Launch of Community Ownership Fund Round 3 Prospectus

Dehenna Davison Excerpts

Monday 15th May 2023 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Dehenna Davison)]

Last Friday I announced that the £150 million community ownership fund, which will launch its third bidding round on 31 May 2023, has published a new prospectus detailing positive changes to the eligibility requirements of the programme. The new prospectus can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-ownership-fund-prospectus.

A summary of the key changes to the eligibility requirements for the relaunch of the fund include:

Increasing the amount of funding all projects can bid for from £250,000 to £1 million;

Reducing the match funding requirement; where previously the community ownership fund would contribute up to 50% of total capital funds required, it will now contribute up to 80% of the total capital funds required, with applicants required to raise the other 20% from other sources of funding. Projects in areas of the greatest need will only need to raise 10%; and

Allowing parish councils—and their equivalent town and community councils—to apply in the same way that community groups do now.

These changes will allow more assets to be saved across the UK and will come in from round 3 onwards.

Coupled with support from the fund’s development support provider, who will provide assistance with developing project business plans, organisational governance and financial planning, and potential access to small revenue grants to secure specialist support. These measures will help support as many community groups as possible to save their treasured local assets, ensuring that important parts of our social fabric, such as pubs, sports clubs, theatres, and post office buildings, continue to play a central role in towns and villages across the UK. These changes are explained in full in the updated prospectus available on www.gov.uk.

The community ownership fund is already supporting almost 100 projects across the UK such as the Leigh Spinners Mill in Greater Manchester; the Queen’s Ballroom in Blaenau Gwent, Wales; St Columb’s Hall in Derry City and Strabane, Northern Ireland; and the UK’s most remote pub, The Old Forge, in the Scottish Highlands. These projects are already making a genuine difference to their communities. I look forward to supporting many more small but mighty local assets across the United Kingdom, levelling up the places we love and cherish.

Interested groups can submit an expression of interest form to start their application process at any time. The fund will be running until March 2025, so there is plenty of opportunity for interested groups to apply to take over invaluable community assets and to run them as businesses—by the community, for the community.

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