Sideshore Community Interest Company
Sideshore is run by a purpose-built Community Interest Company (CIC).
A CIC is a company set up to fulfil a community purpose. Our CIC also has a full asset lock – ensuring that no profits can be made by any party and that all income is used for the benefit of the Exmouth community.
The Sideshore CIC is currently made up of representatives of the local area, largely members of Grenadier Exmouth (the company who developed the site) and East Devon District Council (who own the site). The full asset lock means neither Grenadier Exmouth or the Council can ever profit from Sideshore.
For the first 15-20 years of Sideshore’s existence, income generated by rent from our tenants, car parking, events and energy generation will go to repay Grenadier Exmouth the cost of the development. There is no interest to pay bar inflationary increases and the Directors of the CIC are unpaid.
As soon as the development costs are covered, 100% of this income will be reinvested into the community. At this point the CIC may decide to change its structure and include other local people on the board. We are likely to create a grant-making committee to decide how we spend the income.
We may find that it doesn’t take as long as we think to repay the original building loan. Even so, the CIC is already looking at ways to benefit the community in the meantime, such as sponsoring educational programmes and local events.
The not-for-profit ethos of the development has been secured no matter what happens in the future. The full asset lock ensures that should the CIC ever face liquidation, assets will never be available to shareholders. We have specified that Devon Wildlife Trust and the RNLI should receive cash and assets in this situation, making these charities our ultimate beneficiary.
Why did Grenadier invest in a development which would make them no profit?
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