New Community Ownership Fund could boost Heswall and district. Do you have any thoughts about projects that might bid for cash to support them?
Plans expected to be announced tomorrow by the Chancellor of the Exchequer will release public money to enable community groups to buy and run neglected local assets.
Under the scheme, likely to be in Rishi Sunak's budget, a new Community Ownership Fund would be created, with an initial £150 million budget.
While that figure is national and would undoubtedly be spread thinly across the country, it does open the door for some schemes and, as pledged in the Conservatives' 2019 manifesto, could become a cornerstone of local community management.
The manifesto stated that such a fund would aim to encourage local takeovers of civic organisations or community assets that are under threat, such as "local football clubs, but also pubs or post offices".
We asked if Heswall might consider launching a similar project.
Sources close to the government say: "The Community Ownership Fund will enable the physical regeneration of unused buildings and retraining services within communities, with revenue funding [provided]. You need a business model to sustain a building, to check the feasibility of it and then to keep investing in an underlying business. Everything will be angled on locally levelling up."
There is also speculation that the government may launch another fund that would channel further money to community groups and local authorities, possibly called the Community Renewal Fund.
A source told Local Government Chronicle that, while the Community Ownership Fund would be "very linked to asset ownership by communities like pubs and libraries, swimming pools – things in town centres and services" – a Community Renewal Fund would be "broader".
Do you have any ideas for projects that might meet the Community Ownership Fund's criteria and breathe new life into something old?
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