web: locality.org.uk email: info@locality.org.uk tel: 0845 458

8336

Making Assets Work for Communities

Annemarie Naylor

Head of Assets

Locality is the UK’s leading network of settlements,development trusts, social action centres and

communityenterprises. 

• number of Locality members 700+• total income £378m• earned income £193m• assets in community ownership:£808m• number of staff employed: 9,000• volunteers 23,500

About Locality

Our members are:

• Independent• Led by local people• Driving social change• Trading for community benefit• Developing community assets and ownership

Our Members

• Communities generating wealth & circulating it locally

• Communities with pride in their “place”• Communities taking responsibility - empowerment• Increased financial & operational independence• Increased skills base• Focus for neighbourhood-based service provision• Opportunities for new partnerships• Cost of doing nothing…

Why community assets?

• Management arrangements• Meanwhile Space• Short term lease transfer• Long term lease transfer• Freehold transfer• Freehold purchase

Community Asset Acquisition

Increasing:

Autonomy

Risk

Impact

Opportunity

Capacity required

• Can be a long and difficult process• Local political/community tensions• Must get the business case right • Shortage of appropriate finance • Skills gaps• Capacity implications• Competition from (public and) private

speculators

• But, YES WE CAN!

The Asset Challenge

• Advancing Assets – 89 councils, 175 transfer initiatives

• Community Assets Programme – £30m programme working with 38 councils to refurbish and transfer 38 assets

• The Asset Transfer Unit – 65,000 online visitors, 85% councils aware, 1,000 transfers underway each year, 40% increase during 2011-12, 1,100 enquiries, 700+ discrete transfer initiatives supported, cross govt tools & guidance, policy development support

• Multiple Asset Transfer – 15 councils, 200+ transfer initiatives, place/service/class transfers, parallel/SPVs

Community Asset Transfer - Experience

• Meanwhile Space Project – pop-ups, empty shops, town centre resilience, post-riot support

• Community Builders - £70m programme to support feasibility work, purchase, extend and refurbish community assets

• Community Managed Library Network – 50+ transfer initiatives, Community Knowledge Hub

Community Asset Development - Experience

• Gives communities the power to ensure that buildings and amenities can be kept in public use and remain an integral part of community life.

• Voluntary and community organisations and parish councils can nominate an asset to be included in a ‘list of assets of community value’.

• LA required to maintain the list. If the owner of a listed asset decides to sell, a moratorium period will be triggered during which the asset cannot be sold.

Community Right to Bid

• Land or buildings that currently, or in the recent past, promote the social well-being of the local community - in particular, though not exclusively, recreational, cultural and sporting assets.

What is defined as an ‘asset of community value’?

Multiple Asset Transfer -• Place-based – scale, viability – shared assets• Service-based – speed, silos and salami – service transformation• Class-based – liability transfer – flexibility, innovation, entrepreneurship

and growth!

Community Rights - • Bid – ‘save our’, definitions (risk-taking), land value differentials, access

to capital – growth of non-statutory public benefit bodies, private assets.• Reclaim Land – power, competition – community-led housing and energy.• Challenge – asset & service integration – community-led commissioning

& delivery• Build – land, buy now/pay later – affirmative community-led development

Challenges & Opportunities

• The Asset Transfer Unit has been supporting councils and community groups to transfer the ownership of community assets for 3 years.

• Find out about some of the projects the ATU has assisted and find further information about the support we can offer: http://www.atu.org.uk/

• In future > Community Rights Support Service/Grants Programme

Where to get more help

locality.org.uk