Communities are made up of individuals, but a sense of community does not exist unless individuals share perspective and have shared aims and aspirations. Social investment funders will back sustainable community led and supported projects where social value is evident. This way the community would lead on what happens and will end up owning the assets to it's benefit in perpetuity. The other way is developer led in which case social value is low on the agenda, the development may be against the will of the community and will ultimately end up in private hands. In that case if the community wants to use it it has to pay rent to a 'foreign' landlord. If the community owns the development, the cash remains in the local economy to be circulated many more times, CWAC state the policy and must understand the long term social and economic benefits to Community led development and ownership, which is good! As they say in their community involvement statement, engagement is the key to everything. Open Winsford isn't a group of people representing Winsford, just an attempt to create something to illustrate our engagement and to create a platform for the community to represent itself.
