We are very pleased to announce that last year, Duncombe Street Community House Trust (DSCH that’s us) was awarded the freehold ownership of Duncombe Street Community House (39 Duncombe Street, Bletchley, MK22LX).
So what’s this all about?
Well, the transfer of freehold ownership is a scheme that’s been running across the country within a number of different local authorities. It’s called the Commmunity Asset Transfer programme (CAT). In a nutshell, it allows the shift in ownership of buildings away from public bodies in our case MK Council to local community and voluntary groups which is what we DSCH are. The main benefit here for the public bodies is that they no longer have to fund the asset.
Our journey to this point has been very demanding, as the process involved passing two stages, competing against rival bids and investing a great deal of time and effort to meet and exceed the programme requirements.
Currently our Solicitors and MK Council Solicitors are still finalising the legal stuff. We do not envisage any issues and hope to have things wrapped up over the coming months.
We thank the people in our local area for supporting us in the process and a big high five to the DSCH team for this great achievement.
Thats great, how does this benefit us?
This is really the beginning of bigger plans “to make the Duncombe Street Community House a purposeful and thriving centre for all.”
Let’s break the above statement down a little. What do we mean by purposeful? The Community House is essentially a three bed residential property. Although for many years it has served as a community center, the needs and requirements of the people in the local area has changed. We have identified this and strongly believe that the house in its current form is not fit for purpose and requires a lasting change. By holding the freehold ownership of the property allows us to move forward with these plans and gives us a better footing with prospective organisations. Of course, it is easier said than done but we are starting our journey and we know we can count on your support. We see this as our primary goal as without this we cannot achieve the second part of the statement which is a “thriving center for all.”
As you will find in reading the rest of this newsletter we have been active in providing services and organising events under a number of projects in partnership with other community organisations. However, we are limited by what we have. We have had multiple enquires from nursey groups, religious groups and other organisations to hold services within the house but due to the current situation of the property it’s just not feasible.
We hope to keep you informed of the progress we are making and we will publish regular updates on our website and facebook.
Hope you have found the above informative. If you have any questions or would like more information, then please contact us and we thank you again for your support.
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