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Community ownership models; an evidence based approach to transformation of a county town in East Sussex.
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The common house in Lewes: Community site number one for People in Commons CIC, Future Folk Sussex (MHOS) and UK Commons ltd, Charity in the making.
The Lock Inn; Common House Lewes
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The common house in Lewes: Community site number one for People in Commons CIC, Future Folk Sussex (MHOS) and UK Commons ltd, Charity in the making.

Who are we?

The three organisations; People in Commons CIC, Future Folk Sussex and UK Commons (charity in waiting) are working to bring 176b into community ownership, where the space can be used by those within the community, contributing to its function and focused upon the wide and holistic support frameworks that are the essence of community.

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AllSpace: transformation through community collaboration

The why:
We believe in community, that we can live, learn and grow better together. We believe that non-hierarchical power is a basis for strong, functioning and resilient communities that are able to benefit everyone.
Supporting communities to achieve a low impact lifestyle will reduce stress and free up time, our most valuable resource. We believe that it is still possible to adapt, transform to bring about this positive change.

The idea of individual ownership, individual use and disconnected industries is one that has been driven by a focus upon consumerism, in turn by the fundamental underlying principle of capitalism, continuous growth and a need to generate continuous profit, that capital is continually greater than the labour and resource input. In a world that has finite resources, this is neither sustainable, ethically just nor equitable.

Living in spaces where we have to constantly struggle to look for ways to afford to continue to inhabit them is not conducive for wellbeing and we are proposing that we tackling this at the heart of our mission.

We have been driven to the brink of civilisation collapse, and in no way shape or form is this an answer that any of us seek, extinction. The mechanisms that have been enacted to drive us to this point can not be used to take us back from it. The capitalist machine has no reverse, there is no de-growth model within capitalism.
New thinking and new ideas of how we live and connect to one another are required for the transformation that we seek. It is in this thinking that we find our reconnection to each other, our communities and the environment. It is here that Community wealth becomes the focus, building a basis for the redistribution of resources, ensuring cohesion through collaborative thinking, practices and processes.

Currently, all that happens with home ownership is that we pass larger and larger amounts of debt down to the next generations. They have to borrow more, work harder and longer hours and subsequently have less and less time where they are not on the treadmill.

We can change this but it does mean a shift in perspective and it is not going to happen overnight.
The what:
The intention of this AllSpace is to enable the network to demonstrate the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ structures need to be created to operate in the existing social economic conditions. Through welcoming people into this space we intend to continue to strive for this new way of thinking about community design.

An AllSpace provides a space to begin the process of transformation. It is a journey supporting interconnectedness, directly working to address the question of why we are trying to operate independently from one another. The process of life is not independent from us, we are within the journey, the interactions we have and the actions we take are all imbricated in the fabric of our environment.

Multi-use environments have been conceptualised and established through cooperative thinking, an example of this would be a town market, with individual sellers operating within one space. AllSpace is simply an application of this thinking within a community wealth process. Rather than individual sellers, users or owners, we become one, multifaceted entity, operating for the purpose of enabling and enriching the lives of those around us; living, learning and growing better together.

Whether it is a dwelling, craft workshop and a coffee house, a restaurant and an education facility or all of the above, the common thread is to afford space and time for the enactors of these services to become entwined within the community they are part of. The change of thinking within an AllSpace is one where the relationship between those who engage with it are rooted much deeper than that of an owner and a tenant or a vendor and a consumer. It becomes a space which facilitates community interaction, a learning space, a talking space and a space to connect with each other, mutually respecting and valuing each others contributions to the community and environment we are part of.
Participating in this space is a broad section of the community and they are the ones who enable it to happen. The operating cost of the space and the development of it is spread across those who use it. Not only on a transaction by transaction basis but through a community commitment. Ensuring that the space is enabled by the community for the community.
As individuals use the space, they are invited to take on commitment to the space, not that they will forsake all other spaces, but that they invest in it to thrive, committing to the space to be used for community wealth opposed to individual gain. Because this is a space for the community, all operations are not-for-profit, they simply work to employ and develop the space, the community are assured that the space is not a commercial venture but a community facilitator. The community, through the success of the enterprises that operate, now become the facilitator of further AllSpaces, and, as more people use and make the commitment, the more community wealth is generated. These spaces become transformed into enterprises that facilitate communities to entwine and develop together.
With the Lewes common house, the acquisition of the freehold value is likely to be around its market value of £500k. Our previous attempt to acquire the freehold was rejected early 2022. With this space we also have an opportunity of transferring the residential into community ownership.
In order to set this all in motion several processes need to occur:
Raise funds to purchase freehold (£500k) and buy out LC (£200K)
Set up the charity to take ownership of the freehold.

Timeline for the fruition of 176
1
Raise finance
Liaise with vendor to negotiate market value and acquisition
Arrange for conveyancing
Discuss options with Third Sector
May 2024
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Month
TodayFit
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Tasks for acquisition
1
Title
Start
Duration
Description
Person
1
Raise finance
28/08/2023
20 days
Community loan stock agreement to be written up and draw down agreements prepared
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2
Liaise with vendor to negotiate market value and acquisition
10/08/2023
40 days
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3
Arrange for conveyancing
28/08/2023
28 days
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​
4
Discuss options with Third Sector
29/08/2023
15 days
​
​
There are no rows in this table
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Because we now have a wide community commitment to this concept we also distribute the weight for the success of the enterprises, we have collective knowledge and resources for support and operate now as a Community Action Network (CAN). This CAN will evolve and adapt to the community needs, it will morph and entwine, it will create its own ecosystem. It is this process that can not be controlled and it is the cause of the failure of most enterprises, trying to forge something to ‘fit’ when the fit is both unknown and constantly changing.
The most beautiful example of this in operation is our environment itself. What we are witnessing now is the impact that anthropocentric systems that are causing war, famine, ill health and community breakdown. It is these systems, their rigidity, their one fit approach, that either need to change, or be superseded, or, as we are realising, mass extinction occurs. The balance within our ecosystem has been pushed and our environment is adapting. We either adapt with it, transforming the way in which we fundamentally operate, or life will become increasingly harder for our species to exist at all.

Practicalities of the site operations:
Currently Little Lewes operate the cafe space on the ground floor. They pay £30k in rent annually to the landlord.
The Managing agent charges each of the properties a service charge, dependant upon their floor space. Currently this is a cost of around £3600 across the entire building and on top of this there is an insurance cost of around £1500.
If a charity was to take over the entire venture they would be able to re balance the costs associated with the property to align with
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