out of the nine categories of inputs 

saw double digit inflation with animal 

feed, fuel and fertiliser seeing greatest 

increases at 27%, 29.4% and 107.7% 

respectively. 

Cereals and OSR production show the 

highest increases in costs at 28.05%, and 

sugar beet growing as the lowest but still 

at 18.97%. 

While the total food Retail Price Index 

has also risen – by an average of 5.6% over 

the same six-monh period, AF says this is 

not enough to cover farmers’ rising costs. 

The only food group to show negative 

inflation is potatoes at -2.3%. The dairy 

enterprise category has inflation reaching 

21.32% in the last six months. However, 

the increased value from milk retail of 

19% is closing the gap. 

Volatility is part of the problem over 

the period, says AF, but availability is 

also an issue. Matt Kealey, head of crop 

inputs at AF, said: “The turbulence in the 

fertiliser markets has been challenging 

but, through AF, members have secured 

product despite early concerns regarding 

availability. The value to members in core 

sectors like fertiliser and crop protection 

products is the AF procurement teams’ 

supplier networks and real time market 

intelligence.” 

AF CEO David Horton-Fawkes said: 

“The evidence in our latest Aginflation 

Index illustrates the crisis many farmers 

are facing, and the consequences will be 

felt by all of us in society. 

“The causes are deeply rooted and go 

beyond the appalling events in Ukraine 

and the continued lockdowns in China. 

Farmers are inherently resourceful, but 

cash flow now poses an existential threat 

to many businesses because some farmers 

simply won’t be able to afford to grow 

crops or raise livestock next year. 

“Beyond the immediate crisis, the 

combination of war and post-pandemic 

disruption highlights the strategic 

imperative to secure more resilient 

supplies of essential farm inputs 

and energy and the need to develop 

more collaborative relationships with 

supermarkets and processors. 

“Sadly, the most acute pain will be felt 

by those who can least afford to bear it, 

but these numbers reveal that the whole 

supply chain web needs to reset to secure 

affordable food in the UK and beyond.” 

Scottish potato growers form co-op to survive outside Single Market 

Nine seed potato growers in Scotland have 

formed a co-op to protect the future of the 

sector after being shut out of the lucrative 

European market after Brexit. 

The Seed Potato Organisation (SPO) 

says it will fund research, innovation, 

and technical services to benefit the seed 

potato sector; represent the views of seed 

potato grower members and present 

evidence to governments; support the 

development of seed potato markets; 

and work to ensure the economic and 

environmental sustainability of the seed 

potato sector. 

It promises “an independent, 

transparent, and democratic organisation, 

set up as a co-operative, run by seed 

growers for the benefit of its members.” 

Seed potato growers have been hit by 

a ban on selling their produce to Europe, 

in a row over sanitary and phytosanitary 

standards. After the UK’s departure from 

the single market, the trade and cooperation 

agreement with Europe failed 

to agree equivalence on seed potatoes. 

This has led to significant restrictions 

on Scottish seed exports to the EU 

and Northern Ireland – the European 

Commission says the ban should stay, to 

keep potential disease out of the EU. 

The SPO says it is recruiting more 

growers and wants to hear their views 

about how the co-op should be run, and is 

holding a series of meetings this summer. 

Full membership with voting rights will 

be open to all growers, with each member 

paying a proposed joining fee of £2,000 to 

get the group up and running – a loan that 

will be repaid if the member leaves. 

Members will then pay an annual fee 

based on area of seed grown – expected to 

be around £40 a hectare in the first year. 


HOUSING 

Brighton housing co-op 

launches affordable 

homes fundraiser 

A housing co-op in Brighton and Hove has 

launched a fundraiser to build its next two 

affordable homes. 

Bunker Housing Co-op wants to raise 

up to £450,000 in loan stock over the 

next year through ethical investment 

platform Ethex. The first goal – £150,000 

by the end of July – will build two homes 

in Hollingdean, Brighton. So far the 

campaign has raised over £87,000. 

Bunker was set up in 2014 by two 

families who were struggling with the 

housing crisis in Brighton and Hove, 

where the average rent is 68% of the 

average household income. It manages 

two homes, built using environmentally 

friendly methods, on land leased from 

Brighton & Hove Council, and plans to 

deliver another 15 by 2025, working with 

the authority to find suitable land. 

Cllr Siriol Hugh-Jones, co-chair of 

the council’s housing committee, said: 

“Community-led housing contributes to 

much-needed housing for lower-income 

families and individuals. We’re looking 

forward to continuing work with them.” 

Bunker member Jelena Richter said 

the co-op has “given me the chance to 

finally have a stable, long-term home 

that is comfortable for me and my two 

young children. I’m so proud to be part of 

bringing more housing like this, that will 

stay affordable to future generations – it 

feels really great to be able to take control 

of my housing in a way that has as small 

an impact on the planet as possible.” 

Agata Bogacka, Bunker co-founder and 

resident, said: “It’s been life-changing for 

our family. We were able to leave our damp, 

private rented house that was taking up 

most of our income and we’re now living 

in a beautiful house that we can stay in for 

as long as we want. It means we can see a 

long-term future in the city we love.” 

Central England launches global development project 

Thinktank draws up a version of Marcora law for Wales 

Midcounties appoints Peter Kelly as CFO 

Central England Co-op is launching a fund 

to help communities around the world 

out of poverty, by improving their trading 

capacity. The first project, in Malawi, will 

be run with the Co-op College and the 

Malawi Federation of Co-operatives. The 

society, which will sell Malawian produce 

in its stores as part of the scheme, plans 

around £1m of initiatives. 

The Centre for Local Economic Strategies 

(CLES) has added its voice to calls for 

a Welsh version of Italy’s Marcora law, 

which allows workers to use their benefits 

to buy their company. CLES’s ideas 

include the development of a ring-fenced 

loan fund, to be administered by the 

Development Bank for Wales. 

Midcounties Co-op has appointed a new 

chief financial officer, Peter Kelly. Mr 

Kelly has been with the society since 2019, 

and has been acting CFO since December 

2021. In the role he will support group 

CEO Phil Ponsonby “in ensuring the 

right financial foundations are in place”. 

Over time, he will also take on executive 

responsibility for IT. 

Youth football league gets funds for new HQ from CCF 

North Derbyshire Youth Football League, 

which has more than 300 teams and 

3,500 youth players, has secured funds 

for land and facilities from Co-operative 

and Community Finance’s Co-op Loan 

Fund and Charity Bank. It has agreed the 

freehold purchase of a site in Chesterfield, 

with 8.87 acres of land to create a brand 

new HQ and sports and social club. 

Executive Shaving Company switches to the EO model 

The Executive Shaving Company is the 

latest business in Scotland to become 

employee owned. All staff will now have a 

stake in the Glasgow-based online retailer 

of men’s shaving and grooming products. 

It one of a handful of recent transitions 

that has taken the total of EO businesses 

in Scotland to just over 200, according to 

Scottish Enterprise. 


GLOBAL UPDATES 

GLOBAL 

Fairtrade makes for sustainable and resilient farming, says report 

Being part of a Fairtrade-certified producer 

organisation can improve farmers’ 

economic resilience, social wellbeing and 

environmental sustainability, according 

to a new study commissioned by Fairtrade 

Germany and Fairtrade Austria. 

The study, Assessing the Impact of 

Fairtrade on Poverty Reduction and 

Economic Resilience through Rural 

Development, suggests that Fairtrade 

certification also leads to good governance 

in co-operatives. 

And researchers found that Fairtrade 

standards, Fairtrade pricing and producer 

support programmes positively impact 

certified farmers and their communities 

compared to non-Fairtrade certified 

farmers, particularly in times of difficulty 

and distress. 

They examined the same producer 

organisations three times over 10 years, 

and studied the performance of a cocoa 

co-op in Ghana, a coffee co-op and three 

banana co-ops in Peru and found their 

farmers had higher earnings and more 

savings than those in comparable non- 

Fairtrade organisations. For example, 

coffee farmer members of the Fairtradecertified 

La Florida co-op in Peru reported 

incomes 50% higher than those of non- 

Fairtrade farmers. 

“In times of crisis, it becomes evident 

that Fairtrade enhances farmers’ 

economic resilience and supports them in 

continuing their profession in challenging 

times,” said Tatjana Mauthofer, researcher 

at Mainlevel Consulting and co-author of 

the study. “The study shows that the two 

Fairtrade mechanisms – the Minimum 

Price and the Premium – represent a 

crucial safety net for farmers, their small 

producer organisations and eventually, 

also their communities.” 

The research assesses Fairtrade’s 

contribution in terms of economic 

resilience, social wellbeing, good 

governance and environmental integrity 

and builds on two previous studies (in 2012 

and 2018) featuring the same Fairtradecertified 

producer organisations. 

The study makes several 

recommendations, including supporting 

product and income diversification 

to reduce farmers’ vulnerability and 

enhance their resilience; setting up credit 

schemes to enable farmers to modernise 

their farms; and providing training on 

financial literacy for coffee, cocoa and 

banana farmers. 

EUROPE 

ICMIF hails growing market share for mutual and co-op insurers 

Mutual and co-operative insurers have a 

33.4% market share in Europe, according 

to the latest Mutual Market Share report 

from the International Cooperative and 

Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF). 

The report reveals that the sector 

reached a record market share high of 

33.4% in 2020 – a 1.6 percentage-point 

increase from 2019 and a 9.2 percentagepoint 

increase from the first available 

market share figure (24.2%) in 2007. 

It adds that European mutuals have 

outperformed the total European 

insurance market in short- and long-term 

comparisons of total, life, and non-life 

premium growth by 17.8, 17.2, and 11.1 

percentage points, respectively. 

In 2020 alone, European mutual 

insurers collectively wrote €469bn in 

insurance premiums, with €200bn in life 

business and €268bn in non-life business. 

The figure represents a negative annual 

growth of -1.6% from the previous year 

(2019: €476bn) and a five-year growth of 

11.3% and a ten-year growth of 32.1%. 

“The findings are hugely encouraging 

and we can clearly see that the mutual 

and co-operative insurance sector in 

Europe is continuing to grow incredibly 

well, significantly outperforming the total 

insurance market in Europe in both shortand 

long -term comparisons,” said ICMIF 

CEO Shaun Tarbuck. 

“In 2022, ICMIF is celebrating its 

centenary year and to do so knowing that 

our sector is growing so well in Europe is 

an additional reason for us to celebrate.” 

Grzegorz Buczkowski, president of 

the Association of Mutual Insurers and 

Insurance Cooperatives in Europe (AMICE) 

said: “Europe’s mutual and co-operative 

insurers have shown great resilience in 

the face of the global pandemic challenge, 

and this is reflected in this report. 

“Even under the pandemic pressures 

across the region, Europe’s life and nonlife 

mutual/co-operative insurance market 

share increased from the previous year. 

“The 10-year trends indicate the 

continuing attraction of the mutual/coop 

insurance model, with total growth 

in premium of 32.1% over the period, 

resulting in premium income of €469bn 

in 2020. In 2020, mutual/co-operative 

insurers registered a market share of 

33.4%, representing more than 25% of the 

local market in 13 countries.” 

Mr Buczkowski added that local legal 

recognitions of the mutual insurance 

model vary, reflecting national 

characteristics and market developments. 

“Irrespective of these local differences, 

the model has a vital role in individual 

countries and across Europe, empowering 

policyholders, offering diversity and 

competition in the marketplace, and 

providing economic stability,” he said. 


NEW ZEALAND 

Fonterra takes hit to Sri Lanka business but hails ‘solid’ performance 

New Zealand dairy co-op Fonterra has 

seen its sales volumes hit by events 

around the world, including political 

uncertainty in Sri Lanka which toppled 

the value of the rupee. 

In his third-quarterly statement, CEO 

Miles Hurrell said: “The significant 

deterioration of economic conditions in 

Sri Lanka has seen rapid devaluation 

of the Sri Lankan rupee against the 

US dollar. 

“This means it takes more Sri Lankan 

rupee to pay for product purchased from 

New Zealand, which is sold in US dollars, 

and has resulted in an $81m adverse 

revaluation of our Sri Lankan business 

payables owing to New Zealand. This 

has been reflected in our normalised 

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), 

which may continue to vary as Sri Lanka’s 

currency fluctuates.” 

The global milk market – which has 

long been marked by volatility – has 

been rocked by events around the world, 

including fresh Covid lockdowns in China 

and the war in Ukraine, hitting Fonterra’s 

sales volumes for the nine months ending 

30 April. 

“As an exporter, many of the markets 

we operate in have been prone to sudden 

shocks,” said Mr Hurrell, “which can 

impact what we sell, where we sell it and 

when, but right now we’re feeling the 

impact of multiple events across multiple 

markets. 

“We are actively managing the 

challenges arising from Covid-19 and other 

geopolitical and macroeconomic events. 

However, increasing market volatility 

and uncertainty, ongoing supply chain 

disruptions and growing inflationary 

pressures have added increased 

complexity. 

“I want to thank our employees for 

delivering a solid financial performance 

despite the challenging global conditions, 

and also our farmer owners, sharemilkers 

and contract milkers who are managing 

increasing costs on-farm.” 

He said the co-op’s global AMENA 

business (which covers Europe, 

Middle East & Africa, North Asia & the 

Americas) “continued to deliver a strong 

performance. Normalised EBIT was 

$406m, up 30% due to improved gross 

margins in our Ingredients channel, 

and a strong performance from our 

Chilean business. 

“In Greater China, ingredients 

continued to benefit from increased sales 

of higher margin products. However, 

normalised EBIT was down 17% to $317m, 

due to continued pressure on our margins 

from the higher milk price, particularly 

in Foodservice, as well as the Covid-19 

lockdowns. We also expect the impact of 

the lockdowns to show up in our fourth 

quarter results. 

“Aside from some supermarkets, all 

restaurants and other food outlets were 

closed in Shanghai in early April to 

contain the Omicron outbreak. While 

restrictions have started to ease, a 

number of food outlets remain closed, 

while other cities across China are facing 

Covid-19 restrictions. The impacts of this, 

and the disruptions to supply chains, 

have been felt across the market and 

is reflected in our Greater China sales 

volumes which are down on the same 

time last year.” 

But, he added, the outlook is still 

positive with the opening forecast 

Farmgate Milk Price for the 2022/23 season 

set at $8.25 – $9.75 per kgMS, with a 

midpoint of $9 per kgMS. 

Mr Hurrell says this reflects strong 

demand for dairy coupled with 

constrained global supply. 

“On the supply side, growth from key 

milk producing regions is expected to 

remain constrained as high feed, fertiliser 

and energy costs continue to impact 

production volumes. These demand and 

supply dynamics are expected to support 

dairy prices in the medium to long-term. 

“However, we are operating in an 

increasingly volatile global environment 

and are managing a wider range of risks 

than usual. 

“This includes the potential for further 

impacts from Covid-19, financial markets 

and foreign exchange volatility, global 

inflationary pressures, a tightening 

labour market, increasing interest rates, 

geopolitical events, as well as the possible 

impact on demand from higher dairy 

prices. 

“This is why our 2022/23 forecast range 

is so wide at this point in the season.” 

For the 2021/22 season, Fonterra has 

maintained its 2021/22 forecast Farmgate 

Milk Price of $9.10 – $9.50 per kgMS. 

Total Group normalised EBIT was 

$825m, down $134mn reflecting lower 

sales volumes, continued pressure on 

margins from the significantly higher 

milk price, and uncertain global events. 

Fonterra’s Normalised Profit After Tax fell 

down $131m to $472m. 


USA 

Electric co-ops respond to Biden’s plans to boost clean energy 

Rural electric co-ops in the USA have 

welcomed the government’s latest steps 

to accelerate the production of energy 

technology and equipment. 

On 6 June President Biden authorised 

the US Department of Energy (DOE) to 

use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to 

accelerate domestic production of five key 

energy technologies: solar; transformers 

and electric grid components; heat 

pumps; insulation; and electrolisers, fuel 

cells, and platinum group metals. 

The move comes as the crisis in Ukraine 

increases pressure on the global energy 

system, prompting the US to seek ways to 

reduce its dependence on gas and oil, with 

fossil fuel supply lines always vulnerable 

in times of conflict. 

It will allow the country to “take| 

ownership of its clean energy 

independence,” said energy secretary 

Jennifer Granholm. “For too long the 

nation’s clean energy supply chain has 

been over-reliant on foreign sources and 

adversarial nations. With the new authority, 

DOE can help strengthen domestic solar, 

heat pump and grid manufacturing 

Photo: iStock 

industries while fortifying America’s 

economic security creating good-paying 

jobs, and lowering utility costs.” 

Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural 

Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) 

said that the country’s electric co-ops have 

already raised “serious questions about 

supply chain disruptions to materials 

necessary for reliable operation of the 

nation’s electric infrastructure”. 

