Hull City Council is one 35 local councils and more than 400 public, private and voluntary sector organisations nationwide calling for a Community Wealth Fund to help “left behind” neighbourhoods become more sustainable.
The Fund is an innovative and radical approach to combatting high levels of local deprivation and low levels of community provision. Legislation, the Dormant Assets Bill, is currently before Parliament which seeks to enable the CWF access funds, estimated at around £900m from dormant bank accounts, stocks, shares and similar private and public investments.
Funding would be allocated for a five to ten year period, with local communities empowered to take spending decisions themselves, to build community resilience and strength and increase their confidence and capacity to turn their areas around. Projects might, for example include: improving transport links, creating community meeting hubs and better digital connectivity.
Subject to the Bill becoming law, Hull City Council has identified eight wards which would benefit from this new funding: North Carr, West Carr, Longhill and Bilton Grange, Marfleet, Orchard Park, St Andrew’s and Docklands and Southcoates.
Councillor Daren Hale, Leader of Hull City Council said: “This would be a great opportunity for communities and neighbourhoods that have been left behind to determine for themselves what the priorities are in building stronger, sustainable futures. Years of underfunding and being ignored by the Government, and now the impact of the pandemic have exposed the fragility of local neighbourhoods. The Community Wealth Fund would begin to reverse this and I fully support it
