As many of you who have followed the campaign since its inception will know, we’ve utilised powers under the Localism Act 2011 to put protections in place for some of our vital community assets across the city, namely Assets of Community Value (ACV) and the Right to Bid.
In April of this year, changes were made to this Act which have resulted in stronger powers for communities – great news for the campaign and the work that so many of you are doing in Brum to safeguard the places that are important to you!
There are quite a few amendments to the Act, so we’ve picked out the most relevant and important updates to tell you about.
Community Right to Buy — replacing the old ‘Right to Bid’
Under the old system listing an ACV gave community groups a "right to bid". This essentially meant that if the owner of the building or land decided to sell, a 6-month delay known as a moratorium period would be triggered. The purpose of this would be to allow community organisations to raise funds to make a bid on the open market. However, there was no obligation on the seller to accept any offer from a community group, meaning that once the 6 months were up, they were free to sell to the highest bidder.
Research has shown that only 2% of ACVs actually went on to become community owned. Many lost out to other bids, and 6 months was often not long enough to raise funds.
The update from ‘Right to Bid’ to ‘Right to Buy’ creates a right of first refusal, granting community groups greater powers to purchase ACVs at a negotiated or market value price.
Yesterday, the government also confirmed a £61m package to support local communities looking to exercise their right to buy. This is made up of £51m to help purchase assets, alongside £10m for capacity support. There are more details in this article from Co-operatives UK here. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this and bringing you more updates on how to access the scheme once it opens for applications.
Moratorium Period
As outlined above, the 6-month moratorium period was often not long enough for community organisations to pull together a business plan and raise enough capital to put in a bid for an asset.
The updates to the Act have extended the moratorium period to 12 months, allowing more time to out together a bid or enter into negotiations with the seller.
Listing Period
The listing period for ACVs has also been extended. Previously, a building or land registered as an ACV would sit on the register for 5 years. Once this time period was up, a community organisation would have to re-submit the ACV application to keep it on the register. The updates to the Act have now extended this period to 10 years.
ACV Definitions
Under the previous definition, something could only be listed as an ACV if its primary use was considered to further social wellbeing and interests – so things like libraries, parks and community centres. Updates to the Act have expanded the definition to assets that further the economic well-being or economic interests of the local community. This means that assets such as local shops, pubs and other commercial facilities will be able to be listed as ACVs.
In addition, a new category of Sporting Assets of Community Value (SACV) has been added. This will automatically protect sports grounds and related land, removing the need for communities to apply for ACV status to trigger these protections in respect of sporting assets. SACVs will remain on the register indefinitely and will not be subject to the 10-year period as described above.
Recent Use of an Asset
The final important update for our campaign is the removal of the requirement for an asset to have been used in the recent past, considered to be the last 5 years. This has meant that some of the buildings in the city that have been unoccupied for several years could not be listed as an ACV. We have found this to be an issue for some of the Park Lodges and other unused buildings that have been vacant for significant periods of time.
However, it is now sufficient to show that there was an important community use at any time in the past.
The removal of one word, "recent", is hugely significant. It creates new opportunities for buildings and land whose community benefit may have been lost many years ago to be recognised as ACVs. Buildings that might previously have failed to qualify may now do so.
If you know of such an asset in your area, please get in touch with us! We’d be happy to help you complete an ACV application for it.
In Summary
- Community Right to Buy replaces a Right to Bid, with a £61 million funding package from the Government to support purchases.
- The moratorium period has been extended from 6 to 12 months.
- The period of time that ACVs remain on the register has been extended from 5 to 10 years.
- The scope of what qualifies as an ACV is much broader and now includes a specific category for Sporting Assets.
- The need for an asset to have been used in the past 5 years has been removed – now assets that have been important to the local community at any time in the past can be recognised.
As always, please get in touch with us via contact@savebirmingham.org for advice and guidance on community assets in your area. There are also some excellent resources about Community Ownership from our partner Locality on their website here.
