‘Assets of Community Value’ were, with much fanfare, introduced by the Localism Act 2011.
The Government’s soft sell at the time said that they were designed to give communities more power to be involved in the way local services are delivered by stimulating social, environmental and economic growth and regeneration through community asset ownership.
Essentially, with some exceptions, where the owner of land which is listed as an ACV wants to dispose of it, they must first give notice to the Local Authority and then wait for a moratorium period, to give (at least in theory) local community groups a chance to put in an offer to buy it. Importantly, the owner is not obliged to sell to a local community group or even give them a right of first refusal. If the owner wants, it can simply sit out the moratorium period. At the end of the period it’s free to do whatever it wants.
Download the full Devonshires Briefing.
For further information, please contact Neil Toner, partner at Devonshires.
