Fiscal stimulus should be targeted at community groups, says NCVO

Finance | Gareth Jones | 23 Sep 2011

NCVO has said the government is “receptive” to the idea of targeting any capital injection into the economy towards community building and land projects.

Deputy chief executive Ben Kernighan said spending could go towards projects such as refurbishing community buildings, though he emphasised that the government has not made any decision on whether to go ahead with a capital injection.

The suggestion comes amid widespread media speculation that the government may make a £5bn capital injection for infrastructure projects in order to give the ailing economy a boost.

He told civilsociety.co.uk: “Too often government thinks capital spend and immediately thinks about private-sector building contractors and big transport projects.

“But there’s a real opportunity to match what the government is trying to achieve in the Localism Bill, and in particular giving community groups an opportunity to take on, for example, the running of buildings and services.

“Very often the only way community groups can do that is if they spend quite a lot of money of refurbishing, making buildings fit for purpose, and having done that they can be an asset in perpetuity because they can then use the buildings as a source of income as well as a way to bring communities together into one place.”

He added that the idea could be appealing to the Treasury because of the opportunity to bring in additional funding from philanthropists and also to utilise volunteers.

Of the idea as a whole, he said: “They are receptive. Obviously no decision has yet been made by government in terms of making this spend, but they’re certainly interested in the idea.”

Directory: National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)

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