* Community Benefit Society Registration At long last, our application to formally register the Community Benefit Society is now with the Financial Conduct Authority. The registration process should take a 2-3 weeks, all going well. We’d like to thank the Plunkett Foundation for guiding us through this process and helping us create the Society’s model rules. Once everything is registered, we can complete the bank account setup.
* Fundraising Our submission to the second stage Scottish Land Fund will be submitted later this month, and we expect a decision by September. If successful, SLF could support a substantial portion of the acquisition costs based on an independent valuation of the property which we have conducted. We hope to still be on track to launch our public fundraising projects from July if setting up the bank account goes smoothly.
* Communications with The Old Forge owner Representatives from the CBS steering group held a positive and productive meeting with the owner of The Old Forge, Mr. Robinet, last week. We intend to keep Mr Robinet updated on our progress and hope to maintain positive communications throughout this process.
* Business Plan Work continues with our consultancy team and we aim to have the business plan completed by the end of the month. We held our first community consultation event in April and will host a second next week for locals to feed back on what we've done so far, and provide further input.
* Media Coverage & Support We continue to receive coverage in national and international news outlets, and a steady stream of messages on social media and via email in support of the project. We want to say a huge thank you once again for the amazing support behind us, and please continue spreading the word and sharing our posts!
That's where we are for now. As always, keep an eye on our website www.theoldforgecbs.org and social media pages @theoldforgecbs for updates - and the odd sunny photo from Knoydart that we can't resist sharing!
