John Copps, Mutual Ventures – How Community Asset Transfer can help you build stronger, more resilient communities ~ Co-operative Councils Innovation Network

John Copps, Managing Consultant, Mutual Ventures

If your council hasn’t considered community asset transfer, why not?, asks Mutual Ventures’ John Copps

What we all want in our local area are strong, resilient communities. Community assets – whoever owns them – are critical to any well-functioning place and its public services.

At the start of July, CCIN launched its new report, Beyond Asset Transfer, to look at what works and what doesn’t work when transferring local government assets to community organisations.

Although it is not new, Community Asset Transfer – the transfer of land, buildings or assets from councils (or other public sector bodies) to the ownership and/or management of a community or third sector organisation – is gathering momentum as part of the solution to rebuilding communities following the impact of COVID-19.

This renewed impetus also coincides with the imminent release of the government’s £150m Community Ownership Fund, originally announced as part of the budget in March. Through this fund, community groups will be able to bid for matched funding to help them buy local assets, with the aim of ensuring ‘important parts of the social fabric can continue to play a central role in towns and villages’.

CCIN’s report draws on combined experience across member councils and reflects their experience.

What works in asset transfer?

The report highlights several features of successful community asset transfers:

What are the challenges?

Many of the barriers are practical, including knowledge, support and capacity. The report includes the following areas of challenge:

What needs to change?

The report shines a light on the potential benefits of Community Asset Transfer on the wellbeing and prosperity of communities and makes a number of recommendations for central government. These include:

The future of community asset transfer

As our communities recover from the impact of COVID-19, local government has a vital part to play in building bridges within communities and supporting the process of rebuilding.

Community Asset Transfer is one tool that councils should consider for ensuring effective use of assets. It is hard work but – as the examples and contributions in CCIN’s report show – the rewards can be great.

The aim of this report is to inspire you to think about what is possible. If you haven’t already considered community asset transfer, why not?

John Copps

Mutual Ventures is a consultancy that works with local and central government, NHS organisations and the third sector to make public services better, more sustainable and more connected to communities. Mutual Ventures is proud to be an affiliate member of CCIN. You can get in touch with John about any issue, including opportunities relating to the Community Ownership Fund.