When Halton Borough Council and community development specialist Paul Kelly invited Kindred to support an emerging community land trust in Runcorn, the brief was straightforward: help a nascent CLT build the case for taking on community-owned spaces, and demonstrate local demand.
Kindred’s response was our festival of ideas model – an open invitation to anyone with a vision for the town to come and share it. In August 2025, four sessions at Space Café marked the launch of Reimagining Runcorn and 40 people brought their ideas. Those ideas formed the foundation for the launch of Runcorn Old Town CLT, which already has more than 200 members.
The festival did more than generate a pipeline – it connected people who hadn’t previously found each other. Two groups, introduced at one of the sessions, went on to start Runcorn Radio together. Ian of Mindful Miniatures – another participant – later featured on the station, a journey that began with a conversation at the ideas festival. These are early signs of something rarer than activity: a community beginning to organise itself into a social investment cluster.
The festival was delivered in partnership with Space Runcorn CIC, Runcorn Old Town CLT, Halton Borough Council and Halton and St Helens Voluntary and Community Action. Space Runcorn CIC subsequently received Kindred investment in the first quarter of 2026 – an early demonstration of the link between place activation and pipeline development. Space Café, where the sessions were held, has since come forward for investment consideration.
Caroline Moss is the founder of Space Runcorn: “I was part of the Reimagining Runcorn project in my role on the board of Runcorn Old Town CLT and it really helped our new group by activating and engaging the community with some new ideas for regenerating the town. Kindred supported with practical aspects of the project, but it worked well because Kindred knew when to take a step back and let local people take a lead,” she says.
Of the 40 ideas submitted, seven STOs in Halton are now receiving targeted follow-up support to showcase their ideas, with both St Helens and Halton VCA and the CLT also picking up ideas to support. Notably, many of the realisable ideas and existing STOs in Runcorn are male-led, with a focus on men’s mental health – a particular characteristic of this place that the ongoing programme is well-positioned to support.
“Empowering and supporting communities to believe in what’s possible – without taking over – is what made the project different from what's been done before,” says Caroline. “This sort of collaborative working goes a long way in helping the community feel safe to open up to new ideas and new opportunities for change.”
The work now points toward something larger. The evidence gathered is building the case for the renovation of the Baths – a former public swimming pool and market – and other empty buildings including Elite House, which Halton Council is considering handing over to the CLT as community centres for STOs. Learning from Halton – including the lack of accessible event venues in the town – will feed into the design and implementation of HoldCo.