COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENT News Release (047) issued by The Government News Network
on 27 February 2008
Communities
Secretary Hazel Blears is joining forces with business to take a
more active role in supporting local community enterprise by
providing free expert advice in return for involvement in projects
that transform disused buildings into vibrant community centres.
Some of the UK's most prestigious businesses including
consultancy AMEY and infrastructure investors John Laing will
explore innovative ways of using their expertise and resources to
help local community organisations to build stronger community
enterprises and ensure more effective use of their assets.
The community assets initiative encourages local councils to
transfer assets into the ownership or management of local people
if it will benefit the local community. This is a key part of the
Government's drive to give people more say in how their
communities are run, but local groups often find the management
and financial know-how needed to run and develop such projects is
a real obstacle. Involving established businesses in helping to
build local financial and management skills will strengthen the
viability of local projects.
Community organisations will be able to work with and learn from
experts in finances, project development and management, learning
real business skills which will set their project, and their
workforce, on strong foundations.
In return for contributing this technical advice and management
support, businesses will be able to gain invaluable experience
from social enterprises, volunteering and skills development
opportunities for their own staff, and give themselves the
opportunity to forge long term relationships or even collaborate
on new initiatives. It is also an opportunity to become a trusted
source for consultancy and expertise in the future and, through
recommendation, get involved in existing projects.
Next month,
Hazel Blears will meet with members of the CBI and the third
sector to discuss ways to push this initiative forward. Many
initiatives to improve asset transfer are already underway with
the support of established businesses:
* In Norfolk, collaborative support from surveyors, architects,
civil engineers and an accountancy firm, through ProHelp Business
in the Communities national pro bono campaign, enabled the
conversion of a former Baptist school room to Meeting Hill Day
Centre, a day centre for the elderly in rural Norfolk. This
resulted not only in a new community centre in the local area but
also created six new jobs and a local building enterprise was also
set up.
And new initiatives are developing all the time:
* John Laing and Urban Forum are developing a practical guide to
help community groups become more effectively engaged within local
development projects. The guide will be a working tool of real
value for local communities and groups. Urban Forum brings its
knowledge of the community sector and expertise in community
engagement to the work, while John Laing brings considerable
expertise in developing commercial and civic property, as well as
social infrastructure such as schools, colleges and hospitals.
But Hazel Blears commented that there is still plenty to do:
"The transfer of assets to community groups clearly has an
important role to play in promoting community enterprise and
empowerment. Many councils could hand over buildings ranging from
old schools to courthouses to provide a home for community
enterprises, and I very much welcome that.
"But making a success of asset transfer means much more
than just picking up the keys. To keep going in the long term
community groups need to build strong partnerships and develop
their business acumen.
"This is a fantastic chance for businesses to get involved
with community organisations at a local level, open doors to new
opportunities and widen the expertise of their own workforce."
Alexandra Marks, National Chair of ProHelp, Business in the
Communities national campaign said:
"Providing free professional advice and support is
increasingly becoming part of the culture of professional services
firms. ProHelp has a membership of over 800 professional firms
committed to supporting the community in this way. Our challenge
is raising awareness amongst community organisations about this
valuable resource."
John Laing said:
"We have made a strong commitment to supporting sustainable
communities by empowering local people and groups to take a more
active and effective role in shaping major developments.
"We see a major role for the private sector going forward;
helping Local Authorities realise the potential value inherent
within their extensive property portfolios for community uses."
Notes to Editors:
1. Following last year's Quirk Review, the Government is
encouraging local councils to transfer assets into the ownership
or management of local people if this can be shown to bring
community benefit.
2. Among the representatives invited to next month's meeting
are senior managers in Deloitte, Pinnacle psg, Jacobs UK, and the
Berkeley Group, representatives of Business in the Community and
leaders from key third sector networks, such as Development Trusts
Association, Urban Forum and ACRE.
3. There are many more examples of partnerships between business
and community enterprise in practice:
* Community Matters work with LawWorks to provide pro-bono legal
advice to individual community organizations from City law firm
Dechert LLP and are in the early stages of developing a pro-bono
architect and surveyor support service, closely linked with asset transfer.
* In inner city Bradford the local Barclays bank manager has been
a long-standing board member of multi-ethnic trust ABL. The trust
has also obtained a £250k 15 year loan to purchase their managed
workspace/conference centre from the Local Authority. Barclays
also regularly contribute grants to ABL to help with the
publications costs of their annual review.
* Straight Road Community Centre in Colchester was formed by a
local pre-school group in an old school that was going to be
closed. Through Business in the Communities ProHelp they were
matched with local law firm FisherJones Greenwood LLP who provided
the community group with legal advice to help secure the lease
from Essex County Council to open as a community centre. The
formal opening was autumn 2007.
4. ProHelp is a national network of over 800 professional firms
who are committed to making a difference in their local community
by providing free advice and professional support. To find out
more visit http://www.bitc.org.uk/prohelp
News Releases: http://www.communities.gov.uk/newsroom