As community leaders, you run community centres, breathe new life into high streets, and create jobs for people the labour market has written off. We know you’ve heard warm words from politicians before and aren’t keen on getting your hopes up, but we can see that the community way of doing things sits at the heart of this Prime Minister's politics
Our members in Greater Manchester have seen it take shape in the Live Well programme – a serious attempt to rebuild public services from the bottom up. We want that vision to take root everywhere. The letter argues that can only happen if community organisations are strong enough to stand on their own two feet and be a genuine partner to the public sector.
Owning buildings and spaces helps you do just that. As the national experts in community ownership, every day Locality helps local communities run spaces for the benefit of the community, and we see how this brings independence and financial sustainability, helping you to shape activity in your community's image rather than dancing to someone else's tune. From Victorian settlement houses and the co-operative pioneers to today's community pubs and clubs, ownership has always been the foundation of community power.
So, we’re asking for £200m of community ownership funding at the Budget. The Community Right to Buy is now in law, and the £61m Community Right to Buy Fund announced in June was a welcome recognition that rights without resources are not enough. But our research report with Power to Change, Keys to the future, shows it does not touch the sides of what is needed. The previous Community Ownership Fund was more than 12 times oversubscribed, and because of a lack of support we’re still losing over 6,000 local buildings and spaces every year.
And we need a National Community Ownership Strategy to coordinate it. Community ownership should be a strategic priority across government, unlocking the power of community in housing, health, energy and much more. Every £1 of government grant through the Community Ownership Fund levered a further £2.26 of local investment. Through this deliberate, strategic coordination, £200m can crowd in philanthropic capital, social investment, community shares and public sector funding already in train to build a truly transformative £1bn fund over five years.
Previous governments have supported community ownership in bits – a fund here, a policy tweak there. But these are never long-term, never coordinated, and never transformational. This Budget is the moment to do things differently.
If you lead a community organisation, back this ambition and make your voice heard.