“Shortages of transformers pose a risk 

to normal electric grid operations as well 

as recovery efforts for systems disrupted 

by a natural disaster,” he added. “The 

Biden administration’s use of the DPA to 

shorten lead times for supplies of electric 

transformers is a much-needed step to 

support reliability and resilience, and 

NRECA urges inclusion of all stakeholders 

in the implementation process as well as 

additional measures to avoid unnecessary 

interruptions to electric grid operations.” 

Assessment work has revealed potential 

challenges to electric reliability in several 

states, warned Mr Matheson, and NRECA 

has sought relief for supply chain shortages 

across the electric sector. 

“That’s particularly true in fast-growing 

areas of our country and where severe 

storms threaten our commitment to 

reliable electricity for 42 million electric 

co-operative members,” he added. 

“America’s electric co-operatives look 

forward to continuing to work with the 

Biden administration and Congress to 

reduce supply chain vulnerabilities 

in the short term while we increase 

domestic capability to meet our future 

needs. American families and businesses 

rightfully expect the lights to stay on at a 

price they can afford. A diverse energy mix 

that includes adequate baseload supply 

and an assured supply chain are essential 

to meet those expectations.” 

EUROPE 

REScoop raps 

MEPs over vote on 

climate change plans 

The renewable energy co-op sector has 

criticised MEPs for voting down plans to 

toughen up the carbon trading rules. 

After a debate on 8 June, the European 

Parliament rejected plans to amend the EU 

Emissions Trading System (ETS) to include 

carbon from transport and construction. 

The proposals would have also removed 

current exceptions to the carbon-trading 

scheme for European industry while 

introducing a carbon tax on imports at the 

EU’s borders. 

Another change would have introduced 

a social climate fund to help low-income 

households to pay for energy-efficiency 

improvements. 

The European federation of citizen 

energy co-operatives, REScoop, said the 

vote is a setback in the fight for a social 

just transition away from carbon. 

“Today the European Parliament failed 

to find common ground for the revision of 

ETS, also moving the vote for the Social 

Climate Fund to September. We need a 

Just Transition now,” it wrote on Twitter. 

However, MEPs did vote to end the sale 

of petrol and diesel cars by 2035. 

The proposals around ETS form part 

of the European Commission’s Fit for 55 

legislative package, which sets out the 

plan for a green transition under the EU 

Green Deal. 

RESCoop argues that using the Social 

Climate Fund (SCF) to buffer the Fit for 55 

package’s social impact means “a reactive, 

rather than a much-needed proactive or 

strategic approach”. 

A policy paper from the apex said: 

“The Fund should not be designed as a 

reactive measure for regressive climate 

policy, but as a proactive measure to 

address structural drivers of energy 

poverty and vulnerability. Holding the 

SCF hostage to a process of fundraising 

through the ETS is likely to jeopardise any 

Photo: iStock 

attempt at regaining acceptability through 

redistributional measures. Therefore, its 

creation should be decoupled from the 

extension of the ETS to buildings and 

transport.” 

REScoop is calling for policymakers 

to back community energy initiatives, 

which it says can play a meaningful role 

in addressing social justice issues and 

empowering low-income and vulnerable 

households. 

The proposed laws will now be sent back 

to the European Parliament’s Environment 

Committee to be re-negotiated. 


USA 

New solar 

array sees New Mexico 

electric co-op offer 100% 

daytime clean power 

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC), 

based in New Mexico, says it is now able to 

supply 100% of its daytime summer energy 

from solar power. 

The co-op, in partnership with Guzman 

Energy, completed the 15-MW Taos Mesa 

Solar Array on June 3. It says the facility can 

supply around 7,500 homes with locally 

generated renewable energy. 

The 170-acre project, near Taos, is part of 

Kit Carson’s overall solar capacity of 41MW 

across its territory plus 15 MW of battery 

storage. 

“When we partnered with Guzman 

Energy in 2016, we set an ambitious goal 

of becoming one of the cleanest energy 

co-operatives in America,” said CEO Luis 

A. Reyes, Jr. “Providing our members with 

100% daytime solar power, delivered by 

locally built and maintained solar arrays 

and battery storage while also reducing cost 

for our members, is an accomplishment we 

are incredibly proud of. We are serving our 

members the clean power they’ve been 

asking for while lowering costs, and we’re 

also helping to meet our state’s overall 

climate change action initiatives.” 

New Mexico state governor Michelle 

Lujan Grisham, who has pledged a 

statewide 45% cut in greenhouse gas 

emissions by 2030, attended the ribbon 

cutting, noting that KCEC is leading the 

way for other co-operatives around the 

state and the country in driving the energy 

transition. 

Kit Carson is one of several electric coops 

making a switch to renewables in 

the USA, and in 2016 led the exodus from 

Tri-State, an umbrella co-op acting as a 

wholesale supplier with a heavy reliance 

on fossil fuels. 

The process has involved much legal 

wrangling and costly buyouts for electric 

co-ops – although Tri-State says it is now 

in the process of adopting more renewable 

energy itself. 

Other electric co-ops have been trying 

to leave their wholesale contracts but 

have had their bids dismissed in court. In 

separate judgments in April, Dakota Energy 

Cooperative was told its contract with East 

River Power Cooperative must run through 

2075, while Marlboro Electric Cooperative, 

in South Carolina, was ordered to wait until 

its contract with Central Electric Power 

Cooperative expires at the end of 2058. 

Kit Carson has been using Guzman as 

its supplier since leaving Tri-State and 

says the move offers more control over its 

energy mix, and gives its members more 

cost-effective and rate-stable local energy. 

It will complete repayment of its exit fee 

from Tri-State by the end of June 2022, 

adding that its members will see a decrease 

in their electric bills with savings of up to 

25% under the new arrangement. 

Other recent developments in solar 

for the US electric co-op sector include a 

purchase agreement for a 98mW project 

in Louisiana. The Bayou Galion solar 

project, developed by Recurrent Energy, 

in Morehouse Parish, will serve five rural 

electric co-ops, and is capable of powering 

more than 18,000 homes and offsetting 

the equivalent of 170 metric tons of CO2 

emissions per year. 

It will form part of 1803 Electric Coop’s 

portfolio of solar power. The co-op said: 

“Being able to provide a reduction in future 

rates for our members is extraordinary. 

We are pleased to partner with Recurrent 

Energy, a well-respected solar and energy 

storage developer, and we look forward to 

bringing this project online.” 

Meanwhile in Colorado, Holy Cross 

Energy (HCE) has honoured the memory of 

its member Adam Palmer – a campaigner 

for social justice and sustainable energy 

who was killed in a skiing accident – by 

building a solar array in his name. 

A team of 80 volunteers built the Adam 

Palmer Solar Garden, a community array 

that will move the town closer to its goal of 

80% clean energy by 2050 and provide a 

way for low-income co-op members to save 

money on their bills with local renewables. 

“He was such a force in the community; 

people really wanted to do something. 

Throughout the two days, people just 

kept showing up,” Jenna Weatherred, 

vice president of member and community 

relations at Holy Cross Energy, told the 

website of national sector apex NRECA. 

The 200-kilowatt solar garden uses a 

“racking system” designed by PowerField 

Energy that requires no construction to 

install. Another 200-kilowatt garden using 

the same technology is located at HCE’s 

headquarters in Glenwood Springs. 

The memorial solar garden is the co-op’s 

second offering under its Income-Qualified 

Community Solar programme, which cuts 

bills in half for members earning 80% of 

the median area income. 

There are still concerns over barriers to 

the growth of renewables in the electric 

co-op sector, in terms of capacity and 

knowledge, and New Mexico-based 

consultancy Cliburn and Associates has 

created online resources to introduce rural 

co-ops to the clean energy industry, with 

guide to the initial steps of planning and 

purchasing. 

Solar-Plus for Electric Co-ops (SPECs) 

was launched in 2020 “to help optimise the 

planning, procurement, and operations of 

battery storage and solar-plus-storage for 

electric co-operatives”. 

SPECs was selected by the US Department 

of Energy’s National Renewable Energy 

Laboratory (NREL) for Round 2 of the Solar 

Energy Innovation Network (SEIN). The 

SPECs team also includes North Carolina 

Clean Energy Technology Center, Cobb 

Electric Membership Corporation, Kit 

Carson, United Power, and other leaders 

from the co-op sector and the storage 

industry. 


USA 

US co-operators condemn white supremacy after the Buffalo shootings 

National Co+op Grocers (NCG) says it is 

“heartbroken” by the mass shooting in 

Buffalo, NY, where a gunman killed 10 

people and wounded three more. 

The attack, on 14 May, took place in a 

supermarket in a predominantly Black 

neighbourhood on the city’s east side; 11 

of the victims were Black. A white 18-yearold 

male has been arrested and charged 

with first-degree murder. 

A statement from NCG said: “We grieve 

with the families of those whose lives were 

taken and with everyone who is suffering 

in the Black community. As one grocer 

to another, we extend solidarity and 

empathy to the staff and shoppers of Tops 

Market on Jefferson, where this brutal act 

took place. 

“This was the latest in a series of mass 

shootings that have been fuelled by 

white supremacy, deliberately targeting 

people based on their race, religion or 

sexuality.” 

Figures from the US Justice Department 

show that the number of hate crimes 

rose over 30% in 2020, the last date for 

which national data is available. Racially 

motivated hate crimes accounted for 

nearly 62% of these incidents, with the 

Black community being the most targeted 

group. 

p The supermarket in Buffalo, NY, where the attack was carried out (Photo: Andre Carrotflower / Wiki CC) 

NCG – a business services co-op 

representing 148 food co-ops operating 

over 200 stores in 38 states in the US – 

said it “advocates concern for community 

as one of our core co-op principles and 

advocates for racial equity. 

“We condemn white supremacy and any 

ideology that suggests a race or group of 

people is genetically or culturally superior 

to another. We call on other companies to 

join us in standing against the continued 

spread of racially based oppression, 

intolerance and violent extremism.” 

It added: “We applaud Tops Market 

for its efforts to support its shoppers and 

staff during this time, and although we 

are competitors in business, we stand 

together in community.” 

NCG is also directing people looking 

to support victims and their families to a 

GoFundMe list of verified fundraisers. 

Feed Buffalo and FeedMore WNY can 

help supply the community with food 

while their grocery store is temporarily 

closed, it added. 

Its statement also contains a series 

of links to organisations and resources 

working against white supremacy, 

including the National Association for the 

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 

and Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). 

UKRAINE 

War-weary credit union staff receive mental 

health support through Woccu project 

Seventy-eight employees from Ukrainian 

credit unions participated in online 

meetings with a professional psychologist 

as part of an initiative led by World Council 

of Credit Unions’ Credit for Agriculture 

Producers (CAP) Project, a USAID-funded 

activity. 

Participants included some credit 

union professionals from occupied areas 

of Ukraine, who learned about various 

techniques for restoring the psychological 

balance disrupted by the war. 

“I have been meeting some friends 

and relatives and helping them evacuate 

abroad,” an attendee said during the 

meeting. “The situation of people being 

separated, of what they experienced in 

the east [of Ukraine], made very heavy 

and painful impressions – feelings of rage 

and inability to change the situation.” 

A post-event survey revealed that 

more than a half of participants had not 

directly experienced life in a conflict 

zone or occupied region, or lost property. 

But 55% assessed the impact of war on 

their physical and psychological state as 

high, evaluating their need for further 

individual or group psychological support 

as seven out of a possible 10. 

The psychologist told attendees she 

would be available for confidential oneon-one 

sessions. 

The CAP Project began in 2016 as a fouryear 

project to strengthen the credit union 

sector in Ukraine and improve the quality 

of the financial services and products 

offered to farmers and agribusinesses in 

rural areas in the country. 

Implemented by WOCCU, the project 

was extended through March 2023 after 

securing additional funding from the 

USAID, which backed the project from its 

inception. 


CANADA 

Mutual insurer launches climate adaptability home coverages in Canada 

Canadian mutual insurer Wawanesa has 

launched two new insurance products to 

help its Canadian customers increase the 

climate resilience of their homes. 

The two products, which are being 

made available by Wawanesa through 

independent insurance brokers, are 

Stronger Home coverage and Eco-Friendly 

coverage. 

Stronger Home covers the cost of more 

resilient materials to be used on roofing 

repairs or replacement when a loss occurs. 

Eco-Friendly will pay out for the increased 

cost of repairing or replacing a property 

with Energy Star rated products and ecofriendly 

materials when a loss occurs. 

Last year Canadian insurers paid out 

over CA $2.1bn collectively for climaterelated 

disaster damage. 

Wawanesa, the largest property and 

casualty mutual insurer in Canada, has 

been working with Climate Proof Canada, 

Nature Force, the Institute of Catastrophic 

Loss Reduction, and the Insurance Bureau 

of Canada to advocate for greater climate 

resilience nationally. 

Its president of Canadian property and 

casualty operations, Carol Jardine, said: 

“As a mutual company, we believe we have 

a responsibility to help our customers be 

more resilient and aware of how we can 

reduce the impact of climate change on 

our homes, communities and planet. 

“These new products will help 

EUROPE 

Credit unions notch up a win on fair regulation under the EU 

Canadians better adapt to severe weather 

associated with climate change and 

mitigate damage to their property.” 

She added: “We have been helping our 

customers recover from disasters for over 

125 years and we are proud to step up 

with our broker partners and help more 

Canadians learn how they can protect 

their homes from the risks of climate 

change.” 

Credit unions in Europe will receive 

proportional treatment when it comes 

to the requirements of a new EU digital 

resilience regulation, according to a 

provisional agreement reached by The 

European Council presidency and European 

Parliament last week. 

The agreement marks a win for the World 

Council of Credit Unions (Woccu) and its 

partner, the European Network of Credit 

Unions (ENCU), which had called for a 

proportional approach to be included in the 

regulation that would allow policymakers 

to consider the size, nature, scale and 

complexity of credit union services, 

activities and operations. 

The Digital Operational Resilience Act 

(DORA) sets out a number of regulatory 

requirements for financial institutions 

around security risks for information 

and communications technology (ICT). 

These include implementing governance 

frameworks to manage risks, carrying out 

digital resilience testing, managing ICT 

third-party risk and reporting major ICTrelated 

incidents. 

MEP Billy Kelleher, lead MEP responsible 

for the regulation, described DORA as “a key 

step in building up the EU’s cyber-resilience 

at the point where financial services and ICT 

interact”, adding: “The agreement provides 

for robust ICT risk management, testing 

and reporting requirements while at the 

same time future-proofing the legislation, 

adhering to the principle of proportionality 

and protecting competition.” 

A key way in which the agreement takes 

proportionality into account is by allowing 

member states to establish rules for 

institutions that are exempt under the EU 

Capital Requirements Directive. 

Woccu’s senior vice president of 

advocacy and general counsel, Andrew 

Price, has previously stressed the need 

for international bodies to allow for the 

tailoring of regulations when it comes to 

community-based financial institutions 

such as credit unions. 


UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 

UAE government partners with ICA to boost national co-op sector 

p Balu Iyer of ICA-AP with UAE representatives, including Abdullah Al Saleh, undersecretary of the ministry (Photo: UAE Ministry of Economy) 

The United Arab Emirates is taking steps 

to boost its co-operative sector as it looks 

to diversify its economy, and has brought 

in the International Cooperative Alliance 

(ICA) for support. 

A co-operation agreement has been 

signed by the national Ministry of 

Economy with the ICA, which is working 

with its Asia-Pacific office (ICA-AP). 

The ministry says it will promote co-ops 

as a tool for sustainable development, 

and also intends to amend the country’s 

co-operative legislation to help grow the 

sector and raise awareness of the model. 

The ICA-AP team will provide support 

during this process, highlighting best 

international practices. This will see it 

work with the ministry to develop a longterm 

strategy for the national co-op sector, 

identifying challenges and suggesting 

measures to improve its performance. 

The UAE is home to 42 co-ops, mostly in 

the retail sector, running 200 outlets and 

branches nationwide with a cumulative 

profit of more than one billion dirhams. 

The goal is to help set up co-ops in other 

sectors and increase their contribution to 

the country’s GDP from less than 1% at 

present to 5% by 2031. 

The agreement was signed on 17 May 

by Abdullah Al Saleh, undersecretary of 

the ministry, and Balasubramanian Iyer, 

regional director, ICA-AP. 

“The co-operative sector plays a pivotal 

role in achieving the goals of sustainable 

economic and social development for 

the UAE, and is an important tributary to 

the competitiveness and diversification 

of the national economy,” said Mr Al 

Saleh. “To improve its performance in 

accordance with the best international 

practices and enhance its role in the 

new economic model of the country, the 

country has achieved regional leadership 

in developing the co-operative model and 

providing the environment and policies 

that stimulate its growth.” 

