Mapping Community Asset Development: Why This Work Matters Now

The Blagrave Trust commissioned The Ubele Initiative to map community asset development in England, exploring how young people can play a greater role in shaping and leading community-owned assets.

Eli Manderson Evans, CEO, The Blagrave Trust 5th August 2026

Across England, community spaces, youth centres, cultural venues, neighbourhood halls, green spaces and more, have been closing, sold off, or left to decline.

And yet, at the same time, we’re seeing extraordinary leadership from communities determined to reclaim and steward these assets for collective benefit.

At The Blagrave Trust, our mission is to invest in communities with young changemakers at their heart, strengthening community leadership and infrastructure to drive long-lasting change.

Over the past year, we’ve been reflecting on how all our assets, not just our funding, can better support that mission. That’s why we commissioned The Ubele Initiative to map the infrastructure behind community asset development in England, with a particular focus on young people and communities facing injustice.

For the results, explore Ubele's community asset mapping microsite or read the full report.

Key Findings

The findings are both timely and urgent. The research highlights:

A field rich with innovation, solidarity and local leadership.

But also deeply fragmented, under‑resourced, and often inaccessible to the communities who stand to benefit most.

Limited opportunities for young people to gain the skills, visibility and confidence to participate in, and lead, asset development.

The need for patient investment, stronger knowledge sharing, and support that reflects the full journey of taking on and sustaining an asset.

For Blagrave, this moment matters. With renewed national interest in neighbourhood power, youth governance and youth hubs, we are committed to understanding how young people can be meaningfully centred in the future of community owned assets.

We believe that if this work is to be truly sustainable, young people need real pathways into shaping, stewarding and leading community assets — not as an afterthought, but as a core part of how these spaces thrive across generations.

We’re incredibly grateful to The Ubele Initiative for their thoughtful, intergenerational approach and for the depth of insight they bring to this work.

Community asset development is about far more than buildings — it’s about power, belonging and long-term stewardship. Through this research we heard from organisations and communities doing remarkable work, often with very limited support. What’s clear is that if we want community ownership to thrive, the sector needs stronger infrastructure, better knowledge sharing, and deliberate pathways for young people to step into leadership within these spaces.

Phil Tulba

Associate Director for Community Wealth Building, The Ubele Initiative

The insights from this mapping are already shaping our thinking about how our wider asset base can better support young people and communities — and we’re energised by the possibilities ahead.

We hope this mapping also serves as a helpful resource for funders, practitioners and community organisers across the country. If you’re developing, sustaining or imagining community assets that centre young people — or if you have reflections on the report — we’d love to hear from you.