Central to our vision of a next generation network for the Colne Valley community is the principle of local ownership and control. We believe this will deliver a more responsive organisation better focused on meeting the needs of its users.

This will be delivered through a cooperative registered as an Industrial and Provident Society (IPS). This is a limited liability business structure used by organisations like the Co-operative Group and The Phone Co-op. The IPS model will also enable us to raise capital from the user community by means of a 'community share issue'. The IPS legislation is currently being upgraded to allow each member of an IPS to invest up to £30,000 in share capital. The cooperative structure facilitates a 'one member one vote' governance model ensuring that all users who choose to join the cooperative will have a say in how the business operates.

In addition to a community share issue, we are also considering the possibility of a public share issue, which offers the potential to raise much larger sums, and which will require the formation of a PLC. This is an approach that has been hugely successful in the development of a growing number of community owned wind farms coordinated by Energy4All.