Written evidence submitted by Department for Communities and Local Government [CRS 39]

Your Committee has called for evidence to support its enquiry into community rights engagement.

Background

The community rights are an important element of the Government’s wider drive to devolve power and responsibility to the lowest practical level, matching local enthusiasm with real influence in order to put power in the hands of communities and make it easier for them to take control.

The Community Rights to Bid, Build and Challenge and Neighbourhood Planning were all newly introduced as part of the Localism Act 2011. The Community Right to Reclaim Land was an expansion of Public Right to Order Disposal. This was introduced by the Local Government and Planning Act 1980, and gave powers to the Secretary of State to order the disposal of vacant or underused land held by local authorities and a number of named local or national agencies. Linking into the new community rights agenda, the Government decided to treat vacant and underused land owned by government and its agencies in a similar way on a non-statutory basis.

All the rights are complemented by other community-centred policy initiatives within the Department, such as our support for Community Shares – a way for communities to raise money by offering shares to local people in a community venture, with over £25m raised in the past two years for community run schemes, the Our Place programme which is supporting over 150 communities to take greater control over public services – improving the things that matter most to them in their neighbourhoods – from better youth provision to support for older people and our work to make it easier to establish new Parish Councils – with 28 community campaigns underway which, if successful will bring over 500,000 people into first tier democracy.

The community rights, including neighbourhood planning are supported through a three year (2012–2015) support package for communities worth over £50 million. This is mainly administered under contract by Locality, a national charity and membership body with a track record in working with communities and community groups. The support package comprises a broad range of advice and support including a phone and web helpline, and grants from early pre-feasibility to significant capital grants.

Use and awareness of the rights

It is important to note that the Community Rights are a means to an end – another tool that communities can use to help them achieve their ultimate objective – be it to protect a local amenity, build a new one, help open up public services to the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, and mutual groups or help ensure land is used to best effect. In some cases use of a right contributes directly to that objective. In some cases a community right has played a role in raising awareness or changing the culture which has indirectly supported communities to reach their goals.

There is no formal reporting mechanism to establish use of the rights and our understanding of their uptake is based on ad hoc and informal information gathering.

This indicates that increasing numbers of people and communities are aware of the rights and what they offer. However there is still work to do.

We take opportunities to promote the rights through local, national and consumer press, broadcast media (TV and radio), ministerial visits, conferences, workshops and social media. But conveying information about the rights can potentially be more powerful when heard from trusted voices, which is why we are working with the Localism Alliance to help their members embrace the powers available to them (including CAMRA – the Campaign for Real Ale, Theatres Trust, Civic Voice and Supporters Direct), which reach over 200,000 individuals and nearly 10,000 grass root organisations between them. For example, CAMRA’s ‘List Your Local’ campaign has helped see over 495 pubs listed under the right to Bid. We also use our networks from Neighbourhood Planning and Our Place to champion the rights.

The number of enquiries to the community rights advice service has exceeded targets and expectations to date, demonstrating strong awareness levels.  The My Community Rights website (www.mycommunityrights.org.uk) has received 200,000 visitors to date and the advice line has handled over 14,000 enquiries.[1]

In relation to the Right to Challenge, in 2013, we carried out a survey of voluntary and community sector organisations and, only 3% had not heard of it. The majority felt they either knew fully (42%) or mostly (38%) how the legislation worked; 38% said they might use Challenge in the future and 47% knew about the existence of the advice service.

We recognise that there is more to do to get the message out to certain communities – for example, deprived communities - and we have used the evidence and feedback we have received to shape our planned work programme for 2015-16 which will include a more targeted approach. Please see attached map and infographic which demonstrates the extent of rights use.

Right to Bid

Since September 2012, over 1,500 assets of community value have been listed throughout the country; these include community centres, parks, pubs, libraries, village halls, theatres, museums and football stadiums. Over half of local authorities have at least one asset of community value listed and the spread is reasonably consistent across all areas of the country, with a slight bias towards the south-east which may reflect increased land prices. This number is increasing by approximately 100 a month.

The numbers of assets which are subsequently purchased and taken over by the community are considerably fewer. This is largely due to the fact that an asset must be put up for sale before a moratorium can be triggered. So far we know of 50 moratoria that have been triggered and eight assets bought by communities through Right to Bid. However to date (since the start of the current support programme in August 2012) we have supported 150 groups to take assets into community ownership, ranging from community halls to a pier to a pub. There are another 100 in the pipeline which we expect to complete by March 2015.

