A £61m package to save local assets has been announced by the Government.
The Community Right to Buy Fund is designed to protect assets vulnerable to closure – including pubs, shops, and other high street spaces.
It will see people in deprived areas given funds to take over community assets, serving as a development of the Government’s Pride in Place programme.
According to Communities Secretary Steve Reed, who unveiled the cash injection in a speech yesterday, the investment is part of the wider £301m funding package targeted towards high streets and community spaces.
The move also supports changes included in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act by enabling residents to ‘take over treasured assets’.
A further initiative announced in the speech was plans to roll out Community Power Pilots, which will involve £15m being delivered to community groups and local authorities in 25 locations to drive service transformation for residents.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed said: ‘I am pushing power out of Whitehall and into the hands of the people who actually use these high streets. They know what they need better than any politician in Whitehall.
‘We’re backing communities to step in and save these high street gems, building on our drive to give communities the key to their own future and power over what matters to them.’
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