Leeds trust in bid to buy school:

From Regeneration and Renewal (Funding and Finance section) of 1 June 2007:

A development trust in Leeds is seeking to raise money towards the
purchase of an empty primary school by selling shares to local residents
and businesses. Headingley Development Trust is trying to persuade
Leeds City Council to sell it the school at less than market value so
that it can develop the building into an enterprise and arts centre.

The share issue (shares of £1 - minimum investment £100) will be
non-transferable meaning they can only be sold back to the development
trust. This would give residents a stake in their own community. The
return for investors would be "quite small" but there would be a
dividend fixed at a certain rate each year though there would probably
not be a dividend for the first few years.

This chimes in with the "Quirk report" which recommends that local
authorities sell assets to the community at a nominal sum (which could
be as low as £1). A special lottery fund will be set up to help some
buyers of these assets to set themselves up with new facilities.