Step Up for Swan Street

Help us buy 24 Swan Street, preserving local businesses that help make Kingsclere a place to thrive, and stop this historic grade II listed building from being converted into housing.

24 Swan Street has been a centre for dance and performing arts for the past 30 years, plus the building has housed many local businesses over the past three decades. Residents and nearby businesses rely on the car park in the centre of the village's conservation area. It plays a vital role in easing the severe lack of parking in Kingsclere's centre.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council listed the property for sale in Sept 2021. By Nov, with support from the Parish Council, 24 Swan Street was successfully placed on the Community Assets Register. It will remain listed as a Community Asset for the next five years.

Plans are laid for an exciting future for 24 Street that serves local enterprises, charities, and the community. You can find out more at www.save24swanstreet.co.uk and read about Kingsclere Performing Arts and Youth Centre CIC, which was set up to take over as community landlord, working hand in hand with the charity (whose registration is being processed) Kingsclere Performing Arts and Youth Trust. Still, we can only achieve this with your help.

24 Swan Street's future is in all our hands... and you can make a difference. Our wish is that B&D Council will consider the value of what these local organisations bring to the community before they accept the highest bid. We know property investors are standing by to pay well above the sum we raise. They can afford to wait out the five years the property stays on the Community Assets Register before plans are submitted for re-development. Therefore, our only card to play is the value we bring to the community, the arts, and local enterprise. Housing development around Kingsclere is a hot topic, but why should it come at the cost of destroying businesses? We need your help.

Basingstoke and Deane are in the minority amongst Borough Councils in the UK as they have no "Community Asset Transfer" policy in place and no immediate plans to develop one. We think it's time for a change. We would love to work with the Council to develop a CAT Policy to help the CIC take on 24 Swan Street, but there has been no progress.

Please donate today to enable the organisations at 24 Swan Street to continue to thrive, serving young people and the community for the foreseeable future.