Local people will be urged to take more control over disused council buildings if they can show they can do a better job, as part of the Government's plans to devolve more power from Whitehall to local people in a White Paper announced last week. As part of this, the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk will host one of 18 new pilots announced today to help local residents take over council buildings, with practical help to develop proposals to do so - whether a library in Northumberland, disused council offices in Hebden Bridge, a farm in South Gloucestershire, or a covered market in Brighton.
Every region in England will benefit from the scheme which was also today extended by a year to the 2010/11 and will now reach out to over 100 areas.
In the King's Lynn and West Norfolk areas, Hunstanton Community Centre is currently being refurbished by the council and the Fairstead Community Centre, a relatively modern centre located in a deprived ward of King's Lynn, is currently managed on the Council's behalf by community organisation (FANG).
In South Lynn Community Centre, as part of the Millennium Community development a new school is to be built to replace the current one. Once the school is relocated it will leave the current school vacant. It is envisaged that it will be transferred to community ownership to become the new community centre.
Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears also warned councils not to 'sit on their assets' and encouraged them to publish an 'assets' list for residents to shop from - for as little as a pound - if they spot an underused building they want to take over, and for councils to better manage their assets.
Supporting these measures, a new independent hub of advice for local people and local authorities was unveiled in the White Paper. One of the first tasks of the 'asset transfer unit' will be to extend this programme of pilots across the country to boost the number of asset transfers.
Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears said:
"Residents are happier with their local area when they are given more say and more control over local decisions. I want everyone to have the confidence and enthusiasm to make a difference in their community - and if they see a disused building in their neighbourhood, to make a case for the community to take it over and put it to better use.
"These pilots, and the new unit, will give local people a hand and the experience to deliver this and help bring devolution to the doorstep."
The 18 new pilot areas announced today are:-
- Yorkshire and Humberside: Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, City of Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council; Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council
- North West: Chester City Council, Wirral Council
- North East: Northumberland County Council
- West Midlands: Herefordshire Council, Worcester Council
- East Midlands: High Peak Borough Council; Northamptonshire County Council
- East of England: - Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk
- South West: South Gloucestershire Council, Torbay Council, Sedgemoor District Council
- South East: Oxford City Council, Maidstone Borough Council, Brighton and Hove City Council
- London: Southwark Council.
