Assets of Community Value - Guidance Notes

Guidance notes for voluntary and community groups interested in nominating assets of community value

The Community Right to Bid (Assets of Community Value) is part of the Localism Act 2011. It came into force on 21 September 2012. In neighbourhoods across the country there are buildings and amenities that are important to the communities that use them - a village shop, a post office, a pub, a community centre, a recreation ground or a library, for instance. The closure or sale of these places can create lasting damage to communities.

Under the Localism Act, voluntary and community organisations can nominate an asset to be included on a list of 'assets of community value'.

The council will manage the lists of successful and unsuccessful nominations.

Both lists will be published on our website and available in hard copy on request.

You may nominate assets by completing a nomination form; this can be downloaded from our website. These guidance notes are designed to help you complete the form.

Part A: About you.

In this section, you need to provide basic information about you as the contact person representing the applicant organisation. We will use this information to contact you directly if we have any questions relating to your nomination and to give our decision on whether your nomination is accepted or rejected. Please confirm that you have been nominated to represent this organisation.

Part B: About your organisation.

We need to understand how your organisation is set up to see if your organisation is eligible to nominate. The criteria for eligibility have been set by the Government and are set out in the Localism Act and the Regulations.

Eligibility

Only voluntary and community organisations with a local connection, in addition to town and parish councils in England (and community councils in Wales) will have the right to make community nominations of assets to be included on the list.

A) A 'local voluntary and community body' is defined as a body, other than a public or local authority, which may be incorporated or unincorporated, must not be run primarily for profit, and must have a primary purpose concerned with the local authority area, or the neighbourhood in which the asset is situated where this is in more than one authority's area. In practical terms, this means your organisation must be one of the following:

i) A body designated as a neighbourhood forum pursuant to section 61F of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990;

ii) A town or parish council;

iii) An unincorporated body -

• Whose members include at least 21 individuals, and

• Which does not distribute any surplus it makes to its members;

iv) A charity;

v) A company limited by guarantee which does not distribute any surplus it makes to its members;

vi) An industrial and provident society which does not distribute any surplus it makes to is members (defined as a body registered or deemed to be registered under the Industrial and Provident societies Act 1965 which meets one of the conditions in section 1 of that Act) ;

or vii) A community interest company.

Local connection

Please provide evidence that your organisation has a connection to Boston borough. This means:

a body other than a town or parish council has a local connection with land in a local authority's area if -

(a) The body's activities are wholly or partly concerned -

with the local authority's area or with a neighbouring authority's area;

(b) Any surplus it makes is wholly or partly applied -

For the benefit of the local authority's area, or

For the benefit of a neighbouring authority's area; and

(c) A town or parish council has a local connection with land in another parish council's area if any part of the boundary of the first council's area is also part of the boundary of the other council's area.

A parish council's area is within the local authority's area, but is not in any parish council's area if -

the council's area is within the local authority's area or

any part of the boundary of the council's area is also part of the boundary of the local authority's area.

You can include further evidence as part of your submission in the attachment section of the form.

We would like to see documentary evidence of your organisation's status. This is particularly important for organisations that are unconstituted community groups, as only groups with 21 or more members are eligible to nominate.

Part C: About the Asset

Nominated assets may be owned by anybody, including the council and the Crown. A building or other land should be considered an asset of community value if:

Its actual current use furthers the social wellbeing and interests of the local community, or a use in the recent past has done so; and
That use is not an ancillary one, i.e. of secondary purpose; and
For land in current community use it is realistic to think that there will continue to be a use which furthers social wellbeing and interests, or for land in community use in the recent past it is realistic to think that there will be community use within the next 5 years (in either case, whether or not that use is exactly the same as the present or past); and
It does not fall within one of the exemptions e.g. residential premises and land held with them.

What does social interest and social wellbeing mean?

Social interests include:

cultural interests
recreational interests
sporting interests

Wellbeing is the things that people value in their life that contribute to them reaching their potential (economic, social or environmental).

Full details of the types of assets that are excluded from listing can be found in the Localism Act and the Regulations.

Please attach any information e.g. a photo or map which will help to identify the asset if it does not have a street address. Please also include details of the asset's proposed boundaries.

Please note: it is very important that you provide clear and unambiguous details of the asset's boundaries, so that we can correctly identify the exact extent of the land or building that you wish to nominate. Uncertainty over the extent and boundaries of the asset may delay your nomination.

What Happens Next?

After receiving your application, we will make a decision on whether to accept your nomination within eight weeks, in accordance with the provisions set out in the Localism Act 2011.

We will contact you if we have any questions or queries about your nomination.

We are required to inform the owner of the land, any freeholders or leaseholders and the current occupants of the land of your nomination. They have the right to appeal against the listing