Community ownership could restore city landmark

City residents are to be offered the chance to play their part in raising more than £500,000 needed to bring a much-loved historic landmark into community ownership.

Bristol's Ashton Court Mansion Trust has launched a campaign where people can invest in shares costing £100 each in the derelict mansion.

In November, the city council will decide whether the trust can have a 125-year lease of the building, and before that the trust needs to prove it can operate sustainably.

The trust's vice chair, Josh Nesfield, said: "The £500,000 is what unlocks what comes next, giving us the working capital we need to secure the lease [and] begin opening more of the mansion."

The trust said its aim is to restore and regenerate the Grade I-listed property for public use, while at the same time giving locals a chance to have a say in its future.

About three quarters of Ashton Court Mansion is unusable, and much of the building has been closed to the public for decades.

Trust chair Simon Cook MBE said: "This share offer gives people the opportunity to do something very tangible about that."

The trust's business plan estimates it would cost about £25m to fully restore the building over a 20-year period.

Rather than trying to raise that money all at once, leaders of the trust have created a five-year regenerative plan to raise £12m with hoped-for support from institutional funders.

The £500,000 community share is separate from the overall goals. This amount will go towards the foundations needed to operate the mansion and grow its income and community programmes.

Nesfield said the money will be important for the trust to become a sustainable organisation.

The trust said it has already begun testing how the mansion can work as a public building, since being granted a temporary tenancy since May.

Volunteers from Friends of Ashton Court Mansion, alongside 80 other people, have helped to redecorate rooms in the building.

The community ownership scheme will run for two months, ending in December.

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