Recent developments in relation to Assets of Community Value

Antonia Murillo reports on recent developments in relation to the Assets of Community Value regime brought in under the Localism Act.

What do Dulwich hamlet football club, Manchester United and the Undercroft at the South Bank all have in common?

Answer: The sites have all been registered as assets of community value (ACV), a classification created by the Localism Act 2011.

Why are these applications being made and what purpose do they serve? The reasoning behind the provisions was to allow “communities the opportunity to take control of assets and facilities in their neighbourhoods by levelling the playing field by providing the time for them to prepare a proposal” [1].

The CLG policy statement goes on to describe that the ACV provisions give communities a right to identify a building or land that they believe to be of importance to their community’s social well-being. So how do the above sites fit into this? [2] Arguably some of them don’t and at present some owners of these sites are appealing the decision to register the sites as ACVs.

The 2011 Act and 2012 Regulations [3] set out who can make an ACV application, how it can be made and the effect of a successful registration. To be eligible to nominate land or a building as an ACV an organisation must:

• Have a local connection to the property it wishes to nominate [4]; and
• Fall within one of the classes described as an organisation.

An organisation can include an unincorporated body of at least 21 members who are registered to vote, a charity or a community interest group [5]. Already one can see how nominations of “assets” not just football grounds may be made.

The application process is fairly straightforward. The 2012 Regulations set out the information which is required which includes a description of the nominated land or building, its address and extent of the boundaries and a statement of all the information which the nominators have including the names of the current occupants, the freeholder/leaseholder, the reasons for thinking the council should conclude that the land is of community value and evidence the nominator is eligible to make a community nomination.

The council has eight weeks from the date of receiving the nomination within which to decide whether or not to list the claimed asset as an ACV. As part of that process, the owner, leaseholder (if any) and parish council (if relevant) are all notified of the nomination. If the council decides to register the land or property, the owner can seek a review of that decision by the council.

If unhappy with that decision, the owner may then appeal to the First Tier Tribunal. The first appeal to the Tribunal has recently been decided in relation to the Chesham Arms in Hackney [6]. A site in Bexhill on Sea is also subject to an appeal to the Tribunal.

Why are applications being made to register sites as ACVs? If a site is registered, the registration listing lasts for five years (and appears as a land charge on the land charges register). If during that time the owner wishes to sell the ACV, they must inform the council and the group (that requested the listing) of the planned sale. The group then has six weeks to confirm that it wishes to be treated as a potential bidder. If it does so, the group has six months to raise the finance. However, there is no compulsion on the owner to accept such an offer and there is no restriction as to who the owner can sell to nor at what price [7]. The ACV provisions do not confer a right of first refusal to community groups [8].

The advice from CLG is that the listing of a site as an ACV maybe a material consideration for planning purposes [9]. However, there is some anecdotal evidence that planning authorities are either not considering the listing as a material consideration or, if they do, don’t attach much weight to the listing.

What is clear is that applications to list sites as ACVs are contentious, costly, and are being used to try and frustrate development and is probably not what was intended.

Antonia Murillo is an associate at Bond Dickinson. She can be contacted on 0845 415 6790 or by email.

[1] See Assets of Community Value - Policy Statement CLG September 2011

[2] Not only these sites but also Oxford United, Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers have also been registered as ACVs.

[3] The Assets of Community Value (England) Regulations 2012 (2012/2421).

[4] See Regulation 4 of the 2012 Regulations.

[5] For a full list of voluntary or community bodies see Regulation 5.

[6] The hearing took place at Hackney Town Hall and the appeal wsa dismissed.

[7] See CLG Policy Statement September 2011.

[8] Unlike the Scottish scheme.

[9] See DCLG - Community Right to Bid. Non-statutory advice for local authorities. October 2012.