When we set up the IPS – based on our understanding of ‘Community of Place’ – we marked out an area of shareholder benefit (vs. operation) as Totnes and its fifteen surrounding parishes. Download a pdf of our original Boundary_map However, per member agreement at a Special General Meeting held on May 22, 2014, this reach broadened to a wider ‘Community of Interest’ described as ‘the community centred in Totnes and the surrounding area’.
A quick bit of background on that…
After extensive discussions and analysis of our financial modeling for TRESOC’s 2014 Share Issue, the Board have decided that the most appropriate way to raise finance is through share capital, or equity, rather than shares plus bonds. As a natural follow-on from this decision – and in order to increase our potential for raising this share capital – came the proposal to remove the Totnes and Environs boundary, so as to invite people from just outside the boundary and further afield to become members.
This will also allow those directly involved in the projects, but who live outside the 15-parish boundary, to become members, e.g. South Devon Rural Housing Association’s residents and board. It also gives us the opportunity to build awareness and support for Community Energy in the areas where our projects are located, e.g. Torquay Museum. We also have a growing list of people who have an interest in the area (ex-residents, would-be residents, frequent visitors, friends and family) who would become eligible.
You can access a copy of the minutes of this Special General Meeting here.