Communities are also using asset of community value status as a method of prompting business owners and local authorities to engage with the community, where there may not necessarily have been the willingness to do so. The owners of the Anglers Rest pub, for example, were ready to sell to a private investor until the community used the pubs listed status as a way of gaining enough publicity to make the pub company reconsider and, eventually, the pub was sold to the community.

Neighbourhood Planning & Community Right to Build

A key priority for the Coalition Government has been to give communities greater control over shaping the development of their area. The Localism Act created new powers for communities to write their own neighbourhood plans and to gain planning permission for community-led development through Neighbourhood Development Orders and Community Right to Build Orders.

Nearly 1200 communities are now engaged at different stages of the neighbourhood planning process, giving millions of people the chance to participate in identifying, and voting on, where development takes place and what it looks like. All 28 referendums held to date have resulted in big yes votes (the average yes vote is 88%) and 18 plans have been ‘made’ in law and therefore have significant weight in planning decisions. We expect the first 40 plans to reach examination to provide in the region of 10,000 new homes.

The popularity of neighbourhood planning has shown that when given the opportunity, communities are keen to shape future development in their areas, and we expect the number of community-led developments to increase as more neighbourhood plans are finalised. Over the last two years there have been over 3100 enquiries and 14,000 web hits relating to the Community Right to Build. The Community Right to Build gives communities the freedom to build new homes, shops, businesses or facilities where they want them, without going through the normal planning application process. Experience has shown that following discussions with the Local Planning Authority for community-led development proposals, community groups have chosen to submit a planning application for their project, rather than a Community Right to Build Order.

To ensure groups undertaking community-led development have the right support and advice to gain planning approval, we broadened the remit of available support funding to assist community groups to bring forward development either through Community Right to Build Orders or planning applications. This has led to significant take up of funding for community-led projects coming forward, with over 80 applications for funding already approved by the Homes and Communities Agency and the Greater London Authority. Locality and their partners have also been working with 60 groups to provide assistance and advice.

Right to Challenge

The Department’s objective via the Right to Challenge is to help voluntary, community and social enterprise groups and mutuals to compete to take on public services. Feedback and information from our partners and the wider sector indicates that many groups consider Challenge as a tool of last resort in bidding for council led service contracts – groups would always rather work pro-actively in partnership with the local council to find opportunities to take on council contracts and we fully support this approach. 

As a result the associated support package has never required a group to formally submit a challenge (an Expression of Interest) in order to receive help and  was designed to help any target organisations that want to compete to deliver local services. Therefore, although actual number of challenges have been small – we are aware of 37 - we have supported 316 groups through specialist referrals and 212 have accessed financial assistance through the grants programme.

We do know that Challenge is recognised by the voluntary and community and parish sectors as being helpful in opening up relationships with local authorities. In a recent survey of 188 enquirers to the advice service, 25% were in negotiation with their council on potential commissioning and said negotiation had come about as a direct result of the Challenge legislation.  Almost half (48%) felt that their local authority was more open to contracting with eligible bodies than before the legislation came into force and 25% were working with their authorities on commissioning as a result of the legislation. 70% felt the support they received had improved their contract readiness and 82% were expecting to bid for the delivery of public services. Timescales for procurement exercises are significant but we are working with support providers to monitor the number of organisations that succeed in winning contracts.

This information is informing our future programme of work especially around commissioning processes. Community groups advise us that they are encouraged by the shift in culture and the changing mind-sets of procurement and commissioning officers in councils across England as a result of the Localism Act 2011. They tell us the community rights have prompted many councils to examine how local public services are commissioned in their areas. 

Community Right to Reclaim Land

From February 2011 to June 2014 there have been 47 applications under the Community Right to Reclaim Land of which 37 were for bodies included under the Local Government and Planning Act 1980 and five were for Central Government departments or agencies; in addition there were five requests which fell outside scope (four where the land was privately owned and one where the land was owned by a local public body not covered under the legislation). Of the forty-two within scope two are under consideration and two were transferred to the Cabinet Office to be taken forward as Right to Contest cases (see below). As forcing councils to dispose of land is controversial there is a high threshold for deciding whether land is vacant or underused.

