Taking on a building or open space
We recognise that transferring assets to the local community can result in benefits such as:
- Empowering local communities by shaping and regenerating them, building capacity, encouraging them to work together and improving local democracy.
- Creating stronger, more sustainable voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations.
- More effective and more intensive use of local resources, extending use and increasing value to the community.
- Generating long-term sustainable revenue streams for community organisations, making them more sustainable.
- Providing VCS organisations with financial security, recognition, management capacity and leverage to attract new finance to expand the level of community activity.
We also recognise that taking on full responsibility for a property is a substantial commitment for community organisations. It is not always the only or best way to make sure that your community has access to the services that you would like to see provided. It is important to think through the pros and cons of such a project.
The Locality website offers a series of guidance around community assets.
Devon case studies
A pilot project to test how communities can support local libraries Read more >
Taking on a youth centre and creating a hub for wider community use. Read more >
Developing a central space for co-use and a prominent ‘shop counter’. Read more >