In addition to these projects, we are now working on the next stages in the development of The Stable Trading Company. These include the following:-

The ‘Stable’ building - perhaps the main inspiration for the name ‘The Stable Trading Company’. This is an old stable building just off the main street in the village of Whalley for which we have received planning consent to convert into 7,000sq ft of retail and cafe use and a community facility for use by local organisations. We see this as the main outlet for the produce from our smallholdings and we intend to create a high quality food hall and cafe. The shop will sell a range of food products including meat, vegetables, dairy and bakery products along with other local goods and crafts.

Land at Old Langho - a 7 hectare greenfield site for which we have plans to develop into an agricultural and horticultural smallholding plus some log cabins to provide opportunities for training and residential courses for homeless people from nearby urban centres. We have close contacts with The Foxton Centre, a youth and community centre in Avenham, Preston and we are looking for funding to progress this project.

Land at Great Harwood - a 20 hectare greenfield site working in partnership with Great Harwood Agricultural Society. We have plans to create and develop a community farm incorporating facilities for school visits and other training facilities, the creation of community allotments and a smallholding for the production of agricultural and horticultural products.

We are also in discussions with several other partners for the creation of further smallholdings and retail outlets throughout the region and have some exciting plans for the next two years that will hopefully all come to fruition.

The Stable Trading Company is run as a financially sustainable social enterprise - not a charity - and its status as a Community Interest Company (CIC) means that funds can be raised from private individuals and businesses by the sale of shares in the company in addition to other government grants, charity foundation monies etc for which we are also applying.