The UAE has recently allowed the listing 

and trading of co-op shares in its financial 

markets. “We continue our efforts today to 

complete the development plan for the coop 

sector to take its deserved role as one 

of the drivers of diversity, sustainability, 

innovation, high productivity and the 

transformation towards the future 

economy in the UAE,” said Mr Al Saleh. 

“Co-operatives align well with the 

UAE’s centennial pillars,” said Mr Iyer, 

“which call for the government to be 

supportive and future looking, building 

a diversified economy, promoting values 

in education, and building a happy and 

inclusive society. 

“Through our engagement, we will 

bring in international experiences, and 

showcase relevant models from different 

countries. Our approach will be to help 

promote the co-operative model, increase 

awareness, help engage youth and 

women, build capacity and in the process 

increase visibility and contribution of cooperatives 

in the UAE.” 

IRELAND 

National co-op apex elects James O’Donnell its new president 

James O’Donnell has been elected 

president of the Irish Co-operative 

Organisation Society (ICOS), taking over 

from Jerry Long who has retired after three 

years in the role. 

Mr O’Donnell has served as vicepresident 

of the national sector body for 

the past four years and has chaired its 

Finance and Governance Committee and 

Rural Business Committee. A dairy farmer 

from Golden, Co. Tipperary and a member 

of Dairygold Co-op, he serves as chair of 

South Tipperary Farm Relief Service Cooperative, 

and represents the National Coop 

Farm Relief Service on the ICOS board. 

The vote, at an ICOS board meeting, also 

saw Edward Carr, chair of Arrabawn Coop, 

elected vice-president. A dairy farmer 

from Milestone, Co. Tipperary, Mr Carr is a 

member of the ICOS Dairy Committee. 


SINGAPORE 

Women 

co-operators honoured 

at inaugural co-op night 

Photo credit: SNCF 

The Singapore National Co-operative 

Federation (SNCF) honoured important 

co-op women at its inaugural Co-op 

Movement Night on 3 June. 

More than 260 people attended the 

event, which also celebrated the resilience 

of Singapore’ co-ops during the pandemic. 

Guest of honour was Yeo Wan Ling – an 

MP, and director of U SME and Women & 

Family Unit at the National Trades Union 

Congress (NTUC). 

“I’m glad to know that in Singapore, 

more than 80% of the co-operative 

workforce are women,” she said. “Women 

play an important role in our nation’s 

development as they bring to the table 

different ideas and perspectives to 

complement their teams, which spark 

creativity and innovation crucial for 

business sustainability.” 

The event also featured Shena Foo, 

director of Seacare Co-operative Ltd, 

a member of SNCF’s executive council 

(EXCO). She said: “The co-operative 

space can be an enabler to help women 

to become meaningful contributors in 

their communities. At the workplace, we 

can nurture women through mentorship, 

leadership development and networking. 

Having worked for an organisation 

that empowers women, I have had 

many opportunities to offer different 

perspectives and ideas to others. I strongly 

believe that harnessing the strengths 

of empowered women can improve an 

organisation’s performance and success.” 

Ai Ling Thian, general manager of My 

First Skool and afterschool by NTUC First 

Campus and a member of EXCO, added: 

“As women, we must advocate and support 

one another. While it is important to hone 

our own skills, we should also honour and 

celebrate the gifts and strengths of other 

women too.” 

Dubai’s Union Coop to phase out single-use plastic bags 

ILO adopts conclusions on social and solidarity economy 

Credit: ILO 

Union Coop is limiting the sale of singleuse 

plastic bags from July, in line with 

the Executive Council of Dubai’s move 

to introduce a tariff on single-use plastic 

bags from July 2022, building to an 

outright ban in two years’ time. From 1 July 

all retail stores, restaurants, pharmacies, 

and e-commerce deliveries in Dubai, will 

have to charge 25 fils (0,25 dirham/ 0.054) 

on single-use bags. 

The International Labour Conference, 

held in Geneva last month, has adopted 

a set of conclusions on decent work and 

the social and solidarity economy (SSE), 

which includes co-ops. At its next meeting 

in November, the International Labour 

Organization will examine how these 

conclusions, which include a definition of 

the SSE, can be put into practice. 

Malaysian co-op Angkasa and India’s IFFCO to collaborate 

Angkasa, the national body for Malaysia’s 

co-op sector, has signed a memorandum 

of understanding (MoU) with the Indian 

Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative Limited 

(IFFCO). 

The MoU is aimed at opening more 

business opportunities to the co-operative 

movements in Malaysia and India.. 

Serbian energy co-op launches crowdfunder for solar plants 

Serbian energy co-op Elektropionir has 

launched a crowdfunding campaign for 

two solar power plants in villages on the 

Stara planina mountain, in the south-east 

of the country. 

These will be the first solar plants in 

the country to be run by a co-op, Balkan 

Green Energy News reports. 

Crédit Agricole moves towards oil and gas phase out 

French co-operative bank Crédit Agricole 

has announced commitments to move 

away from oil and gas financing in a plan 

released on 22 June. 

‘2025 Ambitions’ sets out a number of 

short, medium and long-term goals for 

France’s second largest bank, including 

commitments to halve the carbon intensity 

of its automotive sector portfolio. 


MEET 

James Alcock 

CEO of Plunkett Foundation 

James is passionate about rural issues and is an active 

member of a number of national partnerships and alliances 

that seek to influence public policy for the good of 

communities. Prior to joining Plunkett in 2007 he worked 

in the rural affordable housing sector and is now chief 

executive of the Plunkett Foundation. 

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN PLUNKETT? 

Having grown up and always lived in the 

countryside, being part of a rural community has 

always been important to me. I’ve experienced firsthand 

the gradual decline of village services, the 

closure of the village shop, the bank, post office, 

then the market or the very last pub and ultimately 

the loss of community spirit that follows. Both my 

degree and research masters were focused on rural 

change – and in particular understanding issues 

relating to rural poverty, isolation and exclusion. 

One of my early roles was working for a rural 

community council, and whilst there we partnered 

with Plunkett Foundation on a pilot programme 

supporting community owned food businesses. 

From that point, I became totally committed to 

the co-operative values these businesses adopt, 

and remain in awe of the communities that take 

that first step to take control of the issues they are 

facing. I watched Plunkett from afar until a perfect 

project management role for me became available, 

and I applied and joined the team. That was 16 

years ago, and I’ve never looked back. 

No two community-businesses are 

completely the same but they all 

share the ethos of working 

together for the benefit of all 

WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY FOR YOU INVOLVE? 

There is no such thing as a typical day at Plunkett 

– the variety is probably why I’ve been working 

for the organisation for so long! Every day brings 

a unique challenge, a different solution, a new 

potential partner, and new innovation from the 

communities we work with. I love working in our 

office with the Plunkett team – they are equally 

passionate about what they do, and it’s such a 

creative environment to be in. Equally, I love 

the opportunity to visit community businesses 

throughout the UK. They are so inspiring to visit 

and gain perspective on what more Plunkett can 

be doing to help. 

HOW DOES COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP WORK IN 

TERMS OF RESTORING A SENSE OF PLACE TO 

COMMUNITIES? 

Plunkett works with many chocolate box 

villages, but we also work in peri-urban areas, 

post-industrial villages, brand new settlements 

and some of the most remote communities in 

the UK. Whatever they look like and wherever 

they are, they are dealing with many of the 

same challenges – the loss of vital services, the 

erosion of community, the feeling of being left 

behind. Of all the groups we’ve supported (over 

800) and whatever type of community business 

it is, we’ve seen how they bring diverse groups 

of people together and identify what is important 

to them. No two community-businesses are 

completely the same but they all share the ethos 

of working together for the benefit of all – and in 

particular, seek to support those most vulnerable 

in their community. They are rightly proud of 

saving the essential services they offer, but also 


the employment, training and volunteering 

opportunities they provide, as well as the new 

friendships and support networks they have 

established, the vital contributions to the local 

economy they make through the supply chain 

and the positive impact to the environment 

through sustainable and ethical purchasing. 

AFTER COVID-19 COMES THE CRISIS OF RISING 

COSTS FOR BUSINESSES AND CONSUMERS – 

HOW IS THE COMMUNITY BUSINESS SECTOR 

PLACED TO COPE WITH THIS, AND TO HELP THOSE 

IN NEED? 

We’re very proud of the fact that the survival rates 

of community businesses are exceptionally high, 

99.3% for community pubs and 92.5% for shops 

(*Compared to 44% for SMEs from the Office of 

National Statistics), and we believe that this is 

partly due to the hard work and determination 

of the community groups and their volunteers. 

When you’ve worked so hard to save a business 

you remain adaptable and responsive to your 

community’s and your customer’s needs. As 

their needs change so do yours and during the 

pandemic we saw many businesses stepping up 

to the task of helping the most vulnerable in 

their communities – offering home delivery, free 

hot meals, low cost food parcels and broadening 

their services, including online ordering, pubs 

opening daytime shops, cafes or postal services 

and developing activities to help the wellbeing of 

their community. 

Additionally, we’re campaigning for communities 

in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to have a 

Right To Buy, to allow communities first refusal on 

a registered building when they come up for sale. 

Faced with escalating property prices many groups 

lose buildings and spaces that could be used to 

transform their community and ensure it is able to 

thrive in future. 

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE NEXT FOR THE 

SECTOR? 

Recent years have seen fantastic growth of the 

community business sector – especially community 

pubs – we feel this momentum will continue as 

communities experience growing confidence 

in their ability to take ownership of the places 

they love and help their rural villages to thrive. 

Our recent research into ‘cold spots’ and urban 

community pubs identifies huge opportunities 

for growth, particularly in the North East, West 

Midlands, Scotland and Wales and we see no 

reason why the network of community-businesses 

shouldn’t grow from 800 to 8,000! 

I’d also love to see the sector receive the recognition 

it deserves for the phenomenal difference it 

makes to rural and community lives. Community 

businesses really do have the power to transform 

communities and improve the wellbeing of all 

those they serve. 

Additionally Plunkett’s role in providing expert 

business advice and training to groups, plus the 

opportunity for peer networking, encourages 

community businesses to follow best legal, 

financial and business practice making them more 

resilient to change. Their innate altruism extends to 

supporting each other in times of challenge. 

HOW CAN GOVERNMENT HELP MORE TO DEVELOP 

THE COMMUNITY BUSINESS SECTOR? 

The Community Ownership Fund is a major 

boost to the sector – and we’d love to see more 

communities stepping forward to access the 

funding available. In addition to this many groups 

need very early stage support to make their vision 

and project a compelling and robust case for 

funding and we believe providing ‘early stage’ 

funding would continue to transform the sector 

but also significantly increase the capacity of the 

Community Ownership Fund to deliver for the 

government’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda. 


YOUR VIEWS 

New federation for worker co-ops 

As a founder member and early chair of 

ICOM in the 1970’s, I wish to support the 

proposed new federation for worker coops, 

described by Siôn Whellens ( A New 

Federation for Worker Co-ops, News, June 

2022). 

Ownership does matter. The wider 

Have your say 

Add your comments to our stories 

online at thenews.coop, get in 

touch via social media, or send us 

a letter. If sending a letter, please 

include your address and contact 

number. Letters may be edited and 

no longer than 350 words. 

co-operative movement represented by 

Co-ops UK, and worker co-operatives in 

particular, are a deliberate and radical 

alternative to the conventional pattern of 

ownership of industry and commerce by 

those supplying the capital. Co-operators 

believe that ownership and control should 

Co-operative News, Holyoake 

House, Hanover Street, 

Manchester M60 0AS 

letters@thenews.coop 

@coopnews 

Co-operative News 

be in the hands of those most involved 

in the business and that capital is just 

one of the inputs. An early supporter of 

worker co-ops 50 years ago, the influential 

economist E.F.Schumacher used to say, “ 

Until you have changed ownership you 

have changed nothing”, merely moved the 

deck chairs around a bit. 

Best wishes to the new federation; the 

time has come for worker co-ops to become 

a significant sector of the economy. 

Roger Sawtell, 

Northampton 

Will it have individual supporter 

members? That’s where the money is and 

where the support can be developed too 

with sympathetic expertise . 

Bob Cannell, via Facebook 

Space to 

work 

Space to 

grow 

Space for 

change 

Leading the movement in workspaces for those who lead the change, 

with spaces currently available to rent 

Visit www.ethicalproperty.co.uk Email sales@ethicalproperty.co.uk or call 01865 207 810 to find out more 


OBITUARIES 

Ray Henderson 

1946 – 2022 

The co-operative movement, and Co-op 

News, had a sad loss in June with the 

death of Ray Henderson, well liked and 

respected for his roles at the Co-op Party, 

Co-op Group and Co-op Press. 

He’ll be greatly missed at Co-op News, 

which he served for many years as 

secretary and later treasurer. A friendly, 

supportive man, he would regularly drop 

by the News’s old office in Holyoake 

House, his genial north-east accent 

softening his wry observations of the 

goings-on of the co-op movement as he 

offered guidance and advice. 

Executive editor Rebecca Harvey said: 

“Ray was kind and clever soul, with dry 

wit and endless patience. His advice and 

guidance during the time I was appointed 

to the editor role was vital. 

“He was passionate and committed, 

extremely diligent in his role as secretary, 

and thorough in his knowledge of the 

politics and intricacies of the Press and 

the wider movement. He was a great 

teacher, I’ll miss him dearly.” 

Ray’s active involvement with 

the co-operative movement began when 

he became a member of what is now the 

Co-op Group in 1984. He was elected in 

1992 to a divisional committee and in 

2005 to the North Eastern and Cumbrian 

Regional Board. In 2009 he was elected to 

the Group board. 

A member of the National Members’ 

Council since its inception, Ray was keen 

to see the body challenge the main board 

and promote membership participation 

at a local level. His involvement in the 

movement deepened when he retired from 

the Telecoms and IT industry, leading him 

to become secretary of Co-operative Press. 

But he was a committed and dedicated 

co-operator all his life, with particular 

interests in financial management and 

corporate governance. 

In 1999, he became company secretary 

of the North East Music Teachers Cooperative, 

a successful public service 

mutual. He also had a stint as company 

secretary of the Film and Video Institute, 

a national membership organisation. 

Denise Scott-McDonald, president of the 

Group’s National Members’ Council, said: 

“Ray had a long-standing commitment 

and involvement with the Co-op Group. 

Over the years he served in a variety of 

roles from a local level, at regional board 

level and as a director on the Co-op Group 

Board before 2015. 

“Ray had wide knowledge and 

experience of the Co-op and the wider cooperative 

movement and always enjoyed 

working closely with members. He was 

deeply committed to Co-operative Values 

and Principles and was actively dedicated 

to his role as a Council member, even 

during his long battle with Myeloma. 

“He’ll be hugely missed by members, 

fellow council members and co-operators 

across the movement.” 

Ray was also an active member of 

Tyneside Co-op Party, and sat on its party 

council, which said it was ‘extremely 

sad’ to hear the news. “He will be dearly 

missed by us all,” it said in a message on 

Twitter. 

Co-op Press chair Elaine Dean, a friend 

and fellow co-operator, said: “I initially 

met Ray in 2008 when I was first elected 

to the board of Co-operative Press at 

Congress in Blackpool. Ray was so kind 

and helpful to me and helped me find 

my feet. 

“He was a superb secretary of Co-op 

Press and I came to appreciate his skills 

even more when I became chair in 2013. 

We appointed a young editorial team and 

acted as ‘elder statespeople’ to them. We 

appreciated their fresh take on News and 

supported their plans for change. 

‘Ray was always totally professional 

and conducted the affairs of the Press so 

well. He became a trusted ally and a very 

dear friend. 

“When illness forced him to give up the 

role a few years ago we kept him involved 

as Treasurer and he attended board 

meetings by Zoom over the last two years. 

“He was also an excellent contributor 

to the Co-op Group National Members’ 

Council, challenging without fear or 

favour when necessary. 

“Ray was a man of great integrity and 

was widely respected throughout the 

many co-operatives of which he was a 

member. He was a true co-operator I was 

always proud to call my friend. 

“Rest in peace Ray, you will be sadly 

missed by your Co-op News family.” 


Ariel Guarco re-elected ICA president as 

movement gathers for General Assembly 

by Anca Voinea 

Ariel Guarco was re-elected president of 

the International Cooperative Alliance 

(ICA) at the organisation’s General 

Assembly in Seville last week. 

The election, held on 20 June, saw 

Mr Guarco win with 455 votes, ahead of 

rival candidates Melina Morrison from 

Australia (164 votes) and Jean-Louis 

Bancel from France (160 votes). 

The election was conducted manually 

due to a technical issue with the online 

voting system. 

