{"id":11840,"date":"2019-07-17T09:47:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T09:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/news\/community-owned-buildings-adding-220m-year-economy-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-07-30T14:50:28","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T13:50:28","slug":"community-owned-buildings-adding-220m-year-economy-copy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/news\/community-owned-buildings-adding-220m-year-economy-copy\/","title":{"rendered":"Community-owned buildings adding \u00a3220m a year to economy"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Libraries, leisure centres, parks, shops and other community-owned land and buildings are playing an increasingly important role in our economy, according to fresh analysis published today.<\/p>\n
The research, commissioned by Power to Change [1] and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, is the first full analysis of the economic contribution and financial health of England\u2019s much-loved community-owned assets [2] in over a decade. Entitled Our assets, our future<\/a> <\/i>[3] and authored by a team of researchers from the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) [4] at Sheffield Hallam University and the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR), it finds that community-owned assets are:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The research sets out the true extent of the contribution made by community-owned assets to the economy, pumping nearly \u00a3150 million a year of spending directly into the local communities where they are based.<\/p>\n As well as demonstrating for the first time the significant and growing contribution made to the economy by community-owned assets, the research highlights areas where the sector needs more support in order to fulfil its economic potential. For instance:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While more rural and less deprived areas tend to have higher numbers of assets in community ownership, some urban areas buck the trend \u2013 particularly Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Southwark. That suggests the importance of creating an environment which is supportive of community ownership.<\/p>\n The authors therefore call for a range of measures which national and local government should consider to support the growth of the community ownership sector. These include making it easier to transfer assets into community ownership, providing more business planning and general support for community organisations, and ensuring community owners have more reliable access to cheap finance (and greater protections against financial difficulties).<\/p>\n Vidhya Alakeson, Chief Executive of Power to Change, said:<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cWhile many are fond of community-owned shops, parks, pubs and heritage buildings, few are aware how economically important these assets are. Now, for the first time, we know that they play an increasingly vital role, not just in the places where they\u2019re based but in the wider economy.<\/i><\/p>\n When communities directly own land and buildings, they can start to meet the real needs of people in their area. That\u2019s why we need concerted action from policymakers at all levels to support community ownership.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Ian Wilson, lead author and Principal Research Fellow from the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University, said:<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cThe findings from our research show that our community-owned assets contribute significantly to the UK economy and that this is a growth sector. Most people involved in running community assets do so in order to preserve and improve them because they are of value to their local community.<\/i><\/p>\n “However, it is important to note the research shows that although 31% of these assets are in excellent financial health, the sector needs more financial support in order to fulfil its economic potential.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Case study<\/b><\/p>\n Rotunda is a charity and community hub based in Kirkdale, Liverpool, which provides a range of services for the local community, including a caf\u00e9\/bistro, garden, education and training courses, a nursery and a school. It is based in a row of Georgian houses and owns the freehold to the buildings, purchased from private sellers from 1986 onwards by local community leaders with financial support from Liverpool Community College. It has 27 staff members and 30 volunteers.<\/p>\n Community ownership of Rotunda means the organisation is focused on meeting the needs of the community, including providing important services and jobs locally, and an inclusive and welcoming environment where people can access education and support. It also helps to reduce social isolation and provides (or signposts to) key services needed by the community.<\/p>\n -ENDS-<\/b><\/p>\n Notes to editors<\/b><\/p>\n First full study of community-owned land and buildings in over a decade reveals important contribution to the economy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":11836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[339],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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