Bristol community to buy PRSC building after fundraising effort

A group in Bristol has raised more than £280,000 to buy a local building and bring it into community ownership.

The Stokes Croft Land Trust (SCLT) were aiming for a minimum target of £272,000 to purchase the People's Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC) HQ site.

Hundreds of local people bought community shares and can now each have a say on how the building is run.

The group hopes the building will be a community-owned asset by the autumn.

Director of the PRSC Richard Jones said this would protect it "from the gentrification sweeping through Bristol".

"It shows there is a way forward for protecting and developing communities which doesn't rely on the city council and big business," he said.

More than 330 people have invested in the building and the group have now set a maximum target of £345,000 to be reached by 31 May.

The trust was set up by local people who felt the area had been "blighted by planning" and was losing its local, independent culture.

"There is growing concern among many people that developers can build as high as they want wherever they want," Mr Jones said.

"Of course, we need more homes, but we want nice, genuinely affordable homes with proper infrastructures such as schools, surgeries and transport links."

Bristol City Council was unable to offer a comment.

The fundraiser surpassed its goal early with a significant investment of £75,000 from the Community Shares Booster Fund, managed by Co-operatives UK.

Its head of market development, John Dawson, said: "Who better to own and control, to preserve and strengthen local community hubs than the very people those hubs serve; the people who know and understand what the community needs most?"

"By owning and controlling Stokes Croft the community can play a part in forging its own future, one that serves local people more effectively."

Keith Cowling, director of the Stokes Croft Land Trust, said it felt "great" that so many local people had placed their confidence in them.

"We hope that the people and businesses of Stokes Croft - and Bristolians more widely - will be inspired by our initiative to support and invest in their local economy and in the quality of their neighbourhoods," he added.

The PRSC is a community organisation that promotes "the interests" of Stokes Croft, focusing on arts, culture and the local economy.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]