There is a strong commitment from the Government to making the best use of its land and disposing of land that is no longer needed. As such in addition to the Right to Reclaim Land powers, a new Right to Contest was created in January 2014. This gives individuals, communities and businesses the ability to challenge Government on land and property owned by Whitehall departments and their agencies which is being used, but where, if sold, a better economic use could be made of it. Whilst theoretically people can still use the Community Right to Reclaim Land for Government land, in practice, most will now be dealt with under Right to Contest.

How helpful is the guidance and assistance provided to communities and Local Authorities to help them to use and understand the community rights?

Until March 2015, there is a package of support worth over £40 million (£50 million including neighbourhood planning) in place, consisting of a combination of grants, advice and professional expertise provided through Locality and other partners. There have been nearly half a million hits on relevant community rights and related websites[2]. Contractual performance reports around the advice service provided through www.mycommunityrights.org.uk indicate that 87% of enquirers rated the service scoring a high 4 or a maximum 5 out of 5. The quality of service provided has remained consistently high and client feedback has been positive as a result. Feedback about the web site has also been positive.

The part that local authorities can play in facilitating use of the rights cannot be underestimated, which is why we have a keen interest in building support for them through events like the recent Information Exchanges we held in Buckinghamshire and Essex for local councillors as well as Bid / Asset specific workshops targeted at local authority officials which ran up and down the country from July to September, to help them understand the potential of community asset ownership.

In addition to the advice and guidance provided through our support provider, we have produced a quick and simple guide to the Community Rights - ‘You’ve got the power’. Gov.uk also have unique pages for the rights – for example the Right to Reclaim Land and Right to Contest pages, which provide general guidance on the policies as well as a form which can be used for applications and which explains what information is needed to make a case.

What more, if anything, might be required to encourage more widespread use of these rights?

The Government is very encouraged with progress to date. The Community Rights provide communities with powerful tools which can be used to help them achieve the ambitions and vision they have for their local area. They are an integral part of the commitment from Government to devolve power to the lowest possible level

As well as the 1500 Assets of Community Value listed to date, over 4 million people are now living in neighbourhoods where they are developing a neighbourhood plan, using the Our Place approach to tackle local issues, or campaigning to establish a new Parish Council.

We see continued appetite from communities and Government is committed to this agenda. A £15.2 million package of support for 2015-16 has been agreed based on what we have learned over the last two years (a further £15 million for Neighbourhood Planning from 2016-2018). Our open policy making approach to developing the new support offer has been well received by civil society groups.

This package aims to address the concern that there are some communities who may find accessing the rights a greater challenge, for example in deprived communities. The new programme, whilst continuing to provide support on a demand-led basis where appropriate, also features more targeted interventions where use or take up of the rights is lower. We are also developing and trialling new initiatives – for example, Community Economic Development - which aims to support communities to work alongside others such as housing associations, schools and local businesses to develop new ways to address at the neighbourhood level issues such as low skills and worklessness .

Key to successful promotion of the rights is our ability to point to trailblazer communities who have achieved their objectives through use of the rights. As momentum builds, this becomes ever simpler to do. But there is still work to do to ensure communities are fully supported: for example, we estimate that there are still around 20% of local authorities that do not have information on their websites about the Right to Bid scheme. The Communities Minister, Stephen Williams, is presently writing to all local authorities to urge them to ensure communities have access to the information they need.

Post-legislative scrutiny for Bid, Challenge, Neighbourhood Planning and Build will be taken forward over the next year. This will an opportunity to consider the efficacy of these rights and whether, for example, the balance is right between supporting communities and the legitimate role and rights of others e.g. landowners or local authorities. The Government would welcome the views of the committee around whether the rights correctly strike this balance.

Appendix: People Power

There is a real appetite for our efforts to devolve power to local communities….

70% of citizens have a strong sense of belonging to their neighbourhood

69% of citizens think it is important for them personally to feel they can influence decisions in their local area

63% of citizens say they would be more supportive of house building if local people were given greater control and say over what gets built.

Communities are taking Control….

And having a real Impact…..

• 4 Million+ people are now living in neighbourhoods using Our Place to tackle local issues, developing a neighbourhood plan, or campaigning to establish a parish council.
• Community rights are being used in 83% of local authorities.
• £50 million of support released by DCLG to communities between 2011 and Spring 2015

September 2014