Eastbourne and Willingdon MP Caroline Ansell is urging residents who want to save their historical pub or a valued local amenity to apply to the government’s revamped Community Ownership Fund.
The £150 million fund is offering several rounds and windows for groups to apply to save a community asset in danger of closure as part of the government’s Levelling Up agenda.
Match funding levels have been lowered and the funding cap increased to £2 million in the latest round, the MP said.
Individual organisations can submit applications and money is awarded to bids that meet the criteria of making a genuine and meaningful difference to communities.
Support to develop applications and business cases for applicants in some cases is now also available.
“I am pleased the fund has been given a bit of a revamp and I would urge groups or individuals in our town worried about the future of a local amenity to look closely at it,” said Caroline.
“In the first instance please contact me so I can come and visit and look to support any application.
“It is a great opportunity for local groups to take over much-loved and respected small community assets and then run them as businesses for the benefit of the community."
The Fund is competitive and will be running until March 2025 with four bidding windows per financial year, so there is ample opportunity for groups to work on an application.
Round 3 Window 2 is currently open and will close on 11th October 2023.
The prospectus for Round 3 can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-ownership-fund-prospectus/community[1]ownership-fund-prospectus--3.
This window will see the funding cap increase from £1 million to £2 million for all asset types, as well as reducing the match funding requirement from 50% to 20%, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities said.
