The £150 million Community Ownership Fund, which will be available via up to 8 application rounds up to 2025 (the forthcoming application window is for Round 2), is designed to enable and support UK community organisations to take ownership of assets such as parks, pubs and theatres. Applicants will be expected to prove that an asset is likely to be lost to the local area if the community does not intervene, and that local people will use it if it is taken over. Applicants will also have to show how the asset will be sustainable in the long term once it moves into community ownership.
Charities can bid for grants of up to £50,000 in revenue funding, and the government will match fund up to £250,000 in capital costs.
Grants can be used to:
o Acquire a physical community asset or facility at risk, such as land and buildings which deliver a benefit to local people.
o Move a community amenity to a new, more appropriate location within the same community. This might be because a different location offers better value to continue the amenity, or because the venue is in itself an asset of community value.
o Renovate, repair or refurbish the asset, only where this is part of a sale or transfer to save a community asset at risk and where this is critical to saving the asset and making it sustainable.
o Set up a new community business or buy an existing business in order to save an asset or amenity of importance to the community, and/or
o The purchase of associated stock, collections or intellectual property, where it is associated with buying a physical asset or buying a business to save an amenity.
The Community Ownership Fund can provide up to 50% of the capital funding required up to the maximum £250,000 grant level. Applicants will be expected to secure 50% matched funding from other sources, including lenders, social investors, community share offers, statutory organisations, including local authorities, grant-making Trusts and National Lottery funders. However, the required 50% match does not have to be in place by the application deadline.
Matched funding can also include ‘in-kind’ contributions, such as equipment, property and waived professional fees.
In Round 1 of the Fund, 31 projects shared £7.9 million in grant funding, distributed as follows across the UK:
o England: a total of £5.7 million was awarded to 20 projects.
o Scotland: a total of £1.2 million was awarded to 6 projects.
o Northern Ireland: a total of £600,000 was awarded to 2 projects.
o Wales: a total of £464,258 was awarded to 3 projects.
Funding is not available to:
o Fund general revenue for community activities or events unrelated to the acquisition or transfer of a community asset.
o Fund new-build projects to develop new assets, unrelated to saving or preserving an existing asset.
o Fund the costs of purchasing publicly owned assets where the public authority would credit a capital receipt.
o Local authorities.
o Pay off businesses’ debts or to buy an indebted business.
o Purchase or develop housing (including social housing) assets, however, applications can include housing assets where these are a small part of supporting the overall financial sustainability of the asset in community ownership.
o Town, parish and community councils.
o Support acquisition of public sector assets if this involves transferring responsibility for delivering statutory services from the public authority to the community organisation, or
o Unincorporated organisations (unless they plan to incorporate before the full application stage) or private individuals.
An updated prospectus from Round 1 (a number of changes have been made for Round 2), together with further information about the Fund, is available on the GOV.UK website.
The second bidding window of Round 2 opened on Monday 31st October with an application deadline of Wednesday 14th December at 11:59am. Applicants are expected to be notified in the Spring of 2023.
