Rise is a member led political party with community work at our heart. We will gain votes not by marketing spend, but by meeting community needs. By embedding ourselves in communities we will empower people. Our political representatives will be answerable to the people serving their needs first over the requirements of the party. Not that we believe community work is the end outcome for our activities. We also have a very powerful policy offering. What we want to do is connect people to our policies.
The Project
Our Shine project is to create a community launderette and ensure the project can be expanded to meet other community needs.
Important requirements:
- Based in an industrial unit or large building to allow us to plenty of space for other activities.
- Easily assessable to deprived communities.
- People friendly space to allow users to enjoy the building.
- The building’s disabled access must be as good as abled access.
- Equipment accessible to disabled people as much as is possible and where impossible (poor machinery design for example) then assistance will be readily available.
- The premises will lend itself to new projects as they are identified
- The premises are suitable for use by other community organisations.
- Not for profit, although we will carry out commercial activities to support our community projects.
Our first community laundrette is proposed for on or near the St James Estate, Doncaster. The estate has been identified as the most deprived in Yorkshire and the 55th most deprived in the country
We have checked and there are no launderettes serving this community. Our community centres will be free to users and will provide:
Phases One
- Washing machines
- Dryers
- Ironing facilities
- Coffee and social area
Phase Two
- Advice sessions (provided by union reps etc)
- Bed linen laundering
- Community workshops to understand needs
- Free pre-packaged food as available
Phase Three
- Shower facilities
- Clothes for interviews
- Kringloop
- Possibly a cafe
The project in Doncaster will act as a template for roll out throughout the country, with changes made to the model based on lessons learned.
Costing – First 2 Phases
Costing – Phase One
Year One – Capital and Expense
| Description | GBP | Total | Remarks |
| Capital Costs | |||
| Premises | |||
| Any required improvements for purpose | 1,000 | Partitions for example | |
| 1,000 | |||
| Laundry | |||
| Equipment | |||
| 4 Commercial Washing Machines | 6,000 | 1500 each including VAT | |
| 3 Dryers | 3,000 | 1000 each | |
| Pressing machine | 3,000 | Use for sheets – see phase II funding | |
| Ironing Equipment – non commercial | 100 | 2 ironing boards, 2 irons | |
| Cleaning tools | 700 | Vacuum cleaner etc | |
| Disability support aids | 4,000 | Remotes for washing machines etc | |
| 16,800 | |||
| Fixtures and Fittings | |||
| Flooring | 800 | Tiling where needed | |
| Seating | 2,000 | Sofas and stackables | |
| 2,800 | |||
| TOTAL CAPITAL SPEND | 19,600 | ||
| Expense Costs | |||
| Premises | |||
| Rent per year | 15,000 | ||
| Heating | 12,000 | ||
| Electricity (lighting, equipment) | 12,000 | ||
| Rates | 5,000 | ||
| Water | 12,000 | ||
| 56,000 | |||
| Salaries | |||
| Regional Coordinator @ 25 p/h 32 hours | 41,600 | ||
| Community Coordinator @ 20 p/h – 32 hours | 33,280 | Equivalent to 40 hours at 15 p/h | |
| Employee costs | 11,332 | NI etc | |
| 86,112 | |||
| TOTAL YEARLY EXPENSES | 142,112 | ||
| TOTAL COST – CAPITAL AND EXPENSES – PHASE 1 | 161,712 | Year One |
Costing – Phase Two
Year One – Capital and Expense
| Description | GBP | Total | Remarks | ||||
| Capital Costs | |||||||
| Basic Shop | |||||||
| Cash Register | 500 | Second-hand – probably can manage cheaper | |||||
| Counter | 600 | Estimate for 2 counters | |||||
| Shelving | 3,000 | proper shop shelving – get 2nd hand if possible | |||||
| Equipment | 300 | Ladders / etc / signs | |||||
| 4,400 | |||||||
| Commercial Business & Community Provision | |||||||
| Bedding | 5,000 | Sheets, Duvets, Pillow Cases, Pillows | |||||
| Small Van | 2,000 | Delivery | |||||
| 7,000 | |||||||
| TOTAL CAPITAL SPEND | 11,400 | ||||||
| Expense Costs | |||||||
| Commercial Laundry | |||||||
| Fuel | 3,000 | Deliveries | |||||
| Maintenance | 1,000 | Car, equipment | |||||
| 4,000 | |||||||
| Salaries | |||||||
| Employee @ 20 p/h – 32 hours | 33,280 | As we expand the services and hours | |||||
| Employee costs | 4992 | the centre offers | |||||
| 38,272 | |||||||
| TOTAL YEARLY EXPENSES | 42,272 | ||||||
| TOTAL COST – CAPITAL AND EXPENSES – PHASE 2 | 53,672 | ||||||
Costing Summary
| Phases | Cost First year |
| Phase 1 | 161,712 |
| Phase 2 | 53,672 |
| Total | 215,384 |
Costs per project will reduce as we can spread resources as we grow. We also expect to need less external funding as our party grows and the commercial element of our operation becomes established
Capital will be spent on laundry equipment. Even though we have two phases we would like to fund as we purchase. So in theory phase two will overlap phase one. We’d like unions to fund the full amount but pay us in instalments rather than a lump upfront.
If we take Doncaster for example, we’d expect to have more than one laundrette as there are a number of struggling areas. This would mean we can look to share employees across locations.
For building our bedding laundry commercial business we would look to volunteers within the party to negotiate with customers. Our regional project coordinator as shown in the costings would work across several sites.
The basic shop would be a reception but would allow people to buy goods for other community members. The shop will serve more as a reception with some facilities to sell items as time goes by.