Coalfields Regeneration Trust
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust (the Trust) was established in 1999 and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for people in Britain’s coalfield communities.
The Trust is an independent charity and company limited by guarantee. Our mission is to lead the way in coalfields regeneration and to restore healthy, prosperous and sustainable communities.
In order to achieve this mission, we have two key objectives:
To complement the work of economically-driven agencies by focussing on the so-called “softer” side of regeneration
To inform and influence policy-makers with regard to coalfields issues, and bend mainstream spend to needy coalfields communities
Our aim is to make coalfields sustainable, and to work towards the point where they can be prosperous, viable and cohesive without support.
In addition to grant making, we have increasingly invested and acted strategically where a more structured intervention is necessary. In areas where mines have just closed or are under threat, such as in Selby, the Trust has demonstrated that with government support it can act swiftly to ensure that the worst effects do not happen.
Many coalfields wards continue to be among the most deprived in the country. However, the recent independent evaluation of the Trust’s work (York Consulting 2003), clearly demonstrates that we are beginning to make an impact.
The Trust works with people at a very grassroots level in order to build confidence and encourage them to actively participate in taking their communities forward – we all know things have got better but there is still much to do. Giving people aspirations, talking about the long-term and sustainability needs to have commitment behind it, the Trust is committed to standing by communities to achieve their goals.
This is illustrated in our collaboration with English Partnerships in establishing Initiate, a roving team to ensure that local people are connected to the major site developments on former coalfield sites. It has been suggested that more of this connected activity is what is required and the Trust will continue to build upon this work and to ensure that we contribute to making that happen.
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