More community groups eligible for Levelling Up fund

More sports clubs, music venues, historic buildings and community spaces will be able to be saved after the expansion of a levelling up fund.

Following feedback, changes have been made to the £150m Community Ownership Fund to make it more inclusive and flexible, meaning even more community groups are eligible for grants.

The fund is part of government ambitions to level up local communities across the UK by restoring valued assets that could create more jobs and boost local businesses.

Minister for Levelling Up, the Union and Constitution, Neil O’Brien MP said: ‘From community centres to music venues, the Community Ownership Fund is a vital tool for communities to take on projects that will benefit their area and rescue assets which would otherwise have been lost forever.

‘We want even more communities to benefit from the fund and that’s why we are reforming the application process and expanding the eligibility criteria.

‘We will continue to grow this fund to empower local people, restoring their pride in the places where they live and levelling up communities across the United Kingdom.’

A requirement for assets to have had a use within the past five years has been removed and any asset which has had community use will now be considered for the fund.

Applicants with a 15-year lease on an asset will now also be considered, while previously leases were restricted to a minimum of 25 years.

Since its launch last year, the fund has revitalised 39 assets across the UK, Gigg Lane stadium in Bury, the Queen’s Ballroom in Tredegar, Wales and a rural pub in Sussex.

Applications to bid for the second round of funding will open from June this year.

Photo by Nathan Mullet