Hand it Over! Exeter's Big Community Asset Transfer

In 2010, Devon County Council agreed to hand over the freehold of the crumbling Exeter Community Centre — worth half a million and facing a similar repair bill — to a new community trust. For free. The Council added a £200,000 to kick-start for urgent works, but from April 1st the building’s future, risks and rewards all shifted to the charity. Backed by £1.2m in external funding, the new Exeter Community Centre Trust pledged to turn the Victorian school into a thriving hub of offices, meeting rooms and health services — a bold gamble in grassroots ownership.

How did the community get the Council to make this decision. Hannah Reynolds, a local resident at the time and one of the Trust’s founding members, tells us about the hoops the community went through to secure this decaying former Victorian school to turn it into a sustainable centre for community life in Exeter.

Look at it today! For introductory advice see Locality’s guide to Community Asset Transfer