Councils back calls for a Community Wealth Fund

Ten local authorities have backed calls to create a nationwide £4bn Community Wealth Fund to help ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods.

The councils have joined the Community Wealth Fund Alliance, which is calling on the government to use dormant, or orphaned, assets from stocks, shares, bonds and insurance policies to create a £4bn endowment fund.

Under the proposals, £2m would be awarded by the fund to each community to spend over 10 to 15 years, building community resilience and strength and increasing their confidence and capacity to turn their areas around.

The proposal already has the support of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods, which was set up earlier this year to find long-term policy solutions to improve the social and economic prospects of the 225 wards identified as being both the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country and those with the least community provision.

The councils who have signed up to the Alliance include:

• Durham County Council
• Birmingham City Council
• Peterborough County Council
• Cambridgeshire County Council
• Preston City Council
• Newcastle City Council
• Sunderland City Council
• Thanet District Council
• Calderdale Council
• Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

Now, the Community Wealth Fund Alliance is asking more councils to add their name and support the call for investment in the most ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods.

Margaret Bolton, director of policy at Local Trust, who provide the secretariat to the Alliance, said: ‘Local authorities are perfectly placed to help make the Community Wealth Fund a reality, and we’re keen to see support for the idea building across all tiers of local government.

‘The pandemic has brought home to all of us the importance of place and the value of community action and working together.

‘A Community Wealth Fund would provide long-term funding and support for such activity, helping to create stronger and more resilient communities, able to work with their local councils to meet community needs and respond to community aspirations, building community wealth and creating a better future for the communities that feel most left behind.’

Photo Credit – Nattanan23 (Pixabay)