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Communities and their assets |
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Tuesday, 27 May 2008 |
During 2007/08 we began to investigate some of the issues that can enable or hinder communities to have a greater degree of ownership of assets in local areas. For many buildings and land offer a tangible opportuntunity to contribute in their community.
Many assets are held in trust for the public by public bodies including local authorities whilst others can only be realised when purchased from private owners.
There are currently a number of pieces of legislation that have the
potential to enable or hinder community ownership these include:
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The disposal of assets legislation affecting local government, which
could either enable greater transparency and accountability over the
sale or transfer of assets or hinder the communities ability by
reducing the visibility of assets at the time of sale or disposal
- The Land Reform Act is due for review and it potentially could increase
the number of communities exercising there interest in right to buy
provisions if the scope is widened
- Common Good Asset legislation could be reinforced to ensure that assets held under common good are transparent with registers available to the public. Upon intitial investigation guidance issued in 2006 to local authorities appears not to have been fully implemented with assets continuing to be disposed of with low levels of visibility
- The conversion of long term leases is also being discussed whereby assets subject to a lease of 100 years or more, not an uncommon occurance, can potentially be converted to absolute ownership. The extent to which assets are held in this state and by whom remain unclear but there is the potential that where publically owned assets have been leased on a long term basis to a third party these may be 'lost' to the public
- Section 75 of the Town and Country Planning Act (Scotland) is the section that affords the opportunity for local authorities to secure community benefit from new developments, this can range from infrasturcture such as roads to community facility improvement. There is the potential for greater levels of transparency in this area which could better inform communities as to the nature of benefits being secured on their behalf and to have an influence over the destination of these benefits.
In 2008 we will be publishing the findings of our initial research into these areas.
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