Could community ownership have a role to play in the future of Heswall?

Trawden is a Lancashire village of 2,000 souls about half an hour from where I was born and brought up.

I used to spend happy times there. My first job was as a tourism copywriter for the County Council, and Trawden is just minutes from the beautiful and fascinating Wycoller Country Park.

There, amongst other things, you can trace Jane Eyre's walking route to Ferndean Manor, a famous fictional building inspired by what are now the ruins of Wycoller Hall - not far from Haworth, home of Charlotte Bronte and her family.

When Trawden's remaining pub, the Trawden Arms, was put up for sale and seemed destined for a change of use, the community decided to do something. They had it listed as an Asset of Community Value, meaning there was breathing space in which locals could raise the money to buy it before anyone else.

More than 300 shareholders stumped up the required £520,000, and the pub is now thriving, with new landlords and customers of whom many have good reason for it to succeed.

This wasn't a first for Trawden. The villagers had already taken over the community centre, library, and opened a shop selling local produce and staffed by volunteers. Again, the villagers have a stake in its success.

Here in Heswall we have the excellent Heswall Hall, which passed from local authority control to that of the Trust which now manages it. Recent investment has brought a new sound and lighting system, and the trustees are keen to maintain and enhance its important local community functions, while also attracting visitors from further afield.

Can we learn from this example and a place like Trawden? Well, buying an old police station is not the same as buying a pub, but Heswall's abandoned nick on Telegraph Road is literally a waste of space that requires maintenance and upkeep paid for by us. It also happens to be one of the town's few distinctive buildings.

There is precious little for under-18s to do in the town, so transforming the station into a centre that serves an older audience by day Monday to Friday, and young people in the evenings, at weekends, and during the holidays, makes social sense - if not, at first glance, economic sense.

I am sure the Police and Crime Commissioner would listen to an argument proposing that a repurposed building, which to my mind we effectively already own, could engage young people and, to some extent, make local policing easier. Perhaps a price could be negotiated that reflects this.

We may not have to rely solely on the support of local people. In the summer, the government revealed details of its Community Ownership Fund, saying:

"In our efforts to reassert local pride alongside national belonging, it's right that we also think local. That we consider the everyday infrastructure – the community centres, pubs, the high streets – that makes such a difference to our quality of life.

"That is exactly what our new £150 million Community Ownership Fund aims to do by ensuring that communities across the United Kingdom can own and manage their most treasured local community assets.

"Whether it's the pub on the high street that's facing closure, a village shop or a local sports team that might lose its ground – this is an opportunity for groups to take them over and to run them as businesses by the community for the community."

What do you think?