Mr Guarco is also president of the 

Confederación Cooperativa de la 

República Argentina (Cooperar). He has 

been involved in co-ops since the 1980s, 

when he started to actively participate 

in the electric co-operative of his city, 

Coronel Pringles. He was elected president 

of the co-op in 1997 and president of the 

federation (Fedecoba) that integrates 

electric co-operatives in the province 

of Buenos Aires in 1998. He became 

president of Cooperar in 2011 and was 

elected to the board of the International 

Cooperative Alliance in 2013. 

In his speech at the GA, ahead of the 

election, he talked about his life-long 

commitment to showcasing the cooperative 

identity and said the last four 

years as president of the ICA had been 

ones of learning and had made him 

optimistic about the future. He talked 

about the ICA’s role as a global platform 

for co-ops to share experiences and 

build consensus, mentioning the 

important role of its sectors, regions 

and thematic committees. 

“You know what we have built 

together over the past few years. You do 

because we built it together,” he said. 

“We will be successful if we can show 

that faced with global challenges we 

can come up with complex responses.” 

Taking the podium after the result 

was announced, Mr Guarco apologised 

on behalf of the ICA for the issues with 

the online voting system. “We are all 

victims of this failure,” he said. 

Mr Bancel – who also lost his place on 

the board – said: “Whatever happened, 

unity is more important than anything 

else. What happened here was a joint 

failure. We said we believe in democracy, 

but failed to organise elections. We 

were not able to organise a proper vote. 

I think the ICA board position is not a 

power question, it’s much more than 

that. I ask the re-elected president and 

board to see what happened today and 

try to find a way not to go in that type 

of failure.” 

Alliance chooses new global board 

Delegates elected 15 directors to the ICA 

board, from a shortlist of 22 candidates. 

Those elected are: 

• Márcio Lopes de Freitas, Brazilian 

Cooperatives (OCB), Brazil 

• Aditya Yadav, Indian Farm Forestry 

Development Cooperative Limited 

(IFFDC), India 

• Giuseppe Attilio Dadda, Alleanza 

Cooperative Italiane, Italy 

• George Magutu Mwangi, 

Kenya Union of Savings & Credit 

Cooperatives (KUSCCO), Kenya 

• Iñigo Albizuri Landazabal, 

Confederación Española de 

Cooperativas de Trabajo Asociado 

(COCETA), Spain 

• Zhenhong Cai, All China Federation 

of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives 

(ACFSMC), China 

• Martin Lowery, National Cooperative 

Business Association (NCBA CLUSA), 

USA 

• Toru Nakaya, JA Zenchu (Central 

Union of Agricultural Co-ops), Japan 

• Bahman Abdollahi, Iran Chamber of 

Cooperatives (ICC), Iran 

• María Eugenia Pérez Zea, 

Asociación Colombiana de 

Cooperativa (Ascoop), Colombia 

• Krasimir Ignatov, Central 

Cooperative Union Bulgaria, Bulgaria 

• Dato’ Kamarudin Ismail, Malaysian 

National Cooperative Movement, 

Malaysia 

• Simona Cavazzutti, Confederación 

de Cooperativas Rurales del Paraguay 

(CONCOPAR), Paraguay 

• Marjaana Saarikoski, SOK 

Corporation, Finland 

• Alexandra Wilson, Co-operatives 

and Mutuals Canada, Canada 

The unsuccessful candidates included 

the UK’s Ben Reid, from Midcounties 

Co-operative, who had sat on the 


oard since 2016. Mohiuddin Ahmed 

(Bangladesh), Johan Nyhus (Sweden), 

Eva Kusuma Sundari (Indonesia), David 

Fraser (Australia), Jean-Louis Bancel 

(France) and German Astul Mejia Mejia 

(Honduras) also failed to secure seats. 

Delegates also ratified the elections of 

Ana Aguirre as representative of the ICA 

Youth Committee; Dr Carlos Zarco from 

Spain as president of the International 

Health Cooperative Organisation (IHCO); 

Sunghee Lee from the Republic of 

Korea as president of the International 

Cooperative Agricultural Organization 

(ICAO); and Petar Stefanov from Bulgaria 

as president of Consumer Cooperatives 

Worldwide (CCW). 

“For me this will be the continuation 

of a huge learning path as well as 

an exciting new phase for the youth 

network,” said Ms Aguirre, adding that 

the Youth Committe would be launching 

a Youth Action Plan in November. 

Statutory amendment for the sectoral 

representation in the ICA board 

A motion for the sectoral organisations 

of the ICA to each have a seat on the ICA 

board for the 2021-2025 mandate was 

adopted. It said that having direct board 

representation would contribute to closer 

co-operation between regions and sectors 

and to greater visibility, transparency and 

accountability not only on the board itself 

but also across the governance bodies of 

the ICA as a whole. 

To approve this request, Article 15 of 

the Articles of Association was amended. 

Director-general’s report 

ICA director general Bruno Roelants 

presented his report of the ICA’s work 

since its previous General Assembly 

in Kigali in 2019. The apex focused on 

four areas of work, as per its strategic 

plan adopted in 2019 – the Second 

Blueprint for a Cooperative Decade. 

The four themes are promotion of the 

co-operative identity, growth of the 

co-operative movement, co-operation 

among co-operatives and contribution to 

global sustainable development. 

Mr Roelants mentioned several 

initiatives, including hosting the World 

Cooperative Congress and organising a 

roundtable with government officials in 

Seoul in December 2021, carrying out a 

Legal framework analysis as part of the 

“What was built over 

generations was 

destroyed in a matter 

of minutes by Russian 

troops” 

– lllia Gorokhovskyi 

Coops4Dev project, and engaging with 

UN bodies and the G20 working groups. 

The ICA is also preparing to launch a 

Global Cooperative Impact Fund. 

A report on the ICA’s 2020-2021 

financial statements was presented by 

Greg Wall, chair of its Audit and Risk 

Committee. He said subscription income 

had increased by 3% in 2021 compared 

with 2020 despite the pandemic. 

He argued that the ICA still has a 

stable financial status compared to 2020. 

The ICA global office suffered a loss of 

€277,770 in 2021 (from a loss of €40,380 

in 2020). This was due to a loss of 

€366,300 from the World Cooperative 

Congress because of event attendance 

being lower than expected. 

However, all ICA regional offices made 

surpluses in 2021: ICA Africa – (€26,052 

in 2021), ICA Asia Pacific (€68,011), ICA 

Americas (€119,287). 

Cooperatives Europe and DotCoop 

were not included, as they were 

separately established, respectively 

under the Belgian and the US law. 

Cooperatives Europe made a surplus 

of €104,450 in 2021 while DotCoop, in 

which the ICA holds a 50% share made 

a surplus of €54,849. 

After his presentation the general 

assembly approved the 2021 accounts 

and discharged the auditor. The budget 

for 2022 was also approved. 

Supporting Ukraine 

GA delegates heard from Illia 

Gorokhovskyi, chair of Coop Ukraine, 

who said Ukrainian co-operators had 

planned to attend but were forced 

to change their plans by the Russian 

invasion. 

He said 10 million Ukrainians have 

been displaced so far by the conflict; 

figures from the Office of the United 

Nations High Commissioner for Human 

Rights (OHCHR) show that 4,569 

civilians, 304 of them children, have 

been killed during Russia’s attack as of 

June 19. 

Ukraine’s co-op sector has been 

harmed in the conflict, said Mr 

Gorokhovskyi, with damage to co-ops in 

several parts of the country. He estimates 

that hundreds of co-operatives have 

been affected by the war with thousands 

of co-operators losing their homes and 

their co-ops. 

“What was built over generations 

was destroyed in a matter of minutes by 

Russian troops,” he said. 

Thanking countries who have 

supported Ukrainian co-ops, he said that 

all assistance would go to support co-ops 

and co-operators affected by the crisis. 

“It is the opportunity to show that 

mutual assistance and solidarity are 

fundamental principles of co-operation,” 

he added. “This assistance is not only for 

Ukraine, but also for yourselves and your 

future. 

“I believe in God, in peace and I 

believe in justice. I love my country 

and I ask that you stand with me in cooperation.” 

The call to action launched by 

Coop Ukraine was echoed by the 

Polish co-operative movement, whose 

representative called on the global cooperative 

movement to support Ukraine 

and those facing famine due to the war. 


Seville welcomes global co-operative 

movement to ICA General Assembly 

by Anca Voinea 

Over 700 co-operators from around 

the world gathered in Seville on 20 

June for the General Assembly of the 

International Co-operative Alliance. 

They were welcomed to Seville, the 

capital of Andalucía, Spain, by the 

city’s mayor, Antonio Muñoz, during 

a side event organised by the Spanish 

confederation of worker co-operatives 

(COCETA) with the theme “Cooperatives, 

the time is now!” 

Mr Muñoz praised co-operatives 

for their economic contribution to 

his city, which is home to 230 co-ops 

that employ 2,900 people. He said the 

sector plays a key role in diversifying 

the economy but this is not always 

recognised; the conference, he added, 

would hopefully help to raise awareness 

of its contribution. 

Participants also saw a video 

message from Yolanda Díaz, second 

deputy prime minister and labour 

and social economy minister in the 

national government, who noted the 

fundamental role of co-ops in reducing 

inequalities, promoting decent work 

and protecting the environment. 

Her government runs a number 

of initiatives to promote co-ops, she 

said, including the Strategic Project 

for the Recovery and Economic 

Transformation (PERTE) of the Social 

Economy and Citizens. Adopted 

in May, this pledges to develop 

the social economy and carry out 

an accessible, people-centred 

transformation of the care sector. As 

people-centred enterprises rooted in 

their communities, with a long-term 

vision, co-ops also help to promote 

democratic governance, she added. 

Susanne Westhausen, president 

of Cooperatives Europe, said co-ops 

need to win the battle of ideas with 

other enterprises – and also get better 

p Yolanda Díaz, second deputy prime minister and labour and social economy minister 

at “walking the talk” by collaborating 

more and financing new co-ops: “We 

need to demonstrate our results and do 

it together.” 

Youth engagement is also a priority, 

she added, warning: “If we are not 

engaging young people, we will not just 

lose he battle of ideas, but our movement 

… The best way to move forward is by 

empowering people through education 

and democratic participation. So yes, 

the time for co-operatives is now.” 

ICA president Ariel Guarco continued 

the theme, telling the assembled cooperators 

they have reasons to be 

optimistic about the future. 

“If we want to face global challenges 

we know none of them can be solved 

without involving local communities. 

That is where we come in,” he said. 

Hope can bring a transformational 

power, he added – and “co-ops can give 

hope through a social, economic and 

environmental development model that 

looks after people and the planet.” 

There were also representations 

from the autonomous government 

of Andalucía. Rocío Blanco, acting 

minister of employment, training and 

self-employment for the Andalucía 

government, said co-operatives are a 

priority for the region, which has the 

highest number of co-operatives – 

4,000 – 80% of which are worker coops. 

They employ 59,000 people. 

In a video message to the conference, 

the president of Andalucía, Juan Manuel 

Moreno, also highlighted the sector’s 

importance to the region’s economy. 

Panel discussions 

The conference also included panel 

discussions, workshops and visits to 

local co-ops. 

The first panel looked at the current 

state of the co-op sector and the wider 

social economy in Spain and around 

the world. Iñigo Albizuri, president 

of CICOPA and chief of public affairs 

at Mondragon, said: “We need to 

democratise enterprises, we cannot 

talk about workers like they are 

interchangeable and we need to look 

after the planet, but there is hope, 

there is a model that does this – 

co-ops, that is why the time is now.” 


Juan Antonio Pedreño, president 

of Social Economy Europe and the 

Spanish Social Economy Employers’ 

Confederation (CEPES) highlighted 

the need for co-operatives to raise 

awareness about their business model. 

He thinks this can be done within 

the conversations about the social 

economy. 

“The Social economy is now talked 

about, something that was not the case 

in the past. The objective is to grow a 

movement based on values,” he said. 

Carlos Zarco, president of the 

International Health Cooperative 

Organisation (IHCO) y Fundación Espriú 

in Spain, highlighted the important role 

health co-operatives play in providing 

access to health services. 

“Because they exist in so many 

countries, co-ops are in a position to 

have a global answer to challenges. 

Health co-ops give access to health 

services to over 100m people,” he said. 

Maravillas Espín, general director of 

Self-Employment, Social Economy and 

RSE of the Ministry of Labor and Social 

Economy, said that the Next Generation 

EU economic recovery package to 

support the EU member states to 

recover could be an opportunity for coops 

– the plan could enable the use of 

public resources to support actors such 

as co-ops and social economy, she said. 

Public-private partnerships are another 

opportunity for co-ops, she said. 

“I think co-ops are ready and the 

government is too, and these alliances 

will bring great benefits,” agreed Mr 

Albizuri. 

He explained that in the Basque 

Country universities, co-ops and 

government meet on a regular basis. 

“The world has never needed to 

improve more than now. Let’s build 

more co-operatives, please!” he said. 

He added that it was important for 

the plan to have objectives regarding 

co-ops. “We need more co-ops and 

more larger co-ops as well,” he said, 

adding that Spain is known as a tourism 

country with tourism contributing 12% 

to its GDP. “Co-ops contribute 10% to 

Spain’s GDP and people don’t know it.” 

Mr Pedreño explained that five 

years ago the social economy started 

benefiting from EU structural funding. 

p (Clockwise from top left) Juan Antonio Pedreño and Carlos Zarco; Trebor Scholz; 

Graciela Fernández; and Maravillas Espín and Iñigo Abizuri 

“The world has never 

needed to improve more 

than now. Let’s build more 

co-operatives, please!” 

– Iñigo Albizuri 

He said Spain was the first in Europe to 

give priority to the social economy when 

allocating structural funding, €40m has 

been allocated through this to the social 

economy with €70m more to be allocated 

over coming years, he said. 

He called on co-ops to work with 

other social economy actors to raise 

awareness about the sector. 

The second panel looked at what the 

future could look like for co-ops. 

“We have a unique opportunity to 

dream, to build a more participative 

and sustainable future,” said Malena 

Riudavets, vice-president of COCETA. 

Leire Mugerza, president of the 

Congress at the Mondragon Corporation, 

praised co-ops for maintained work 

during the pandemic, providing loans 

and essential services and committing 

to decent work. 

“What societies need is what we’ve 

been doing all our lives,” she said, 

adding, “We don’t have to recreate the 

model, it is there.” 

Trebor Scholz, associate professor 

of Culture & Media, at New School 

in New York City, argued that co-ops 

needed “a vision that is bigger than 

the immediate needs for co-ops.” He 

believes what is needed is an economy 

rooted in many organisations, 

including co-operatives, unions, small 

private companies and organisations 

owned by municipalities. 

“All these are complementing each 

other to promote wellbeing,” he said. 

Prof Scholz added that platform 

co-ops need supporting regulatory 

environments in order to thrive. He 

also called for more partnerships 

between existing co-ops, unions and 

social movements. 

Graciela Fernández, president of ICA- 

Americas, said that co-ops can also use 

the UN Sustainable Development Goals 

to express what they are doing in terms 

of social innovations. 

She also called for more statistics of 

co-operatives, particularly on their role 

in empowering women. 

“We need to visibilise the invisible,” 

she said. “The ICA-EU Coops4Dev 

project gave great visibility to co-ops, 

enabled them to be at the table and we 

must continue to lobby for co-ops to be 

taken into account,” she said. 


Empowering co-operation 

the 2022 UK Co-op Congress 

Congress reports by Anca Voinea, 

Rebecca Harvey and Shaz Rahman 

Co-operatives UK’s annual congress 

brought delegates from around the 

country to Birmingham on 17-18 June to 

explore ways to ‘empower co-operation’. 

It was the first in-person congress for 

Co-operatives UK CEO Rose Marley, who 

used the opportunity to bring together 

different parts of the movement, as well 

as people from sectors where co-ops 

have the potential to make a difference. 

Alongside co-operative leaders and 

practitioners, delegates heard from 

those in the music and healthcare 

industries, metro mayors and MPs, 

who engaged in conversations about 

how people, businesses, employees 

and activists can work together to solve 

problems and make lives better. 

Challenging times and a co-op future 

Welcoming delegates, Co-operatives 

UK chair Don Morris talked about 

the current challenges, from Covid-19 

and the war in Ukraine to the cost of 

living crisis. “This conference is about 

action,” he said. “Take learnings back 

to your co-ops and drive change.” 

The event was sponsored by the Co-op 

Bank, and its director for consumer and 

people, Maria Cearns, told delegates 

about the organisation’s co-operative 

heritage, arguing that co-op values are 

still at the heart of its ethical policy. 

The bank will continue to support 

co-op businesses, she added – through 

its products and services as well as its 

funding of the Hive, Co-operatives UK’s 

co-op development programme. 

