The most comprehensive database of English Assets of Community Value has been updated by Plunkett UK.

Plunkett UK has updated the information held on its Keep it in the Community database, which contains information related to all registered, rejected, expired and removed Assets of Community Value from across England.

Having reviewed information from all 317 English council’s, the database now provides the most comprehensive overview of community interest in taking ownership of local assets across the country.

As an overview, there are 3,399 currently listed assets in England:

  • 41% of which are Pubs

  • 14% Green/Open spaces

  • 10% Community Hubs (Village Halls etc.)

  • The other 35% are made up allotments, sports facilities, religious building etc.

An Asset of Community Value is defined as: A building or other land is an asset of community value if its main use has recently been or is presently used to further the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community and could do so in the future. The Localism Act states that ‘social interests’ include cultural, recreational and sporting interests.

Registering a local building or land as an “Asset of Community Value” with a local council gives it a degree of protection. Should the ACV ever come up for sale, the community will be able to exercise a Community Right to Bid on the asset. They will have 6 months to acquire the finance to make a bid on the asset.

Without an ACV registration, an asset can be sold, and even converted or demolished, without giving the community a chance to purchase it for local benefit.

Plunkett’s offer to local councils

Local councils play an important role in the ACV process, acting as the point for communities to register the assets that matter most to them.

At a time when local authority finances are facing well documented pressures, Plunkett wants to work with councils to improve the efficiency of their ACV registration processes, saving the authority time and costs in reviewing applications, as well as growing the community ownership movement across the country.

From reviewing the latest data, which shows a wide inconsistency in how councils are currently managing the ACV process in their area, Plunkett believes that the process of registering an asset with a local council could be made simpler and more transparent.

Using KIITC as the central point of information for ACVs, Plunkett is seeking to engage with councils to:

  • Raise awareness of community ownership and how the model works in different contexts
  • Offer access to advice and support to help communities register assets in their local area
  • Enable local groups engaged with the Community Right to Bid process to access advice and support related to setting up a community-owned business, or community-led organisation to progress their ambitions

The outcome would be a greater volume of assets being listed with a genuine interest in bringing them into community ownership, should they become available for sale. Local councils would also receive higher quality nominations and proactively support growing the community and social economy in their authority area.

To discuss this work please contact data@plunkett.co.uk, to set up an appointment. Plunkett is particularly interested in speaking with authorities that have an allocation of UKSPF and that are wanting to support the social economy in their local area.

Overall, there are 3,399 listed assets in England: 41% of which are Pubs, 14% Green/Open spaces and 10% Community Hubs (Village Halls etc.) the other 35% are made up allotments, sports facilities, religious building etc.

Overall, we can see that 354 Moratoriums have been triggered nationally, many of which have led to a community taking ownership of the asset.

There has been a slight decline in the number of new nominations since the pandemic when looking at the year-on-year figures.

Of the 802 new nominations added: 80% were listed, 18% were rejected by their council and 2% were withdrawn or are still being processed. This shows a high success rate.

We have also collected the reasons given by councils for rejecting a nomination which will allow us to unpick patterns and themes to better support communities making applications in the future.

There is a wide variety in nominations from councils approximately 30% of councils had no new listings since mid-2022, While a handful a councils had a significant increase in listings.

What is a community-owned business?

Community-owned businesses are owned and controlled by community members, who each have an equal and democratic say in how the business is run. They can be any type of business ranging from village shops, pubs and cafes, through to woodlands, fisheries and farms.

Plunkett UK has promoted the community ownership model for over 100 years because of its track record for delivering better businesses for people, communities, the economy, and the environment.

What does the future hold?

We continue to develop the keep it in the community resource and are currently working on a platform where we directly host a councils’ assets of community value register where they can add, update, and remove listings.

Now we have a robust data set we can also offer councils an individually tailored report showing how they compare with the national trends and offer guidance to improve the rate of nominations across the country.

Access the Keep it in the Community website for yourself

It includes a database of assets and council, a map of all listed ACVs and further resources.

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