By Beth Doherty
Twitter:@bethdmedia / @new_valleynews
Instagram: @bethdohertymedia / @newvalleynews
A shop at the OneSchool Global campus in The Hollows, Wilton, operated by Vista4, has been open for six weeks, relocating from a previous site inside the school.
Some local residents believed it was opened in secret without proper planning permission: not so, say the operators.
“We have been operating a tuck shop for the parents since 2015. Recently, we moved that shop from a previous location inside the school to here,” said Jerry Steedman, a volunteer and director of the charity All Brook Education Trust, who showed me round the site.
The shop is run by volunteers and serves members of the OneSchool Global Salisbury Campus. All profits are invested back into the school and have reportedly paid for things such as “a gang-mower for field maintenance, football posts and the artificial cricket strip.” Jerry says this allows students to focus on fundraising, which is donated to groups outside the school, such as for Wilton’s Riding for the Disabled.
Students attend the school from around Salisbury and can be seen when bussed to school. Does this impact the number of customers?
“Because we have a limited custom of only parents, it is a struggle to rotate the food stock and sell it by its use-by dates, you do think ‘is it going to work’? Students who live further away are bussed in, but people who live closer shop here when they drop off or collect their children, and we offer delivery.”
Would the shop be open to residents? Vista4 say it is not in the plan. “Our planning consent for here was to only allow parents.”
Responding to complaints about traffic and rumours of giant Nisa lorries, Vista4 said: “Following Covid-19 challenges faced by those shielding and vulnerable, there has been an increase in activity, but we expect this to drop back to previous levels soon, as things become normal.” Jerry added: “The lorries that come here to deliver are the same lorries that have been supplying the tuck shop for the past three years. They are smaller lorries designed for restricted areas. We have apologised to one neighbour who was affected by the traffic, and we have always sought to be good neighbours.
“We have the same number of customers and deliveries as we have had for the past three years, so there shouldn’t be an increased level of traffic because of the new shop.”
At the end of November, the shop applied for a license for sale of alcohol from 7am to 11pm. But Vista4 confirmed the opening hours are currently 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday and no changes are planned should the shop be granted an alcohol license.
One concern from residents was the noise levels of the fridges. “We have checked the sound levels and they are very quiet, there is zero noise outside the shop,” Jerry stressed. “We are truly grateful to have been able to work in harmony with the school tenants and residents of The Hollows over the past five years.”
A spokesperson for Vista4 said: “Since 2015 we have run a small “parent tuck shop” operation and we have always sought to be good neighbours. Our shop is a charity run by dedicated volunteers that serves members of the OneSchool Global Salisbury Campus. We invest all profits back into the school.”