There is also political support. In a 

video message, West Midlands mayor 

Andy Street said his region will be 

looking to create more jobs using the 

social economy and co-ops as it rebuilds 

from the pandemic. 

But Ms Marley warned that while there 

is a lot happening in the co-operative 

movement, it still lacks visibility. She 

referred to a YouGov poll commissioned 

by Co-operatives UK which found that, 

while issues causing concerns for 

young people could be addressed via 

co-ops, less than 40% of young people 

surveyed could name a co-op. “There’s 

something not connecting there and we 

need to fix that,” she said. 

From the UK’s most visible co-op, the 

Co-op Group, came a video message 

from interim CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq, 

describing how her organisation aims to 

empower co-operation. 

She said: “Funds can only go so far in 

empowering co-operation and cash on 

its own cannot empower co-operation”. 

Co-operation is also empowered by 

building strong relationships between 

co-ops and their members, she said, 

and told delegates it was important 

to recognise that “the best form of cooperation 

might not always include the 

Co-op Group and its members.” 

Members had been involved with 

Group 1.7 million times in 2021, she 

said; the society wants to build on 

this through community support, 

fundraising, and raising awareness. 

“Galvanised members make us a 

better co-op which, in turn, makes us 

a better partner,” she added, arguing 

that co-operation is about creating 

relationships that sustain themselves, 

and improve the lives of communities. 

“We shouldn’t be seeking groups 

to create dependencies on the Co-op 

Group,” she said. 

The Group also sent non-executive 

director Lord Victor Adebowale, who 

had stern words about the state of UK 

co-ops, which he sees as an interest 

group, rather than a movement. 

“You’re too white, you’re too old, 

you’re too embedded in the rules,” 

he warned, arguing that co-op 

principles are “open to interpretation”. 

He thinks they could be summarised 

in two principles – “Be human, be 

fair” – and should be expressed “for 

people who live now and are going to be 

running the movement in 10 years”. 

“We need to find ways of expressing 

what a co-op is for young people,” he 

said. “There is a communication gap 

between us and them.” 

“We need to stop talking to ourselves 

so much and start talking to people 


who are not members,” added Lord 

Adebowale. He urged co-ops to spend 

time asking people what is wrong and 

translate that into applicable principles. 

“We’ve got to do better,” he said. 

“You’ve got to look different. You’ve got 

to speak differently. We’ve got to invite 

people in. You’ve got to figure out some 

improvements. That’s how we make 

change.” 

Empowering co-operation 

Over the two days, delegates could join a 

plethora of sessions covering issues and 

ideas concerning co-operatives today, 

including how to make membership 

meaningful; the state of co-operative 

development across the nations and 

regions of the UK; the use of the Cooperative 

Marque and plans in the UK 

to more closely link the Marque to high 

co-operative standards; empowering 

young people to explore and live cooperative 

values; and discussions 

around the creation of a new federal 

body for worker co-ops. 

Technology 

One of the most popular sessions 

looked at how technology could enable 

a stronger co-operative economy. 

Catherine Douglas, managing 

director of SMEs at the Co-operative 

Bank, shared her experience working 

with Bankify on opening a new app 

for their SME customers. Prior to this 

project, the Co-op Bank recognised 

that its digital service was not up to 

scratch. The experience meant it had to 

“innovate quicker than we are used to.” 

Central England CEO Debbie 

Robinson shared her “co-op digital 

dream” of being able to log into an app 

in any country and find local co-op 

businesses. She suggested that a crypto 

currency for co-ops could be a way to 

overcome traditional economic barriers. 

There were also discussions around 

the ethical use of data, with Emma 

Howard, technical partner at Open 

Data Services, warning of the ethical 

issues regarding the personal data that 

people freely give away when they use 

the internet. 

These issues include serious concerns 

over human rights, democracy, 

governance, and data ethics. She 

p Music journalist Paul Stokes with the music industry panel: David Martin, CEO, Featured 

Artists Coalition; Colin Young, chartered accountant and music industry and streaming 

royalties specialist; Terry Tyldesley, music tech consultant and artist; Tom Gray, chair of the 

Ivors Academy, founder of the #BrokenRecord campaign and member of Gomez; Lord Victor 

Adebowale, chair of UD and Social Enterprise UK; Paul Pacifico, associate professor, Berklee 

Valencia and artist; Sarah Pearson, founder of Wasted Youth Music and Juste Entertainment 

believes we need a new model that 

allows co-ops to use data in a way that 

benefits them as well as their members. 

“Data is one of the most important 

commodities in the current climate,” 

she added. 

DotCoop’s Violetta Nafpaktiti agreed: 

“Why don’t we create a new worldwide 

co-op data-sharing project?” she asked. 

Access to capital – the perennial 

question for co-ops of all stripes – was 

also highlighted in the session. Coops 

can compete with the ability of 

conventional tech companies to access 

venture capital – in a sector that often 

needs substantial amounts of money to 

drive development. 

Music 

The music industry is one sector 

increasingly turning to co-operatives 

for models of fairness for performers 

and punters. 

Music contributes £5.8bn to the UK 

economy, including £2.9bn in exports, 

said Sarah Pearson, founder of Wasted 

Youth Music. But the music industry 

serves those at the top at the expense 

of the majority of musicians, where 

“exploitation is the name of the game”. 

Tom Gray, singer from 90s indie 

band Gomez who founded the 

#BrokenRecord campaign in response 

to artist complaints over streaming 

rates and record company contracts, 

said “the model had changed but the 

relationship with musicians had not.” 

Music is dominated by large labels with 

executives making millions while most 

musicians struggle, he said. 

Paul Pacifico referred to the Fair 

Digital Deals Declaration, which is often 

attached to record deals and gives a level 

of protection to artists, but chartered 

accountant and streaming royalties 

expert Colin Young spoke about how 

there was equity in songwriting but 

not in the record industry. “We need 

legislative change,” he said. 

Terry Tyldesley, music tech 

consultant and artist, said there are lots 

of new ways for musicians to release 

music, highlighting Resonate as the 

co-op alternative to the existing 

streaming platforms. 

Lord Adebowale, speaking in his 

role as chair of the Urban Development 

Music Foundation, likened the music 

industry to “a pint of Guinness: lots 

of black talent with white executives 

creaming off the money”. Young people 

become musicians, he said, but they 

are not prepared to become a small 

business and are exploited as a result. 

The speakers acknowledged that 

change is needed, but there were 

disagreements about the rate of 

progress – although all agreed that 

co-op interventions like Resonate 

can help for the future. At the end 

of the session, Geraint Davies MP 

took to the stage and announced 

that he will be bringing forward a cooperative 

music bill to Parliament. u 


uThere was also a session from 

Mark Davyd, CEO and founder of the 

Music Venue Trust, who spoke of the 

uncertain future facing independent 

music venues in the UK, the majority of 

which have an average of 18 months left 

on their tenancy. 

“Everyone loves music,” he said, “but 

it’s a precarious existence for many 

grassroots music venues. They’re at the 

mercy of landlords who can hike prices 

or fail to renew contracts.” 

The music industry needs those 

venues, he added. “Playing them is how 

bands learn their craft and progress 

from rooms in pubs to stadium gigs. 

Think of some of the great bands whose 

music you love. If local venues like 

these didn’t exist, you may never have 

had the chance to hear it.” 

In May, MVT launched an ambitious 

campaign for the live music community 

to own, protect and improve grassroots 

venues across the UK (see p42-43). 

The climate crisis 

There were also sessions exploring how 

co-ops can engage with climate action. 

One session focused on the Climate 

and Ecology Bill, which aims to ensure 

the UK government fulfils its Paris 

Agreement obligations to limit global 

temperatures to 1.5°C; conserves 

the natural world by protecting and 

restoring ecosystems; and establishes 

a citizens’ assembly to recommend 

measures for inclusion in a climatenature 

strategy. 

So far the private members bill has 

support from 152 MPs and peers as well 

as 200 councils. Speakers shared how 

co-ops can – and are – add their weight 

to this support. 

“This blue dot is all we have,” said 

the BBC’s George McGavin, adding 

that from the 1970s we have known the 

damage we are doing to the planet, from 

habitat loss to pollution and invasive 

species spreading. “The planet will be 

fine, it is our survival that it is at stake,” 

he warned. 

Amy McDonnell, from youth 

climate campaign Zero Hour, said her 

organisation was using tactics of mass 

mobilisation. 

Co-operatives and other ethical 

businesses have been are the front 

of climate actions for decades, said 

Deborah Darlington, of the Co-op Bank 

– which stopped investing in fossil fuels 

in 1998. The Bank is now on the sixth 

version of its ethical policy, which is 

“highly valued” by its customer base. 

Ms Darlington said the bank is urging 

customers to support the bill. 

Barry Clavin, senior ethics & 

sustainability manager at the Co-op 

Group, said the retailer is mobilised 

people for the Climate Change Act – but 

added that young people are not getting 

involved in the climate movement in 

enough numbers. 

In a separate session, delegates 

heard about some of the practical 

ways co-ops are taking climate action. 

Jonathan Atkinson, co-founder of 

the Carbon Co-op, described how the 

organisation deals in energy efficiency, 

electric vehicles, heat pumps and 

other innovations. This delivers for 

consumers as well as the environment: 

external wall insulation from the 

Carbon Co-op can save a £1,000 a year 

on energy bills, he said. 

Midcounties’ head of sustainability, 

Mike Pickering, represents his co-op 

on an sustainability forum that shares 

best practice in the industry. There is a 

big mixture in how far businesses are 

on this journey, he said, and the forum 

helps them move forward. 

Michaela Cryar, head of product and 

origination at Younity –a community 

energy initiative between Midcounties’ 

Co-op Energy and Octopus Energy 

– talked about the importance of 

technological innovation, and gave the 

example of a partnership between the 

Energy Garden, Patagonia, Octopus and 

Powershare, which encourages youth 

involvement in community energy. 

The capital conundrum 

A recurring theme over the weekend was 

the difficulty co-ops have in accessing 

capital to set up or grow. 

In a session on community shares, 

delegates heard how £200m has been 

raised using community shares to 

support, save and set up hundreds of 

vital businesses – with an impressive 

92% still trading. 

Eva Goudouneix, community 

development manager at Repowering 

London, said her co-op has put solar 

panels on community buildings. It 

ran two community share offers – in 

its home borough of Lambeth, and 

in Kensington and Chelsea. The first 

raised £140,000, the second £80,000, 

and there was booster funding from the 

Community Shares Booster programme. 

Ms Goudouneix noted how 90% of the 

money for Lambeth came from the local 

community, compared to only 30% for 

Kensington and Chelsea. 

t John Robb (music journalist) with 

Mike Pickering (head of sustainability, 

Midcounties Co-operative; Michaela Cryar 

(head of product and origination, Younity) 

& Jonathan Atkinson (co-founder, Carbon 

Co-op) 


David Boyle, from the Community 

Shares Company, explored the 

demographics the typical community 

shares investor. Unsurprisingly, 60% of 

the money comes from 10% of investors 

– who are retired and have a bachelors 

degree. “How many Guardian readers 

are in your target area?” he asked. 

A few key conditions can bring 

success or failure for a community share 

offer, he said. These include a sense 

of identification with what is being 

offered; a committed core team; and the 

time to do everything that is needed. 

In a separate session, Tony Greenham 

of the Mutual Banks Association (MBA) 

and Cliff Mills, of Anthony Collins 

Solicitors, presented their efforts to 

tackle the capital conundrum in the 

finance sector – where capital is highly 

regulated. To address barriers to cooperation 

in this sector, the MBA has 

developed a new co-operative structure 

under the Companies Act 2006 that does 

three things: legally embed a common 

good corporate purpose; create a multistakeholder 

ownership structure with 

active participatory governance; and 

create a form of co-operative equity 

capital that can deliver fair returns to 

early-stage, high-risk investors – while, 

crucially, remaining aligned with cooperative 

principles. 

“We’ve created an association under 

the Companies Act which is designed 

to be more flexible around capital, 

to solve some of the problems while 

being mutual,” said Mr Greenham. “My 

aspiration is that it would be recognised 

by the co-operative movement as also 

being properly co-operative.” 

Healthcare 

The Co-operative Councils Innovation 

Network (CCIN) hosted a session 

looking at how co-operatives can make 

a difference in care, applying the co-op 

principles to create new and effective 

ways of working and become part of 

a solution to the care crisis. Dr Justin 

Varney, director of public health at 

Birmingham City Council, described 

how the city is working in partnership 

with Lewisham Council Public Health 

Divisions to gather insights on health 

inequalities within black African and 

Caribbean communities. 

p Clockwise from above: Andy Burnham 

(mayor of Greater Manchester) with Cheryl 

Barrott (Change AGEnts and Co-operatives 

UK); Paul McNamee (UK editor, The Big Issue) 

with Jess Philips MP; Lord Victor Adebowale 

He described how Covid-19 “created, for 

the first time for some generations, that 

feeling of universal experience that made 

people feel united with other people and 

made them want to do something about 

it – for the first time ever in my years 

in health, people were checking their 

privilege without being prompted.” 

Cheryl Barrott of Change AGEnts and 

a Co-operatives UK board member, said 

that, as a disabled person, she didn’t 

want to be “done to or done for, I want 

to be done with”, adding that the cooperative 

model gave recipients of care 

vital control over their own lives. 

In another session highlighting 

issues in the care industry, Andy 

Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, 

highlighted the problems of associating 

‘care’ with ‘profit’. 

“I still believe care in this country 

needs radical change,” he said. “Social 

care should be provided on NHS terms 

but we haven’t got that at the moment. 

“The profit motive does not sit well 

with care of any kind – that’s the 

problem. The more complex the needs, 

the more that profit motivation becomes 

a problem. This is a broken system.” 

Another politician at the event 

was Labour MP Jess Philips, who 

held conversations with co-operators 

in the care, energy and student 

housing sectors. “There is a fissure in 

understanding when it comes to people 

investing in things together – it sounds 

like socialism,” she said. 

“There’s a belief deficit with current 

government – what needs to be done 

to prove this is for it to become a more 

populous issue and for people to say 

‘this is what we want’.” 

Co-ops “have to be a solution to a 

problem that people are clamouring 

for,” she added. “Then people like me 

can argue for it.” 

u Visit the thenews.coop for more 

reports from Congress, including 

discussion of global co-operation 


Canada Congress: Alberta’s co-ops 

showcase the power of the movement 

Congress reports by Anca Voinea 

Canada’s co-op movement converged 

on Calgary for three days in June for its 

annual congress, which began with a look 

at how Alberta’s co-ops are embedded in 

the province and its economy. 

The event, organised by national 

apex body Co-operatives and Mutuals 

Canada, began with a session introducing 

participants to the local movement. Vicki 

Zinyk, general manager of the North 

Parkland Power Rural Electrification 

Association and board chair of the Alberta 

Community and Co-operative Association 

(ACCA), highlighted the sector’s role 

in the province’s economy. Alberta has 

704 co-ops that issued over CA$100m in 

dividends in 2021. Two thirds of Albertans 

are members of a local credit union, co-op 

or mutual. 

One of the best known is United 

Farmers of Alberta (UFA), which has 

120,000 farmer owners. Its chair, Kevin 

Hoppins, a third generation leader at the 

organisation, said the co-op is “deeply 

entrenched in Alberta’s history”. Set up 

in 1909 – just four years after Alberta 

was founded – it had ambitions beyond 

agriculture. In 1919 it passed a resolution 

to allow its members to engage in political 

activity and by the 1921 general election, 

the small group of farmers had secured 

two thirds of the province’s legislature. 

Alberta farmers went on to play a key 

role in the electrification of the province’s 

rural areas in the 1940s by forming electric 

co-ops – known as Rural Electrification 

Associations (REAs). “Companies existing 

at the time couldn’t see the values of 

bringing electricity to rural Alberta, it was 

about costs for them,” said Andy Metzger, 

CEO at utilities co-op EQUS. “So REAs 

formed and grew over the years.” 

The movement is continuing to drive 

development, added Mr Metzger. “We 

have three of our five operating facilities 

generating clean, green electricity from 

over 100 kilowatts of solar power. And 

we’re using a natural gas co generation, to 

p Kevin Hoppins (left) and Vicki Zinyk 

provide high efficiency heat and electricity 

at our new head office.” 

The co-op has also taken steps to 

modernise its distribution system with 

smart meter infrastructure. 

“We’re looking to be responsive and 

proactive in meeting the evolving needs 

of our members and their communities,” 

said Mr Metzger. “Right now we’re seeing 

a high need for high-speed internet in our 

communities. 

