BCRS keeps Walsall Community Transport moving

A community transport scheme in Walsall has been assisted by a finance co-operative. Black Country Reinvestment Society (BCRS) has loaned £40,000 to Walsall Community Transport to assist their off-season cashflow.

Based in the old Midland Counties dairy in Little Bloxwich, Walsall Community Transport was set up in 1993 to offer transport to schools and community groups that were not served by direct bus routes.

John Elliot, chief officer, said: “We have an annual turnover of around £800,000, most of which is in contractual activities, such as disability day care and student groups. Many of our clients are schools and colleges, so in the holidays, our business is quiet. The long summer shut-down affects our cashflow well into October. We receive no financial support from our local authority and have no cash reserves and no opportunity to build them up, so cash flow is critical to our survival.

“We have a good relationship with our bank and have an overdraft, but the personal security required on loans is a problem when you have volunteer directors. We could not have kept going without the overdraft and the BCRS loan, and we could not entertain developing new initiatives and bettering our services to the community.”

As Paul Kalinauckas, chief executive of BCRS, which is a member of Co-operativesUK, explains: “The problem with getting a loan from the banks for this kind of company is that personal guarantees are expected from the directors nowadays, and most of them are volunteers. They’re not going to put their personal assets on the line for funding a community enterprise, so, they are at a disadvantage. The banks would normally want to lend to them – this is a good, solid business – but with no security, they won’t.

“As a local small business fund, BCRS has a more flexible approach to lending. We look at the business and the people running it first, because our security is the quality of the operation itself. We are particularly proud of Walsall Community Transport because of the double bottom line of economic and social impact it is having in the community.”

www.bcrs.org.uk