Prince William Launches £250,000 Fund to Help Community Living in Shadow of Dartmoor Prison

Prince William is putting hundreds of thousands of pounds behind the future of a small Dartmoor community as he moves to ensure money generated by one of Britain’s most famous prisons is reinvested in the people living around it.

The Prince of Wales will visit Princetown on Tuesday, September 15, to officially launch the Princetown Community Fund, which will make at least £250,000 available for locally led projects designed to strengthen the village socially, economically and environmentally.

Grants ranging from £500 to £40,000 will be available to community organisations and initiatives, giving local groups the opportunity to fund everything from improved facilities and business support to environmental projects.

But the new fund forms only one part of a much larger decision by William over the future of Dartmoor — and the substantial income generated by the prison sitting at the heart of the community.

The Ministry of Justice currently pays the Duchy of Cornwall around £1.5 million a year to lease the Dartmoor Prison site. Earlier this year, William backed plans for that income to be redirected into Princetown and the wider Dartmoor area rather than simply contributing to the Duchy’s overall financial returns.

The move followed growing concern over the future of Princetown after the prison was emptied in July 2024 amid concerns over high levels of radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas.

For a community whose identity and economy have long been intertwined with the historic prison, the uncertainty surrounding the site has raised wider questions about local jobs, businesses and the village’s long-term future.

William’s answer is increasingly taking shape around a simple principle: money generated by the site should help the people most affected by what happens to it.

The Princetown Community Fund will be delivered with Devon Communities Together and is intended to place local residents and organisations at the centre of decisions about regeneration.

It also reflects a broader change in the way William is shaping the Duchy of Cornwall, the vast landed estate he inherited when King Charles III acceded to the throne in 2022.

The Duchy announced in June that it intends to invest more than £500 million over the next decade across several areas where it has significant land and community ties, including Dartmoor, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, Bath and Kennington in London.

Its strategy focuses on housing, stronger local economies, nature recovery, renewable energy, farming resilience and the transition towards net zero.

Princetown has already begun to provide an early glimpse of that approach.

In August, the Duchy opened Gather & Moor in the former Dartmoor National Park Visitor Centre. The new community-focused space combines a café, shop and visitor information point with areas for workshops, exhibitions and local events.

Products from Devon businesses and makers feature inside, while community groups are able to use parts of the building for activities without charge.

William is expected to visit Gather & Moor during Tuesday’s trip and meet residents who have been helping to shape a longer-term vision for Princetown.

He will also hear from local organisations and visit the village youth club, which has previously received Duchy funding to improve its facilities.

The engagement puts particular emphasis on listening to residents rather than imposing a regeneration model from outside — an approach that has become increasingly visible in William’s work with the Duchy.

The Prince has already used the estate to support major social projects elsewhere, including initiatives aimed at homelessness and affordable housing.

Now Princetown represents a different challenge: how to protect the future of an isolated rural community when one of the institutions around which it developed faces profound uncertainty.

Dartmoor Prison has stood near the village for more than two centuries, making its fate inseparable from Princetown’s own story.

That is why William’s decision over the £1.5 million annual rental income carries significance far beyond the initial £250,000 fund.

Instead of treating the prison simply as an asset generating revenue for the Duchy, the Prince is linking that income directly to the community affected by its closure.

The new fund will give residents the chance to turn that principle into individual projects of their own — with grants potentially reaching £40,000 each.

For William, Tuesday’s visit will mark the formal beginning of that next stage.

For Princetown, however, the bigger question is what happens over the years that follow.

With millions of pounds in prison rental income now earmarked for the area and the Duchy promising long-term investment, a village facing an uncertain future may suddenly have an unusual opportunity to reshape it.

And the Prince of Wales appears determined that the people who live there should have a major say in what that future looks like.