Jack the funds you perhaps refer to is money endowed by the Big Lottery Fund to Local Trust
www.localtrust.org.uk who in turn granted £1m to Dover Big Local
www.biglocal.org to spend over a 10 year period improving the area they cover. The money must meet one of the specific local trust outcomes.
Additionally Dover Town Team received a small grant as part of the rather ill fated Mary Portas lead scheme, it was probably a blessing that they didn't win. They have managed a fair degree of success in bringing traders together and becoming a key consultee on developments in the town centre.
Notwithstanding this it is eminently sensible in the absence of refunding their parishioners for DTC to seek to use the surplus they have generated over the years for the benefit of the town. The Mayor's proposal is to create a Community Interest Company initially funded by DTC, but clearly thereafter to seek match funding from other sources, to seek to take town centre properties into community control and use them to benefit the community going forward. There are many sources of funding that can be tapped into for the acquisition, especially given the seed capital being proposed, Long term sustainability would come from a sensible rental book.