“This is the same case as it was back 

in the 1940s with power – the investorowned 

broadband companies are not 

stepping up to this need. They cannot see 

how they can make this feasible, and get 

a return on those dollars. So that’s where 

we come in. We believe our co-operative 

has an incredible opportunity to meet this 

need for rural broadband services.” 

Bob Rae, ambassador and permanent 

representative of Canada at the UN, told 

the session that co-ops have a key role to 

play in driving sustainable development 

in Canada and around the world, with 

global challenges like climate change, 

Covid-19 and the Ukraine war needing 

global answers. 

“Sustainable development is not just a 

development project for other places, it is 

about the whole planet,” he said. “There 

is no effective answer except for a global 

one. And at the same time, the global one 

requires us step up at home.” 

He said the movement has had a 

tremendous impact in countries in the 

global south, and praised agricultural, 

fishery and credit co-ops for their work. 

Current world crises pose a threat 

to the credibility of important world 

organisations, he warned. “Institutions 

that are far away, that are distant and that 

are so big that nobody really trusts them, 

have much less prospect of really being 

well received.” 

But co-op ventures offer a solution to 

this, he added; they “have shares that are 

tied to common equity, that are tied to a 

sense of people working together for a 

better return and doing it for each other. 

These are very powerfully based in human 

solidarity, they’re very powerfully based 

in great values.” 

Urging delegates to step up to this 

challenge, he said: “I think the cooperative 

institutions of the world have 

a tremendous amount to contribute to 

the current crisis. I hope very much that 

the Canadian co-operative community 

will see the opportunity to engage at the 

global level, as I know you do, to help 

make a difference.” 


Justice and resilience: Delegates share 

lessons of the pandemic 

A congress session on Covid-19 including 

a presentation of research into the co-op 

response to the pandemic in Canada. 

Derya Tarhan, the postdoctoral 

researcher at the Ontario Institute for 

Studies in Education who carried out 

the study, said co-ops newly converted 

from conventional business models had 

struggled with establishing governance 

structures and community building. And 

co-ops that relied on face-to-face businesses 

were among the hardest hit. 

But some co-ops didn’t just survive the 

pandemic – they actually increased their 

revenues. Aron Theatre Co-op in Ontario 

raised more money as people kept paying 

their membership fees even though there 

were no movies being shown. 

“These co-ops are very resilient,” said 

Dr Tarhan. “That has to do with how well 

rooted in the community they are and how 

they care for their community. It has been 

about more than just saving jobs.” 

Around 80% of co-op conversions occur in 

Quebec. Dr Tarhan thinks this is due to “an 

enabling ecosystem of policy, institutional 

support, technical support, financial 

support, by a network of organisations.” 

This also happens in the rest of Canada, 

he added, but it usually needs an individual 

or a group of co-op developers to champion 

the cause. This leaves some communities at 

a disadvantage. 

“Given the massive potential crisis of 

succession,” he warned, “Canada also 

needs a very concerted effort to enable cooperative 

convergence. So one of the lessons 

is definitely the importance of an enabling 

environment.” 

Hazel Corcoran, executive director, 

Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation, 

described some of the challenges faced by 

worker co-ops, such as workers struggling 

with financial pressures or mental health 

issues. Worker co-ops had generally coped 

well with these challenges, showing 

resilience – and, as climate change, conflict 

and inequality have driven people to seek 

for alternative ways of working, the model 

is becoming more popular. This is both an 

p Top: Andrea Renaud, director of co-operative affairs, Sollio Coop; Scott Bolton; 

Hazel Corcoran and Derya Tarhan. Bottom left: Bob Rae; bottom right: Andy Metzger 

opportunity and a challenge, she said, as 

federal bodies sometimes struggle to meet 

demand for support and advice. 

The federation runs a worker co-op 

business succession committee which 

has been leading an advocacy campaign 

with the federal government; it wants the 

kind of resources available in Quebec to be 

replicated across the country. One recent 

success has been the mention of co-ops in 

the Canadian government’s recent Social 

Innovation and Social Finance strategy, 

which highlights the role co-ops can play in 

equity-seeking communities. 

“The whole co-op sector needs to get 

better at all kinds of diversity, inclusion 

and justice,” said Ms Corcoran. “It will only 

strengthen us to build in this way.” 

Other challenges for the sector included 

preventing demutualisations, and 

honouring principle six – co-operation 

among co-operatives. “At our federation, we 

have a co-op specific procurement policy 

whenever possible,” said Ms Corcoran. “We 

obtained products and services from worker 

co ops or other kinds of co-ops and we live 

that.” 

Scott Bolton, president & CEO, United 

Farmers of Alberta Co-operatives, explained 

how the pandemic hit Canada just as crop 

farmers were about to start their spring 

planting. 

“We’re a retailer of farm products,” he 

said. “We help farmers do their business. We 

had to stay open, and we had to find a way 

to do it so farmers could plant crops.” 

The Covid crisis, he said, was where the 

co-op started “to really shine … This wasn’t 

about us, it wasn’t about profitability, it 

wasn’t about anything other than making 

sure that we’re doing our part to make sure 

society is not impacted by something so 

fundamental as food production.” 

Mr Bolton added: “I believe this movement 

proved its worth in this time of crisis... It’s 

because, I think, we have a purpose – and 

our purpose is that our members feed the 

world, and we look after them. That’s what 

we do, and I’m proud of the way our team 

accomplished that.” 


‘We need our land back’ 

community land trusts and the fight for fair space 

by Rebecca Harvey 

q St Ives, Cornwall. 

(Photo by Matt Cardy/ 

Getty Images) 

The world is having a crisis of space. As global 

issues of climate change and sustainability 

collide head first with population growth and 

mass migrations, the question of who owns 

space on our planet – and what they are doing 

with it – is taking centre stage. 

In the UK, land and property have been at 

the heart of disputes for centuries, from access 

rights to affordable housing. This year is the 

90th anniversary of the mass trespass of Kinder 

Scout, a key event in the struggle for public 

access to countryside, but it’s an ongoing issue, 

particularly in Scotland, where 432 private landowners 

own 50% of private rural land. 

And then there’s the housing crisis: not 

enough, and too expensive – especially with the 

meteoric rise of Airbnb. 

One model addressing this inequality is 

the community land trust (CLT) which gives 

ordinary people the means to steward land. 

CLTs are locally controlled and democratically 

accountable through a membership that is open 

to all who live or work in the defined community 

– including occupiers or users of the land and 

properties that the trust owns. According to the 

UK’s CLT Network there are 548 CLT groups in 

England and Wales running 587 projects. There 

are over 1,100 completed homes, with a further 

7,100 in the pipeline. 

Community ownership of the land is protected 

for the future through CLTs holding their assets 

in perpetuity, though they do have the flexibility 

to respond to changing circumstances. Assets 

can only be sold or developed in a manner which 

benefits the local community; for example, if a 

home is sold, the cash realised is protected and 

can be re-invested into something else that the 

trust’s members think will bring benefit. 

The UK 

In Cornwall alone, there are an estimated 

10,000 Airbnbs – and this number is growing, 

as landlords who were letting property for 

£800-£900 a month have now realised they can 

make £1,500 a week. Research by Cornwall Live 

showed that in March, St Ives had 119 Airbnbs. 

There were 68 houses and flats for sale, with 

none for rent. 

“In Cornwall 

alone, there are 

an estimated 

10,000 Airbnbs.” 


Cornwall CLT was set up in 2006 to combat 

this, and is now one of the largest in the UK, 

having delivered more than 230 affordable 

sustainable homes with more in the pipeline, 

alongside advising other community-led groups 

in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Most of its 

homes are for sale (although some are for rent) 

and are offered at discounts calculated to be 

affordable to median local incomes. 

Australia 

According to SQM Research, rental vacancy rate 

in the Blue Mountains plunged from 3.2% in 

December 2019 to 0.7% in April 2022%, while the 

value of homes in Australia rose 16.7% in the 12 

months to May 2022. Now the Blue Mountains – 

a region 65 miles inland from Sydney – could be 

among the first places in the country to establish 

a CLT, catering especially for women. 

“Domestic violence is the single largest cause 

of homelessness in Australia and the largest 

cohort is women over the age of 55 who don’t own 

property and have very little in superannuation,” 

Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle told the first inperson 

meeting of the Walanmarra Artists & 

Blue Mountains CLT in May, adding that women 

from indigenous communities and those with 

disabilities were particularly vulnerable. 

The USA 

The CLT model emerged in the US during the civil 

rights era. Influential figures including Robert 

Swann and Slater King (cousin of Martin Luther 

King Jr) wanted to create long-term opportunities 

for economic and residential independence for 

African Americans in the rural south. 

In 1968, Mr Swann travelled to Israel, learning 

about the success of the Jewish National Fund, 

which had a history of acquiring then leasing 

land to planned communities and co-ops. 

Working with fellow civil rights leaders he 

developed the first land trust in the US, New 

Communities, in 1970. Based on a 5,000-acre 

farm near Albany, Georgia, it is still going strong, 

and this year is working with Airbnb to launch 

the Southwest Georgia Agri-Tourism Trail. This 

will “allow participating farmers to benefit from 

the economic opportunities of local tourism 

through hosting [while] raising awareness of the 

current needs of Black farmers.” 

There are now over 240 CLTs in the US. The 

biggest – Champlain Housing Trust in Vermont – 

owns over 3,000 homes and over 130,000 sq ft of 

commercial and community facilities. 

Others are just getting started. In cities, CLTs 

are at the forefront of campaigns to bring vacant 

land into productive use. In an area where 

space is at a huge premium, East New York CLT 

(ENYCLT) is planning to take over a number of 

underutilised city-owned sites used as NY Police 

Department (NYPD) staff car parks in East New 

York, Bushwick and Brownsville. 

The CLT has calculated that one such empty 

lot – at the corner of Sutter Avenue and Linwood 

Street in East New York – is big enough to hold 

up to 60 permanently affordable one-, two- and 

three-bedroom co-op units, a community facility, 

a small pocket park and a rooftop farm. Research 

by ENYCLT found there are 145 vacant lots and 

parking lots citywide used by the NYPD, of which 

73 are underutilised and poorly maintained. 

“Together, these 73 lots represent more than 

1.3 million square feet of development potential 

that could provide hundreds of affordable 

housing units and tens of thousands of square 

feet of manufacturing and commercial space,” 

the study argues. The 73 lots are located in five 

community districts in Brooklyn and the Bronx. 

ENYCLT has not yet acquired any land, but it 

is in conversation with developers and architects 

and hopes to seek funding through various city 

and state government programmes. 

“We have a vision through the community, 

through the residents, of what this land can bring 

to East New York, we can bring so many resources 

here: housing, green space, commercial space,” 

says ENYCLT secretary Debra Ack. “We have so 

many young, up-and-coming entrepreneurs who 

are in school, who would love to come back to 

their community and open up a business and 

hire from within the community. But there’s one 

problem: They can’t afford the space. 

“[NYPD staff are] coming into my community 

and parking over here for free. You know what I 

say to that? Take the damn train like everybody 

else. We need our land back.” 

p East New York 

CLT is putting plans 

in place to take 

over a number of 

underutilised cityowned 

sites used 

as NYPD car parks 

(Image: ENYCLT) 


How a co-op became a local icon after 

40 years in its community 

by Miles Hadfield 

Town and city centres have been 

under pressure in recent years, which 

threatens to erode local sense of place 

and identity. One major issue has been 

the rise of the ‘clone town’, where the 

spread of retail and hospitality chains 

have replicated identical high streets 

across entire countries. 

This has chipped away at local 

differences and wiped out many 

unique businesses – along with the 

social and community assets that such 

distinctive local organisations can offer. 

As online shopping began to take trade 

from bricks and mortar retail, it also 

meant that boarded windows began 

to simultaneously appear in dozens of 

town centres as big chains collapsed. 

With looming recession thrown into 

the mix, many localities are concerned 

for the future of their centres and longstanding, 

distinctive local names are 

becoming more cherished. 

Co-operatively owned enterprises, 

with their roots in communities, can 

offer strong examples of this – and in 

Ireland, one such business has just 

celebrated its 40th anniversary. 

Quay Co-op opened in May 1982 

on O’Sullivan’s Quay in Cork and has 

become a local icon: a mix of a landmark 

building, radical campaigning base 

and trusted business. The city’s first 

vegetarian restaurant, it is based in a 

neglected former pawnbroker’s shop 

which the co-op members personally 

renovated with a distinctive blue facade. 

It has since expanded into the properties 

on either side, including a former fire 

station building. 

Launched in a time of recession 

and joblessness, over its lifetime Quay 

Co-op has employed 750 people and 

estimates that a million people have 

passed through its doors. 

Still owned by its members, it employs 

50 people between its vegetarian deli, 

bakery, wholefoods store and restaurant 

on O’Sullivan’s Quay, its vegetarian 

food-production facility on Cove Street 

and satellite stores in Carrigaline and 

Ballincollig. 

Like many community co-op 

businesses, it also acts as a social and 

community hub, providing space for 

a food co-op, bookshop, women’s 

centre and crèche, and offers a meeting 

place for feminist, gay, lesbian and 

environmentalist groups. 

Over the years, it says it has provided 

“a local base for the politics of social 

movements which is as needed today as 

it was in the 1980s when Irish society, 

and its economy, seemed to be going 

backwards rather than forwards … we 

have seen many one-time hopes become 

a reality.” 

Pressing issues at the time of its 

launch included gay rights, the 1983 

anti-abortion amendment, the Criminal 

Justice Bill and the first Divorce 

Referendum. A worker co-op, it clings to 

that idealism still, and plans to continue 

Canadian co-op federation 

gifts $1m for culture heritage park 


Wanuskewin Heritage Park is an 

archaeological site and non-profit 

cultural and historical centre of the 

First Nations, which lies just outside the 

city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which 

works to advance the understanding 

and appreciation of the evolving 

cultures of the Northern Plains 

indigenous peoples. 

In Cree, ‘Wanuskewin’ means ‘living in 

harmony’ or ‘peaceful gathering place’. 

“This name was chosen by our original 

elders to reflect the spirit of the land 

and its history,” says the Wanuskewin 

Heritage Park Authority (WHPA). 

“The nomadic tribes who travelled 

through the Northern Plains gathered 

on this site of natural beauty where 

today visitors can relive the stories of 

a people who came here to hunt bison, 

gather food and herbs and escape the 

winter winds.” 

It adds: “Walking in their footsteps, 

you will understand why this site was 

a place of worship and celebration, of 

renewal with the natural world and 

of a deep spirituality, and is still this 

way today.” 

Wanuskewin is a National Historic 

Site of Canada due to its archaeological 

resources – a treasure store of nearly 

6,000 years of the history of the 

Northern Plains peoples – and the 

centre aims to be a “living reminder” 

of the peoples’ sacred relationship with 

the land. 

To preserve this for future 

generations, WHPA is submitting a bid 

to bring World Heritage Site status to 

Wanuskewin – which, if successful, will 


its campaigns “so future generations 

may enjoy this planet respectfully”. 

This extends to the running of the 

business, which works to improve 

sustainability of packaging and 

sourcing. For deliveries, it has just 

bought an electric van “which is 

far more environmentally sound 

and almost silent” and is looking at 

switching its lighting to LED. 

“Over the years,” it adds, “a balance 

always has been found between the 

campaigning work in which many 

members were involved and with the 

day-to-day work needed to create the 

funds to keep us up and running. 

“Ireland has undergone a massive 

social and a cultural shift and the Quay 

Co-op has played an important role 

in driving those changes. We retain a 

strong interest in food politics which we 

believe to be the next big fight and we 

are leaders in the provision of organic 

vegetarian/vegan wholefood.” 

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, cofounder 

Arthur Leahy said: “I speak for 

all the Quay Co-op members when I say 

that we are hugely grateful to the people 

of Cork for their continued support, it 

means so much to us. 

“Reaching this milestone anniversary 

is down to hard work, dedication and 

also that spark of alternative creativity 

that we see every day in the people that 

work here, come here and shop here. 

Our radical roots inform what we do to 

this day; they make us proud of where 

we work and what we’ve stood for, for 

40 years. 

“Today we face new challenges, none 

more so than ensuring that our future 

generations may respectfully enjoy this 

beautiful planet in peace.” 

General manager Simon Tiptaft 

added: “Hundreds of people have 

worked at the Quay Co-op over the years 

but many have stayed for decades. 

“Our team and our members are so 

important to us. Our customers, too, are 

savvy forward thinkers who continually 

spur us on to be better, to do more for 

the causes that will make a better future 

for us all. 

“As a worker co-operative we have 

a unique view on trading – for us it is 

not about profit – if we can break even 

while supporting jobs and the causes 

that matter to us, that will do just fine 

for the next 40 years.” 

be the first site in Saskatchewan to gain 

such a distinction. 

