Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has issued guidance on the allocation of Community Ownership Fund resources to more than one project in a similar geographical area.

Applications to the Community Ownership Fund (COF) are assessed against a fair and transparent framework that is publicly available on gov.uk. The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities can exercise discretion when making funding decisions on shortlisted bids to ensure, where possible, a balanced spread of projects across all parts of the United Kingdom.

All applicants are required to demonstrate how the benefits of the community asset will address community need in their local place. Applicants must evidence the work undertaken with the community to understand the potential uses of the asset and how the community would benefit, including references to other local activities and plans in the area and how the proposal fits within these. Projects which make the strongest case for community benefit will be shortlisted for funding.

Unsuccessful applicants are provided with feedback on where their application has failed against the assessment criteria as set out on gov.uk. This process is consistent for all applications.

We consider applications from voluntary and community organisations from all parts of the United Kingdom which have a viable plan for taking ownership of a community asset at risk and running it sustainably for community benefit. The fund supports a broad range of asset types and the nature and purpose of the asset are varied.

So far, at least 43% of projects in Northern Ireland are helping to promote arts and culture in their local community, among many other wider benefits. For example, through their Aurora project, the St Columbs Hall Trust aim to advance arts, culture and heritage in their community, and advance education by providing training arts facilities. A significant number of COF projects also have a creative element to their project and support the arts.