MAKE OUR PUBLIC ASSETS WORK WITH COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP, INNOVATION AND INCLUSIVITY.

Imagine a future where our public assets delivers arts, culture, our city’s history and, contributes to our prosperity, while being accessible to all, not just the few.

CAN WE TRUST OUR COUNCIL TO PROTECT OUR PUBLIC ASSETS AND DELIVER OUR ASPIRATIONS?

£500M BETTER QUEENSWAY: a 50/50 partnership with the council and Swan Housing. The council is contributing the value of the land and a £15m Government funding boost to make the Better Queensway project a reality. Swan Housing were using their resources to finance the building project but can no longer afford this. A financial charge on our community purse

THE ICONIC 100-YEAR OLD KURSAAL: Graham Longley, ex-councillor, is credited with saving the Kursaal when he helped draw up the original deal which saw the building undergo a £15million revamp in return for the 199-year lease and peppercorn rent. After a 250 years lease extension it was sold for £6,286,491 in September 2018 and now sits within the AEW UK Building Portfolio. To bring the Kursaal back into community use, the council must raise between £6M-£8M to buy back the lease. This is a loss of our community assets for over two hundred years.

SOUTHCHURCH 100-YEAR-OLD HISTORIC CRICKET PAVILION: A 10,000-spectator seating venue enjoyed its heyday in the period after WWII, reviving a pre-war tradition of local team playing touring sides at Southchurch Park, hosting the Australian cricket team and Sir Donald George Bradman "The Don”, in front of 16,000 spectators. Now this cricket pavilion has been left to rot due to ongoing row over how the project will be funded. Another loss of our community assets.

WE WILL LOSE MORE OF OUR COMMUNITY ASSETS IF WE DO NOT ACT NOW!

We may not be able to reverse Southend City Councils previous bad decisions and plans already made on our public land and property, but we can save further assets through community action. We all have a legal right to nominate vital buildings on to the council list.

Do you know of any land or buildings owned by Southend City Council? Let us make them Assets of Community Value. This means “community countdown” will be triggered, allowing our voluntary sector access to these assets for the benefit of the community.

If you are unable to list the asset yourself, please record the details and we will ensure that it gets listed.

OUR PLACE OR SPACE

Most local authorities appreciate that local organisations within the voluntary sector are best placed to manage local facilities and have seen how these organisations have furthered the social well-being and social interests of the local community.

Urban Cure CIC is not only passionate but also enthusiastic about protecting our public assets. Due to our commitment, we are delighted to shout out to the community of Southend that Southend Marine Activities Centre (SMAC) and Shoebury Ness Road Slipway became Assets of Community Value on 15/09/2022.

However, this has not given the community the power to save community assets from local planning or to shift the balance of power and control from Southend City Council to our voluntary sector.

To shift the balance of power and hold our council accountable for their legal obligations under the Asset transfer to secure community use of our buildings, we need to petition for a Community Asset Transfer Policy. This policy gives the community the right to take over the ownership and management of a public asset. Securing this will:

• enable our voluntary sector to self-manage
• empower our community
• and ensure economic development of our public buildings for our future generations.

The iconic 100-year old Kursaal was leased in 2018 for 250 years to a private limited company - a sad loss to our community. Do not let any further public asset suffer the same fate.

Do you support the call for an Asset of Community Value

If so, are you willing to engage with urban Cure to collaborate on nominating specific public land or buildings that you want to return to community use

Nominate A Public Asset Now! – This information will not be shared beyond this action.

Support our call for a Community Transfer Policy that gives our voluntary sector the opportunity to take over the ownership and management of our Assets

Have you signed our petition!

Find out more about our work