The bid is being supported by another 

organisation rooted in Saskatoon: 

Federated Co-operatives Ltd (FCL), 

which is giving the centre a CA$1m 

(£630,000) backing. FCL is a co-op 

federation which provides procurement 

and distribution to more than 160 

member co-ops across Western Canada 

– with activities ranging from groceries 

to fuel and lumber. 

“At the heart of community is a 

commitment to understanding the 

rich history and diverse backgrounds 

from which we’ve come. This includes 

taking the time to create spaces 

and opportunities for inclusivity, 

spaces where we can gather to better 

u p40 


understand each other,” said FCL chief 

executive Heather Ryan. 

She added that for FCL, the gift 

represents a “unique opportunity to 

build on our commitment to diversity and 

inclusion and reaffirm our commitment 

to Truth and Reconciliation”. 

The donation will help the park with 

its programming, resource management 

activity, and application to become a 

World Heritage Site by 2025. 

“This is an extremely exciting and 

timely charitable gift to Wanuskewin,” 

said park CEO Darlene Brander. “These 

beautiful traditional lands belong to all 

of us and in the spirit of reconciliation, 

FCL has stepped up to ensure we can 

fully articulate the new interpretive 

centre and trail system as being unique 

in the world.” 

After completing its visionary 

Thundering Ahead Campaign in late 

2020, the newly expanded Wanuskewin 

faces its next big challenge: the Unesco 

World Heritage designation application 

process. The park announced its bid 

in 2016 and must meet the rigorous 

Unesco criteria while expanding 

its programming and resource 

management activity. 

New amenities in place include 

an exhibit hall with interactive 

displays, indigenous art galleries, an 

enhanced trail system through multiple 

archaeological sites, and the new and 

ever-growing bison herd. The centre 

also hosts daily drop-in programmes, as 

well as summer kids’ camps supported 

by the Saskatchewan-based Conexus 

credit union. 

Candace 

Wasacase-Lafferty, 

Wanuskewin board member and 

Fundraising Committee chair, added: 

“Wanuskewin relies on strong 

community partnerships to ensure we 

can fulfil our vision that Wanuskewin 

will be the living reminder of the peoples’ 

sacred relationship with the land. FCL has 

long been a stable and strong partner of 

Wanuskewin and we hope their ongoing 

commitment will serve to inspire others to 

join us in our important work here.” 

Minnesota land co-op reimagines 40 acre 

site as creative space 


A group of residents and artists in 

Cook County, Minnesota have banded 

together to form the Tamarack Land 

Cooperative, which intends to create a 

creative rural hub on a 40 acre site. 

The group is looking to use a stretch 

of land at the east end of Cook County, 

with the plans recently approved by 

the local planning commission and the 

Cook County Board of Commissioners. 

Close by is the unincorporated 

community of Hovland, on Chicago 

Bay of the north shore of Lake Superior. 

A former fishing community for 19th 

century Scandinavian settlers, Hovland 

is in Grand Portage State Forest, an area 

noted for its water recreation, hiking 

trails and fishing. 

The co-op will see members pay a 

monthly or annual usage fee in return 

for use of the property. Its permit 

application for the land use will 

“provide equitable access to stay and 

recreate in the area, while also building 

a community of people with shared 

values”; in the long term they hope it 

will address housing issues in the area. 

Among the planned activities are 

vacation rentals, artist residencies, 

public events and chicken rearing. 

Current owner Paul Stucker will be 

one of three full-time member residents, 

with six members staying 50 or fewer 

nights a year and 10 members staying 

14 or fewer nights per year. 


On its website, the co-op “envisions 

a space of dynamic harmony where 

a diversity of life shares resources. 

Together, we seek to enjoy and 

understand nature, harness co-operative 

power, provide opportunities for healing 

and growth, and encourage agency.” 

It adds: “Through our programming, 

TLC generates equity and access to 

land, growing a community of people 

with the shared values of creativity, 

resiliency, and accountability.” 

The plans have drawn concerns – 

along with some support – from Hovland 

residents, reflecting the tensions that 

often arise with development in rural 

areas valued for their solitude and 

tranquillity. This saw plans for the 

site scaled back by commissioners: 

the duration of intended use plan has 

been cut from five years to two, and the 

number and size of permitted events 

has been reduced – from 12 events a year 

with a maximum crowd of 80, to five 

events with a maximum crowd of 40, 

and conditions have been set around 

issues such as the septic system, light 

pollution and noise. 

Speaking to WTIP Community Radio, 

Mr Stucker said the project is in “very 

much an exploratory phase” and there 

are details still to be hammered out with 

the planning authorities. 

Margaret Johnson, a full-time resident 

at co-op property, told WTIP that events 

would vary in size and focus. 

“Right now our thinking on what 

those events may be, are really that 

they’re held in conjunction with the 

artists in residence so the artists that 

are coming to spend dedicated time 

working on a project or a practice, 

and that those events might take 

place during their stay or at the end of 

their stay. 

“It might look like a showing of the 

work that they do. It might look like 

a workshop, a sharing of a skill or a 

practice that they want to teach. We 

really felt like those events would be 

targeted to the community and offering 

opportunities to have our neighbours 

and local artists in conversation with 

the artists we have visiting. 

“I’m personally really interested in 

having regional and local artists in 

conversation with each other, showing 

work alongside each other, having 

conversations about what they do, and 

then also the potential for having local 

artists lead workshops themselves.” 

Part of being a co-op means living 

on good terms in a community and Ms 

Johnson said the team wanted to hear 

about neighbours’ concerns. “it has 

been an opportunity for us to reflect 

on our project and on the ideas that we 

want to do. 

“It was an opportunity to get 

feedback and kind of like how our 

internal conversations are being heard 

by others … We want to continue to be 

good neighbours. We want to continue 

to deepen our relationship with that 

piece of land and also with the people 

that we live nearby. 

“This process has been a great 

opportunity for us to connect with our 

closest neighbours walking door-todoor 

and having conversations … We 

hope that we can continue to connect 

with people who have questions.” 

Photo: National 

Parks Service 

“This process has been a great opportunity 

for us to connect with our closest neighbours 

walking door to door and having conversations” 

– Margaret Johnson 

Mr Stucker, who moved to the area 

from Minneapolis-St Paul, noted that 

locals valued the quiet solitude of the 

area and said he hoped the co-op would 

minimise the impact of a growing 

demand for activity. 

“I think there’s a virtue to using the 

space that’s there,” he told WTIP. “It 

might feel a little counterintuitive at 

first, but it’s bringing that activity into 

one space rather than spreading it out.” 

The virtue of the area is that it feels 

“sort of sparse and it’s pretty easy to 

get away and find that solitude and 

go walk out on a trail by yourself,” he 

added. “Part of that, I think, is actually 

acknowledging where the spaces are 

being used, and using them to their 

best capacity. 

“You know, say everyone in this cooperative 

went out and bought their 

own piece of land … that would actually 

have a much bigger impact on the 

character of Hovland.” 


Co-ops plug in for a new 

wave of music venues 

by Susan Press 

p An architect’s 

impression of the 

main arena space at 

Co-op Live 

On 11 April 1963, the Beatles released their first 

No.1 single – and played to 300 fans at Middleton 

Co-op Hall in north Manchester. Co-op 

venues like this were a big part of the gig 

circuit for the fab four, along with the 

Stones, the Who, the Hollies and others. 

Most shut decades ago but almost 50 years on the 

movement is looking to a new wave of venues. 

Co-op Live, due to open in 2023, is set to be the 

biggest indoor arena in the UK with a maximum 

capacity of 23,500. It is being developed by 

Oak View Group (OVG) in partnership with the 

Co-op Group and set to inject £350m of private 

investment into east Manchester. 

Sited next to the Etihad Stadium, Co-op 

Live will host live music, sports and family 

entertainment alongside bars and restaurants. 

The partnership with the US-based sports and 

leisure corporate is a departure for the Group 

but Amanda Jennings, director of live and local 

marketing, says it stays true to co-op values. 

“It signifies a huge regeneration of a part 

of the city we love, bringing a world-class, 

sustainable events venue to the north west, 

while providing an amazing opportunity to raise 

money for communities, allowing us to establish 

significant value and opportunities for members 

and colleagues,” she says. 

“This partnership is also a real opportunity 

for us to challenge perceptions of the brand and 

reach new customers.” 

Co-operation has been central to the 

partnership with OVG, she adds, embedding 

social and environmental responsibility in the 

project. It will be powered by renewable energy 

and have an energy-efficient design, low carbon 

technologies and waste reduction measures, 

including using reclaimed water for bathrooms 

and toilets. Fairtrade food and drink will be on 

sale and green spaces are a key part of the plans. 

Co-op members will receive exclusive presale 

tickets as well as late-sale ticket access and 

discounts, she adds, and the Group will make 

thousands of tickets available each year for 

customer promotions, competitions, colleagues 

and community programmes. The venue will also 

deliver over £1m in donations a year through the 

Co-op Foundation to communities around the 

UK, generating 1,000 roles and apprenticeships, 

in addition to over 3,000 construction jobs. 

But at the grassroots level of UK music – the 

spawning ground for the nation’s talent – small 


Co-op Live, 

due to open in 

2023, is set to 

be the biggest 

indoor arena 

in the UK 

venues are going to the wall and even iconic 

names like Sheffield Leadmill face uncertain 

futures at the hands of their landlords. 

And so, in another ambitious project, the 

Music Venue Trust, a charitable membership 

organisation set up in 2015, aims to raise £3.5m 

to fund nine new venues across the country. 

The initiative is a response to the strain put 

on venues by the pandemic, says CEO Mark 

Davyd. “At the onset of Covid-19 it was estimated 

about 83% of grassroots music venues faced 

permanent closure. As a result of our work, less 

than 1% permanently closed. 

“However, over 90% of venues are now tenants 

with on average 18 months left of their tenancies. 

If we want these venues to continue, they need 

to be owned by the community.” 

The trust set up Music Venue Properties, a 

charitable community benefit society, to raise 

capital to buy venues. With help from the Hive 

– the business support programme delivered by 

Co-operatives UK in partnership with the Co-op 

Bank – the team launched a community share 

offer in May. 

“We’ve had a really fantastic launch,” says 

Mr Davyd, “raising over £250,000 already, 

with an incredible response from the public. 

We are working to convert all the interest and 

enthusiasm into investors and supporters, 

with the aim of raising the full amount by 30 

September. We’re confident we can make very 

rapid progress in buying the venues should we 

be able to raise the money.” 

The nine locations are Hull, Darwen, Glasgow, 

Derby, Newport, Preston, Bideford, Atherton and 

Swansea. All are in areas which would struggle 

with more traditional models of ownership and 

are in need of economic investment. 

Rose Marley, CEO of Co-operatives UK, said: 

“This campaign is a real game-changer with the 

potential to be the biggest community share offer 

to date. Music fans and communities will be able 

to save the venues that matter most to them – 

just as importantly they’ll own them too. It is an 

amazing opportunity to be part of securing and 

shaping the future of grassroots music venues.” 

Not every small venue will weather the coming 

challenges but community campaigners in 

south Manchester are hoping a former cinema 

can survive the threat of demolition. 

It’s three years since the Stayin’ Alive 

campaign was launched to save the Gaumont in 

Chorlton – like the Middleton venue, a stepping 

stone for future icons when it hosted an early 

show by local boys the Bee Gees. Subsequently 

the site was home for many years to a Co-op 

Funeralcare but now its fate is uncertain. 

Campaigners want to turn it into a live 

performance space with street food and bars; 

they have raised £400,000 and at one stage the 

project was the preferred bid. News the building 

had been sold to Southway Housing Association 

sparked widespread consternation. 

At the recent Co-op Group AGM, member 

pioneer and digital specialist Shaun Fensom 

spoke out against the plans – but he now 

hopes the project can be rescued. “Southway 

are showing signs of being collaborative and 

talking to the community land trust (CLT) which 

is positive,” he told Co-op News. “There is a lot 

of space behind the building to build flats, so 

why not convert the rest into a general purpose 

events space? We are hopeful the CLT will be 

able to agree something with Southway where 

the building can be kept at the heart of Chorlton. 

“My message is, c’mon Co-op Group, stay 

involved and help us get this over the line. This 

incredible piece of music heritage should not 

be demolished. When you have Co-op Live, 

wouldn’t this be a brilliant addition to that?” 

u Co-op Live is due to 

open in a year’s time

Sister 

Midnight 

by Alice 

Toomer-McAlpine 

q Sister Midnight 

directors Lottie 

Pendlebury, Lenny 

Watson and Sophie 

Farrell (Photo: Holly 

Whitaker) 

Lenny is a founding co-director of Sister 

Midnight, a community benefit society on a 

mission to create an accessible, affordable and 

inclusive grassroots music venue in Lewisham. 

While studying fine art in London, Lenny passed 

a record shop and basement venue in Deptford, 

on a backstreet called Tanner’s Hill. 

“I just thought, ‘that seems like my kind of 

place’. So I asked if I could volunteer, and they 

said yes.” Lenny volunteered at Vinyl Deptford 

while studying, and her focus shifted from fine 

art to music. 

She became increasingly concerned with 

understanding all the things that were leading 

to the loss of grassroots venues, which she 

describes as “the seedbed of the whole music 

industry” – so when in 2018 Lenny’s boss told 

her he was going to shut the record shop and 

venue down, and that someone wanted to turn 

it into a cheese and wine bar, she decided to do 

something about it. 

Lenny got together the money to buy the rights 

to her boss’s lease and Sister Midnight was born. 

“It was originally just an attempt to preserve 

what was already there,” says Lenny. “We 

weren’t that well known, but I think we had a 

fairly significant impact in quite a short amount 

of time ... It was just very different to how a lot of 

other places were being run in the local area.” 

By different, Lenny means Sister Midnight 

was not focused on making profit, but making 

an impact in its community. “The priority was 

always affordability and what was best for the 

people who were coming there.” 

Sister Midnight was already working in a coop 

way, but it wasn’t until they lost their venue 

during the pandemic that they considered 

becoming a community benefit society. 

“The reason that we did this is because of the 

Music Venues Trust,” says Lenny. “They ran a 

seminar during lockdown and said, ‘there’s 

this way that you can become owned by your 

community and raise money to buy your building 

so that your landlords don’t kick you out or raise 

your rent or do all these horrible things that are 

a massive threat to most venues in the country’. 


“I thought, that sounds great, but Sister 

Midnight’s not really big enough to raise the 

money it would need. We’re just a tiny venue.” 

But another co-op venue, Exchange in Bristol, 

put Lenny in touch with Dave Boyle from the 

Community Shares Company. “It just gave me so 

much confidence that I thought, ‘yeah, maybe 

we can do this. Maybe we should give it a try.’” 

In 2021 Sister Midnight launched a community 

share offer to bring a Lewisham pub called the 

Ravensbourne Arms into community ownership. 

The campaign raised over £260,000 from 865 

investors, but Sister Midnight has been unable 

to agree an offer with the owner. 

“That building is not worth what they want us 

to pay for it, and so we can’t do it. Even if we had 

£3m sat in our bank account, there’s a really big 

question around the ethics involved with using 

investors’ funds towards significant private gain. 

“We’re keeping a very close eye on the 

situation and it’s still a long term aspiration of 

ours that we would be able to bring that space 

into community ownership, but I think it’s just 

a very sad reflection on the state of the London 

property market.” 

The team is still looking for a local property 

but the business has had to change tack for now. 

“The economic situation has changed so much 

that taking on that kind of large loan funding 

doesn’t seem like such a good idea. With interest 

rates going up so significantly I don’t know 

whether it would still be affordable for us. 

“So we recently went to our investors and 

asked them if they would support us using the 

funds to set up a ‘meanwhile space’, to find 

somewhere that we can run the venue in the 

medium term and reposition the goal of owning 

our venue to be a more long term one.” 

This plan has been supported by 97% of those 

who responded to Sister Midnight’s proposal, 

says Lenny. “In a lot of ways it was surprising 

to us how many of the investors came back and 

said that they’d actually invested on the basis of 

a community owned venue, not on this specific 

building,” she adds. “That was a really beautiful 

thing to see, that so many people have this 

greater understanding of co-op businesses and 

how they can benefit the community and they 

really want one no matter where it is. So that’s an 

achievement, if anything, just that people have 

this awareness now and this desire for it.” 

Sister Midnight’s journey has also introduced 

them to a wider network of community-owned 

businesses, working together. “When we were 

going through the process of setting this up, 

The priority was always 

affordability and what 

was best for the people 

who were coming ...” 

so many people were willing to give us their 

time just to offer advice and help us out. It’s a 

much more supportive environment, which 

is something that I love, because even prior to 

discovering the whole co-operative movement, 

I’ve always been of the mindset that venues 

should be supporting each other, not competing 

with each other. We’re part of an ecosystem and 

no venue can survive by itself. 

