Lead Partner: Development Trusts Association (DTA)
Description
The Development Trusts Association (DTA) is a community-based regeneration network and a leading advocate for asset-based approaches. Rural development trusts are a fast growing part of the membership – of 385 members in the UK, 34% work in rural areas and 16% operate in a mixed urban/rural setting. However, a unique annual longitudinal survey taken by the DTA of their membership shows that rural development trusts are finding it especially difficult to acquire assets (buildings and land), access grant income, and in particular generate earned income through community enterprise.
Assets and earned income in particular are key indicators of sustainability, and these results confirm the perceptions that many development trusts in rural areas remain fragile, are not performing well in business terms and therefore are not achieving as great an impact in their communities as they might.
There are of course many reasons why this is happening including problems of access to services, transport, a dispersed population base, low (or inappropriate) skill levels, distorted housing markets and a declining/changing economic structure. In addition major public sector regeneration investment is seldom targeted at rural areas where poverty is more widely but thinly distributed. Against this background, however, many rural DTA members have been able to make a significant impact on their local communities. The DTA will undertake a detailed analysis of the stories behind these successful community organisations. This will aid their own understanding of good practice and how best to maximise those opportunities that exist.
The DTA will undertake a detailed analysis of up to six rural development trusts that own, manage and/or run a community asset. In this context a community asset is defined as a physical building, an area of land or a viable trading enterprise. From this, the DTA will identify and model the critical success factors from this group of rural members. Similarly, they will identify the primary challenges that were faced, what could have been done better and how unforeseen crises were managed.
Contact Details
Steve Clare Assistant Director (South) Development Trusts AssociationNational office33 Corsham Street,LondonN1 6DR Tel: 0845 458 8336 Email: s.clare@dta.org.ukWebsite: http://www.dta.org.uk/