Bradford’s old vicarage finds new life as a community-owned space
In March 2025, a community in Bradford was handed the keys to an old vicarage. After three years of negotiations, the hands-on work of transforming the space into a hub of local life could begin. Spearheading the project is Josiah Sulc, CEO of charity Rooted In and a We’re Right Here Community Champion. We interviewed Josiah about his vision for community ownership and his interest in the We’re Right Here community power campaign.
TRANSCRIPT: My name is Josiah Sulc and I’m from Bradford, up in West Yorkshire. Over the lockdown, so many community centres closed, including the one we were based in. The combination of austerity and the impact of Covid has meant that the places and spaces for teenagers to come together have been decimated. Those that are left are running under enormous pressure. There’s no looking towards the local authority and the mayor’s office. That’s not a criticism of them, it’s the pressure everyone’s under. Unless community groups are given the opportunity to step in, nothing else is going to happen—and that’s been the tale of the past fifteen years.
A bold vision for an empty vicarage
In this process of decline, sadly, the local church saw its numbers decline and lost its vicar. The vicar from the neighbouring parish mentioned the vicarage building would probably go up for sale soon. I said, “Can you stop that happening?” I sold the idea of leasing the vicarage for the community to the diocese. We connected with the Community Land Trust Network, Power to Change, and Leeds Community Homes, and it became clear that this was an opportunity for something bigger than my charity Rooted In. It was an opportunity for something which was community-owned. An opportunity for the community to engage in meaningful local transformative decision-making.
Grappling with the legal processes behind community ownership
Navigating the different legal models and the routes we could take was hard. What was right for the community happened to be the most painful route when dealing with the diocese and the solicitors. A community benefit society and the idea of a community land trust was relatively unknown to them. I was learning this terminology and then trying to teach other people about it. The whole process took three years. Trying to keep the energy and excitement up within the community was really difficult. And some funding opportunities passed us by. As we were going through the legals, the election happened and the government’s community ownership fund was closed. That could have funded the vast majority of this project.
Those were our two big hurdles. We’ve overcome the first one and created a Community Benefit Society and the legal framework around it. We’re scaling the second hurdle of finances.
Envisioning a beautiful shared space
After three years of negotiating, we have secured a fifty-year lease for the vicarage. We asked the community to share their ideas for how to use the building. Then the next questions we asked were: What are you willing to do? and, Are you willing to do it with other people? It’s the concept of extreme ownership.
The young people want a space that’s their own, as there hasn’t been a youth centre in the community since 2009. So, they will get two rooms in the vicarage, and they can decide how to use them and what activities will run. For instance, they want a workshop at the back to tinker with motorbikes and cars. Some of the young people want to go into hospitality, so we’re going to create a small commercial kitchen and espresso machine so they can learn food production and make high-quality coffees. It’ll help them get work.
I’ve spoken to professionals in the primary schools and parents, and we’ve seen a real lack of support for children and families who’ve gone through various traumas. That could be anything from a breakdown of a marriage, a bereavement, or even extreme fear created over the pandemic, affecting children in their formative years. It’s all over the media, the mental health crisis we’re staring at. So, we’re going to have a permanent resident trauma therapist in the building who will work with children, young people, and families. It’ll be next to an arts and crafts space.
On the top floor, there will be an affordable rented flat. Homelessness among young people has become more prevalent, but it’s hidden because they’re sofa surfing. It will not be their forever home, it will be a first step on the ladder—helping them to build their confidence, get into work and step more fully into an independent life.
Renovation by the community, for the community
The community will come together to build the space that they want. We’re only going to use local contractors for this building. Every contractor has to give at least one person two days’ worth of meaningful work experience. That means a local young person will get an insight into a career they perhaps didn’t consider before. We’ve already got a young girl lined up who wants to learn how to become a brickie. By opening up the build process, it creates opportunities for young people to be believed in.
I want to minimise the impact of the building so it serves the community and our environment. We will look at air source heat pumps and breathable internal insulation. Our community deserves better than the usual developments in this bit of Bradford where you’ve designed out beauty and personality, you’ve removed creativity but you’re ticking the boxes. My community deserves a building that’s beautiful and thoughtfully built. We’re stripping it right back to bare bones: new heating, new electrics, and new water.
This building does not make economic sense, but in every other metric I’ve got, it makes perfect sense. Human benefit and community flourishing comes from slowing things down, opening processes up, engaging people at every step of the way, and sometimes that means making poor financial choices.
A unified grassroots movement
We’re Right Here were the first people I’d heard saying we need a grassroots movement, a unified voice for communities to speak with those with power. For years, I’ve watched those in Westminster try to bring power down, and there’s still a gap. We’re Right Here have gone: come on, meet us in the middle. And that’s been exciting. It’s why I’m really passionate about working with We’re Right Here.
Two elements of the We’re Right Here campaign could work for us: the Community Right to Buy and the Community Right to Shape Services. The Community Right to Buy isn’t just a pause in the sale process of an asset, it’s a genuine investment and empowerment into grassroots community groups so they have the skills to bid for, convert, and manage these assets.
We need longer-term investment so we can upskill the community. So that when we rescue assets, the community have the skills to manage them long-term. Similarly, for the Right to Shape Services, people here can tell you they can’t get a dentist’s appointment. We can find statistics that say the biggest cause of children being taken into A&E is dental issues. But, the community doesn’t have the support, training or structures to create a case that could go to the commissioners. Whereas, if we have investment in the community and organisations like ours, we can help galvanise the community and help hone their voice.
The Devolution Bill that’s coming through is a foundation for potential community flourishing. Let’s make sure we set the foundations right so that power, control, and investment don’t stop at the mayor’s office or the Town Hall. Let’s make sure it can get to communities, but in a way that is controlled, safeguarded, measured, and builds local capacity to manage that investment well.
Our community knows what it needs while Whitehall doesn’t. But they can enable us.
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