The Community Right To Bid is a new tool designed to help communities safeguard the property assets they value. The Localism Act (2011) introduced the ‘Community Right to Bid’, and placed a duty upon local authorities in England to maintain a list of assets of community value.
Step 2 will help you to identify assets of community value so that you can nominate them for listing, then proceed to exercise your right to bid in full.
Please note: the Community Right to Bid does not replace those other tools available to communities that are keen to own and manage property assets. Community Asset Transfer – that is transferring publicly owned assets to the community at a discount to market value – remains a standard, important and preferable route through which to secure the community ownership of assets.
Other important tools available to communities keen to take control of land and buildings in their local area include:
A building or other land is an asset of community value if its main use is or has recently been to “further the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community” and it could do so in the future.
The Act defines assets of community value in terms of:
The diagram below summarises the overall definition of what constitutes an ‘asset of community value’. If you nominate an asset and it meets the definition, the local authority must list it.
The Localism Act notes that ‘social interests’ include ‘cultural, recreational and sporting interests’, but ‘social wellbeing’ actually applies to a much broader set of activities. So, although this is not an exhaustive list, examples of assets of community value might include:
Some land and property is exempted from the provisions, including:
In addition, the Act excludes:
Once you have mapped community assets in your area, and identified those which meet the legal definition of an asset of community value, you should agree which land and buildings the community might wish to acquire in the future using the Right to Bid. You can then proceed to nominate them.
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