A £61m fund to encourage people to save treasured local assets has been announced as part of a set of reforms to put more power in the hands of communities.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed announced the cash boost as part of a wider £301m package to ”support high streets, drive community control and back local people” at the Stronger Things business event in London yesterday (16 June).
The package builds on the wider £5.8bn Pride in Place programme, which aims to hand “real power and money to local people who know their areas best,” the Government said.
This government’s latest initiative, a new Community Right to Buy Fund, will hand people in deprived areas the money they need to step in and take over community assets at risk of closure otherwise.
Reed announced the investment at a speech as part of a package of measures, building on wider reforms in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act to allow people to take over treasured assets.
The reforms build on the Government’s commitment to shift more power out of Westminster and empower communities, including through the £5.8 billion Pride in Place programme.
Reed said at the event: “I’m pushing power out of Whitehall and into the hands of the people who actually use these high streets. They know what they need better than any politician in Whitehall.
“We’re backing communities to step in and save these high street gems, building on our drive to give communities the key to their own future and power over what matters to them.”
The Communities Secretary also announced new Test & Learn funding, putting people at the centre, starting small and building on what works - empowering frontline staff and local places to respond to what users need.
To build regional capability and ensure that learning from the programme is diffused across the country, a £10m Test, Learn & Grow Capability Fund is being launched to support up to 20 places.
The fund will first be targeted at those already involved in the programme, with a specific focus on extending learning beyond individual local authorities and across sub-regions, through Mayoral Strategic Authorities and clusters of local authorities working together. It will then expand to new locations later in the autumn.
No comments yet