“We have a great network. And I’m really 

excited to build on that because I think there 

are so many interesting things happening cooperatively 

that people don’t know about.” 

Sister Midnight’s story has already inspired a 

number of groups who now want to open their 

own community owned businesses, and they 

are beginning to support a number of fledgling 

co-ops take their first steps towards community 

ownership in order to help grow the movement. 

Sister Midnight also wants to expand its network 

of creatives, Lenny says. 

“So many musicians have been amazed by 

the promise that this kind of project can have 

for music venues because most musicians are 

very, very aware of the problems facing venues – 

how difficult it is to operate and to survive. And 

so I think this is something that’s of really great 

interest to the whole music community.” 

Sister Midnight will hold its fourth birthday 

party in Lewisham on 23 July. “It’s very strange 

to think about how far we’ve come in four years,” 

says Lenny, adding that it would be nice if, by 

their fifth birthday, Sister Midnight has a home. 

And to those considering the route of 

community ownership, Lenny recommends it, 

but warns that it is a big learning process and 

something you must be fully committed to. 

“It’s not just a business structure. It’s a 

business culture, in a way. You have to completely 

change your mindset to how businesses are run 

and how they should be run. You have a lot more 

accountability to your community and to your 

employees. It changes things, but I don’t see that 

being a negative change. I think that’s a change 

that everyone needs to embrace.” 


Sharjah 

Co-operative at 

the heart of its 

community for 

40 years 

by Anca Voinea Sharjah Co-operative Society was set up in 1977 

by ministerial decree to provide services to the 

local community and boost the living standards 

of people in Sharjah, one of the emirates of the 

United Arab Emirates. 

Other co-ops followed and the UAE is now 

home to 40 co-ops and two co-operative unions, 

with most of the sector operating in retail. 

Sharjah Co-operative Society runs 48 retail 

outlets, including big shopping centres with 

various retail stores, restaurants, cafés and 

healthcare centres. As such, the co-operative is 

an important community hub for the emirate 

and its capital city of Sharjah, which is the 

country’s third-most populous city, after Dubai 

and Abu Dhabi. 

p Sharjah’s stateof-the-art 

Rahmania 

Mall Hypermarket in 

the city of Sharjah 

The pandemic led to changes in UAE customers’ 

behaviours with e-commerce accounting for 8% 

share of the retail market during 2020. The UAE 

retail e-commerce market reached a record US 

$3.9bn in 2020, a 53% year-on-year increase. 

In response to these changes, Sharjah has put 

systems in place for customers to order online or 

via WhatsApp. Items can be delivered to them or 

picked up at a selected store. 

“As a co-op, our mission and target is different 

from that of all the other competitors around 

us, we don’t just target profit, but also serve 

the community,” says executive director Zied 

Hammami. 

During the pandemic, the co-op distributed 

AED 7m in the form of gifts and food to charities 

in the area. Such acts of kindness are common 

during the holy month of Ramadan and known 

as ‘Ramadan Meer’. 

The co-op also extended a helping hand 

to those affected by the August 2020 Beirut 

explosion, sending 65 tons of food as part of 

Sharjah city’s ‘Salam Beirut’ initiative. 

In addition to its retail outlets, Sharjah Co-op 

also runs MobiCoop, a ‘shop on wheels’, to reach 

customers in remote locations. Mr Hammami 


says this initiative shows that his co-op remains 

rooted in the local community. 

“When it comes to food, people need to 

smell, to touch,” he says, adding that MobiCoop 

enables them to choose the products they want 

just like they would in a local supermarket. 

“Many branches were opened to support 

communities, because no one else would go 

there,” he says. “Our message for customers is 

we are here for you. We will come and serve you”. 

“We consider participating in society as our 

main goal,” adds Abdullah Issa Al Huraimel, 

executive director, new enterprises. 

He says the co-op provides services 

in underserved areas to support remote 

communities including via 16 branches in central 

jails – this is in addition to the 48 branches run 

in Sharjah. 

Customers make around 35,000 transactions 

across all of Sharjah Co-op’s branches every 

day. Around 60-70% of the population living in 

Sharjah shop at the co-op, which has a market 

share of 25% in the city – the highest of all 

retailers, and 5% in the UAE. 

Sharjah Co-op is owned by 24,000 member 

shareholders, who get a dividend on the surplus 

made by the co-op and 10% cash back on total 

purchase. Around 165,000 customers shop at the 

co-op, including member owners. 

The co-op is also an important employer in the 

local community, providing 2,000 jobs, of which 

women hold 25%. Employees can use a mobile 

app to access KPIs or book holidays. 

Having a social purpose is not without 

challenges as competitors are quick to establish 

outlets in developed areas, reaping the benefits 

of Sharjah’s investments in the local community. 

In April 2021 Sharjah Co-op launched its first 

state of the art Rahmania Mall Hypermarket in 

the city of Sharjah, an initiative that cost the 

co-op US $1m. 

Another challenge is that customers want 

cheaper prices, a trend that began during the 

pandemic which is here to stay. Big retailers 

are at an advantage in this price war as they 

can run at a loss for many years to gain the 

market share. 

Despite these challenges, Sharjah remains 

strong. In 2020 it reported a 7% year-on-year 

sales revenue growth and a 200% increase in 

e-commerce year-on-year revenue. 

The co-op scooped several accolades at the 

2021 Retail Asia Awards, winning Hypermarket 

of the Year – UAE, Omnichannel Strategy of the 

Year – UAE, and CSR Initiative of the Year – UAE. 

The UAE’s co-op movement continues to grow, 

with 95,000 member shareholders. The sector 

contributes AED 46m to the country’s GDP but 

the government feels there is potential for it 

do still more. To help drive this growth along, 

the Ministry of Economy has recently signed a 

partnership agreement with the ICA, through the 

latter’s Asia-Pacific office to develop a long-term 

strategy for co-ops. As part of this, co-operative 

legislation will also be amended. 

“Around 60-70% of the 

population living in Sharjah 

shop at the co-op...” 


INTERVIEW 

Bhima Subrahmanyam 

President, International Cooperative 

Banking Association (ICBA) 

was written by Dr R Bhaskaran, a financial 

consultant, with Dr Padmanabhan, an IT expert. 

2. Sustainable Development Goals & Objectives: 

Contribution of Cooperative Banks (2020), written 

by Dr Olivier Boned. The intervention of Dr Eum 

Hyungsik, director of the ICA Global Office, 

helped to fine tune the report. 

3. Report of Country Papers on Regulation and 

Sustainability of Cooperative Banks – produced 

by the ICBA Secretariat 

4. ICBA Members Today: How Do They Contribute 

and Report on Sustainable Development? (2021) 

This written by Dr Nazik Beishenaly, researcher 

at KU Leuven and Rubiga Sivakumaran, 

independent consultant. Santosh Kumar, 

director of the ICA Global Office, extended 

guidance to the team which helped to concretise 

the methodology and fine tune the report. 

THIS YEAR MARKS THE ICBA’S CENTENARY. HOW 

ARE YOU PLANNING TO CELEBRATE? 

Our celebration will most likely take place this 

November in Brussels, home of the International 

Cooperative Alliance’s (ICA) global office. 

Specifically, the centenary celebrations will 

focus on the following actions: to revisit the role 

and objectives of the ICBA as a global organisation 

for co-operative financial institutions (CFIs); to 

define the key parameters of the ICBA; to organise 

a global seminar on strategies to strengthen CFIs; 

to plan and bring out, if possible, a commemorative 

document comprising messages and articles on 

banking and finance; to publish the results of the 

three studies undertaken by the ICBA for analytical 

discussions; and to work out the strategies to 

execute the ICA’s strategic plan 2020-30. 

THE ICBA HAS PUBLISHED A STUDY ON HOW 

CO-OP BANKS REPORT THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO 

THE SDGS. HOW DID THIS COME ABOUT? 

Over the last two years – while dealing with the 

Covid-19 pandemic – the ICBA has published a 

number of academic documents: 

1. Regulation and Sustainability of Cooperative 

Banks: A cross country Study (2020), which 

The reports have been widely circulated and very well 

appreciated by many. 

A matter of great satisfaction to all of us at ICBA 

was that the first three reports were formally released 

by Ariel Guarco, president of the ICA, on 30 November 

at Seoul, South Korea – during the hybrid meetings of 

the ICBA General Assembly and board meeting. 

The fourth report on ICBA members was been fine 

tuned and finalised after discussions at different 

levels, with two webinars involving eminent 

personalities. Mr Guarco was accompanied by 

some of the directors from the ICA board at the 30 

November webinar –including Jean-Louis Bancel and 

Isabelle Ferrand. 

The ICBA acknowledged the contributions of all 

those involved in finalising the above study reports. 

To answer your question precisely, the ICBA 

Members Today report has come out very well – in 

spite of certain limitations, and sets out a clear 

message to CFIs about their role and involvement 

with the sustainable development goals (SDGs). 

WHAT WERE THE MAIN CHALLENGES FACED 

WHEN PUTTING TOGETHER THE REPORT? 

Truly important question. There were number of 

challenges: 

1. Inconsistencies in contact information of ICBA 

members who are spread over four regions 


2. Communication channels are not updated 

3. A long- term gap between members and ICBA 

functionaries 

4. An ‘uncalled for’ tendency to question the 

usefulness of the ICBA and its relevance. This 

has been aptly answered by the ICA board in 

reviving and reconstituting the ICBA 

5. Inability to integrate available information 

about all 17 SDGs 

6. Dependence on secondary sources of 

information 

These challenges have been ably addressed by Dr 

Nazik Beishenaly and Rubiga Sivakumaran. 

WHAT DOES THE REPORT TELL US ABOUT 

CO-OP BANK REPORTING ON THE SUSTAINABLE 

DEVELOPMENT GOALS? 

Despite the increasing awareness of sustainability 

disclosure, more than half of ICBA members have 

not yet integrated the SDGs into their reporting 

and communication. The ICBA members that 

actively engage in sustainability reporting are often 

encouraged by national and regional regulators. 

ICBA members’ contributions to sustainable 

development are driven and enabled by a range of 

internal and external factors. 

COULD SOME OF THE BEST PRACTICES IN THE 

REPORT BE REPLICATED ELSEWHERE? 

Certainly, yes. It is possible to replicate the best 

practices and the ICBA can play a significant role in 

disseminating the practices. 

Furthermore, as has been documented in the 

report, the best practices and knowledge sharing 

are among the most important expectations of ICBA 

members because they are based in different regions 

of the world. The ICBA could serve as a platform to 

share regional experiences, banking knowledge 

and co-operative expertise. It could also share 

best practices on developments in areas such as 

financial and environmental regulation. 

The exchange of best practices is essential 

during pandemic times – and indeed at all times 

that require novel approaches in terms of health 

measures, hybrid working, and the resumption of 

activities and international travel. 

A regular benchmarking and exchange of CFI 

practices would also be helpful in establishing 

virtual communication, organising conferences 

and sharing north-south good practices. 

The ICBA could centralise the communication of 

its members on topics of common interest through 

its website, conferences, training, study tours and 

other means. 

HOW CAN THE ICBA HELP WITH DIFFICULTIES 

CO-OPERATIVES MAY FACE WHEN REPORTING 

THEIR PERFORMANCE ON SUSTAINABLE 

DEVELOPMENT – SUCH AS THEIR CAPACITY 

TO DO THIS, OR THE NEED TO EDUCATE THEIR 

COMMUNITIES? 

As has been said, the ICBA could centralise the 

communication of its members on topics of 

common interest through its website, conferences, 

training, study tours and other means. 

The ICBA shall assume the advocacy role 

effectively, in contributing to SDGs. 

GIVEN THE REPORT’S MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS, 

WHAT COMES NEXT FOR THE ICBA? 

ICBA institutions can enter into partnerships with 

the co-operatives. They will then have access to 

funding, so they can use those funds themselves, or 

let co-operatives access funding for their own use. 

These are two major advantages the ICBA is having 

as a global organisation. 

The ICBA could also consolidate the information 

it collects and develop guidance on sustainability 

reporting: 

As has been enumerated in the study report, 

sustainability reporting is mandatory in many 

countries, but questions remain because co-ops 

also need to develop their stance on how they 

contribute to sustainability and what their valueadded 

is. 

The ICBA – which benefits from its international 

positioning and access to global policy platforms, 

the international co-operative community and 

other financial institutions, can help develop the 

conceptual grounding that emphasises the cooperative 

difference. 

Members expect the ICBA to support practical 

tools that include system to organise the 

measurements of the cooperatives’ contribution to 

the SDGs. 

As a part of advocacy, the ICBA platform could 

also allow the direct exchange of existing and new 

regulations with policy-makers and regulatory 

authorities. 

One of the ways to measure is to assess the extent 

of demonstrating and disseminating with case 

studies and other examples aimed at influencing 

the policies of governments. 

Furthermore, the ICBA – with its potential as a 

global organisation – may also attempt to develop 

a separate mechanism to measure the impact 

of the contributions by their members. It could 

use the result of this facilitate conducive policy 

formulations. 


DIARY 

Do you have a co-operative 

event – taking place in person, 

online, or as a hybrid – to be 

featured? 

Tell us at: 

events@thenews.coop 

International Day of Co-operatives 

2 July 

International Day of Co-operatives events 

2 July (Hebden Bridge, UK) 

10.45am: Co-operative heritage walk led 

by co-op historian Andrew Bibby. Free. 

Meet foyer of Hebden Bridge Town Hall. 

1.30pm-4.30pm Conference: Co-operatives 

work! Another economy is possible, plus 

workshops and stalls, at the Waterfront 

Hall, Hebden Bridge Town Hall. Free, with 

pre-booking advisable 

7.30pm Co-operation Concert with the 

Commoners’ Choir. Trades Club, £9/£6. 

Day’s events organised by Calderdale Cooperative 

Association. 

caldercoops@gmail.com 

Radical Bakers Summer Gathering 

7-10 July (Shrewsbury) 

A full programme of hands-on practical 

workshops, The Baker’s Arms Cafe, The 

Green Dragon Solar Stage hosting some 

great bands, kids’ stuff and a lot of lovely 

people. 

bit.ly/3QFJjsp 

Co-operatives UK National Youth Summit 

11 July (Manchester) 

A free event designed to empower and 

inspire young people in school, college or 

university and those starting to consider 

their future choices – in work and in life. 

A day of workshops and inspiring 

speakers, the summit brings together 

today’s leaders with the leaders of the 

future to explore radical solutions to 

many of society’s challenges. 

bit.ly/3xTB434 

Coops as a tool for Racial Justice 

13 July (London) 

This workshop will explore the legacy of 

co-operative development as a political 

and economic strategy that builds a 

racially just economy. 

bit.ly/3nf43cJ 

Playground for the New Economy 

12-14 July (Devon) 

Stir to Action’s Playground for the New 

Economy Festival is returning to its 

residential campus at Selgars Mill in Mid 

Devon for three days of panels, workshops, 

open space, virtual reality experiences, 

sustainable food, and live music. 

stirtoaction.com/festival 

Co-operative Press AGM 

25 July, 6pm (Online) 

The annual meeting of Co-operative Press, 

the co-op which publishes Co-op News. 

thenews.coop/AGM2022 

Why coops? How cooperatives can 

contribute to people and planet 

28 July (London) 

This session will explore the benefits of 

being a co-op and how co-ops can have 

a positive impact on workers, consumers, 

the wider economy and communities, and 

help you to build your knowledge and 

confidence to make the case for co-ops. 

bit.ly/3OCsU6a 

UKSCS Annual Conference 

26-28 August (Lincoln) 

The first in-person UK Society for 

Co-operative Studies conference since 

2019 will take place at Lincoln University 

and explore the theme: Consumer cooperatives: 

past, present and future. 

bit.ly/3EU3ahM 

Values and value chains 

7 September (London) 

Join Outlandish Co-op for a session 

to better understand the values and 

planning tools that cooperatives support 

(delivered Douglas by Racionzer) 

bit.ly/3HPh8TI 

Co-op Party Conference 

8-9 October (Leeds) 

Co-operative Party’s showcase and the 

largest political online gathering of the 

year for the UK co‐operative movement. 

party.coop/event/annconf022 

Coops and social enterprises 

12 October (London) 

A session to better understand the terms 

Co-operatives and Social Enterprises 

and how to access resources available. 

(Hosted by Outlandish and delivered by 

Douglas Racionzer) 

bit.ly/3tUey9h 

ICMIF Centenary Conference 

25-28 October 2022 (Rome) 

The ICMIF Centenary Conference will be 

hosted by the Unipol Group, an ICMIF’s 

founding member, in Rome, where the 

organisation was formed. 

icmif.org/icmif-conference/ 


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Co-op News July 2022

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