These themes were refined into The Sev Concept. It was unique in that it came directly from the community and that we wanted to keep control of the community's destiny. This was at a time when much of British Coal’s portfolio of properties were handed over to another national agency, English Partnerships, with a few other sites sold off to the private sector.

Site acquisition was to take two years. Ownership was achieved in November 1996.

The settlement of New Ollerton had been built in the 1920s to service the coal industry, initially through private coal owners who built the pit, the houses, the shops, the church and the Miners’ Welfare Institute. With the opening up of the Midland’s coalfield and nationalisation, more estates of houses were built and the settlement expanded with miners and their families moving in from other UK regions.