In Oral Questions in the House of Commons on Monday 10th July to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, Simon Baynes, Member of Parliament for Clwyd South, highlighted how the UK government’s Community Ownership Fund provides tremendous potential for community organisations in Clwyd South and elsewhere to take ownership of assets and amenities at risk of being lost. Mr Baynes also asked the Minister, Felicity Buchan MP, for more information about how the bidding process is benefiting from the positive changes announced to the Fund on 12th May this year.
In answer, the Minister referred to the Department’s new measures, including increasing the maximum funding from £250,000 up to £1 million per application and allowing applications from parish, town, and community councils as new ways to help save assets and amenities for local communities.
Speaking at DLUHC Oral Questions, Mr Baynes asked:
“Would the Minister agree that the Community Ownership Fund provides tremendous potential for community organisations in Clwyd South and elsewhere, to take ownership of assets and amenities at risk of being lost? And that the current bidding round is benefiting from the positive changes announced to the Fund on the 12th May this year?”
In response Felicity Buchan MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department, said:
“I agree that the Community Ownership Fund has huge potential in Clwyd South and indeed across the UK. The changes that the honourable Member alluded to, firstly, extending the maximum funding available from £250,000 to £1 million, secondly, reducing the match funding required, and thirdly, allowing applications from parish, town and community councils will mean that even more cherished assets and amenities can be saved for local communities. And I would just remind the House that Round Three, Window One, will close on July the 12th.”
