Plunkett launches an online directory of assets of community value – ACVs
Keep It in the Community (KIITC) is an online database of all community assets in England, such as pubs, shops and land, that have been nominated or registered as an Asset of Community Value (ACV).
First set up by mySociety, Keep It in the Community is now hosted by the Plunkett Foundation – one of the organisations involved in its original conception. The information on KIITC is supplied by members of the public and checked by Plunkett against council records.
The top 3 types of asset registered on the Keep It in the Community register are:
- Village halls
- Green spaces
- Pubs
Other types of asset include shops, cafes, post offices, sports clubs, allotments, religious buildings and libraries. There is data relating to 6,700 assets on Keep It in the Community register, of which 3,700 have an active ACV registration.
Plunkett has been able to keep this valuable resource available for your use with the support of Locality and Power to Change. To find out more about ACVs, visit the MyCommunity website.
What’s new?
Our mission with Keep It in the Community is to help people across the country take their first steps towards community ownership, by accessing information about ACVs in their local area. Although ACV records are available through individual councils, the purpose of the Keep it in the Community website is to put all of this information in one place, along with helpful guidance and support. Throughout 2022 Plunkett will review and improve this data on ACVs.
How to use KIITC
You can view, add or update information about ACVs in your local area to:
- Help people to find protected assets in their local area
- Connect communities across England that are trying to save their assets
- Link people to advice on how to protect their assets by nominating them as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) with your local council
- Discover the support available to transform underused assets into thriving community businesses
- Help us to gather data from the directory to support communities by calling for the reform of the Community Right to Bid
LDiscover the support available to transform underused assets into thriving community businesses
Why are Assets of Community Value (ACVs) important?
A building or space registered as an Asset of Community Value with a local council is protected under the Community Right to Bid. If a registered asset comes up for sale, the community will have six months to put in an offer to buy it.
Although the Community Right to Bid buys time for the community to try to take ownership of their asset, their offer may be refused by the owner in favour of a higher bid from elsewhere.
Data collected from KIITC will inform our work to campaign for the reform the Community Right to Bid into a Right to Buy, with a right to first refusal for the community on the asset. Reform is needed now more than ever, with assets increasingly coming up for sale for development in the economic fallout from the pandemic, leaving neighbourhoods at risk of losing vital social services. Without adequate legal protection assets are still at risk of being lost.
Call to action
We need your help to keep the information on KIITC up-to-date and a true reflection of the places communities really value.
We want all communities in England to:
- Nominate your community assets as an ACV with your local councils
- Help us to record the status of your ACV application, whether nominated, registered or rejected, on Keep It in the Community website
- If your asset is already registered as an ACV, check that it is up to date on KIITC, so that others can benefit from this information too
- Discover the resources available about taking ownership of your assets and find other communities on the register, and get in touch with them to learn about their experiences of registering and acquiring an asset.
If you have any questions? Email our Data Officer, Joe Hesketh at data@plunkett.co.uk.
