The Community Ownership Fund is a £150 million fund over 4 years to support community groups take ownership of assets which are at risk of being lost. It forms part of the government’s wider levelling up agenda, building opportunity and targeting support towards places where community assets can make the most difference.
The Fund will be running until March 2025 with four bidding windows per financial year, so there is plenty of opportunity for interested groups to submit or resubmit an application. Unsuccessful applicants are provided feedback which signposts them to the relevant sections of the guidance documents which applicants should use to help them to strengthen their bids. They are able to continue working on their bids and apply to the Fund in future bidding windows.
Round 3 Window 3 is currently open and will close on 31 January 24. The prospectus for Round 3 can be found here- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-ownership-fund-prospectus/community-ownership-fund-prospectus--3
Richard Fuller MP said:
This fund is about safeguarding our small, but much-loved assets in our towns and villages – the community centres, pubs, sporting facilities – that mean so much to local communities and ensuring local people can support and continue benefiting from the treasured local institutions that matter to them most. I would certainly encourage groups to apply.
The Fund supports projects which fulfil one or a combination of the following aims. All of these are taken in context of saving an asset with the goal of community use:
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take ownership of a physical community asset at risk, such as land and buildings, which benefit local people
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renovate, repair, or refurbish an asset to make it sustainable for the long term
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set up or buy a community business
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buy associated stock, collections, or intellectual property
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move a community asset to a new, more appropriate location within the same community. This might be because a different location offers better value to continue the asset, or because the venue is in itself an asset of community value
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develop new assets where these relate to saving, preserving, or relocating a past or existing asset
