1,000 community asset transfers underway

Two and half years on from Making Assets Work: the Quirk review of community management and ownership of public assets, an independent survey from SQW exploring the progress that has been made on the asset transfer agenda has found that there are 350 asset transfer projects currently underway from a sample of 119 local authoritiesi. From this snapshot of the current landscape, the Asset Transfer Unit (ATU) estimates there may be closer to 1,000 transfers of local authority owned assets to third sector organisations in train across England.

Hugh Rolo, Head of Assets and Investment at the Development Trusts Association (DTA), which manages the ATU, said: “Since its launch in January 2009, the ATU has already handled almost 300 enquiries. In view of its work with close to half of top tier local authorities, and based on data extrapolated from the survey, we would suggest that a conservative estimate of 1,000 transfers currently in progress provides a much clearer indication of the scale of activity. These transfers will mean major operational and efficiency savings for the public sector. With diminishing capital budgets, and as more strategic approaches to asset management are deployed, we expect to see a dramatic increase in the rate of public to third sector asset transfers over the coming years - bringing with it added value to local authorities and more importantly real social, economic and environmental outcomes for communities.”

Publication of the survey results coincides with the launch of the fourth round of the Advancing Assets for Communities demonstration programme. The programme offers expert support and advice to local authorities and their third sector partners seeking to develop joint plans for community asset transfer in keeping with the recommendations of the Quirk Review. The fourth round of Advancing Assets aims to enable 30+ local authorities and their third sector partners to benefit from the in-depth support on offer during 2010-11. Local authorities throughout England who have not already participated in the programme are invited to apply now - unsuccessful applicants will still be invited to discuss with the ATU what other support it may be able to offer them.

Some of the partnerships that received support in the first two years of the Advancing Assets programme are already benefitting communities following successful transfers - including the Birtley Community Hub in Tyne and Wear, transferred from Gateshead Council to the Birtley Community Partnership (BCP) on the basis of a 99 year lease for a peppercorn rent during Summer 2009. With funding from the BIG Lottery Fund managed Community Assets Programme and support from the Advancing Assets programme, the Council and BCP have refurbished a former library building and transformed it into the Birtley Community Hub, providing a base for community facilities that include a local credit union and the North East Council for Addictions.

A recent report from the ATU, People, Places and Partnerships, revealed that of the 50 local authority and third sector partnerships that received support from the Advancing Assets Programme 2007-2009, over a third are expected to complete successful transfers before the end of March 2010. 45% of the transfers are set to take place in rural areas and 50% in areas of deprivation.

Barbara Follett, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government, said: “We are delighted at the real progress that these programmes, funded by Communities and Local Government have demonstrated. They show, over and over again, that communities benefit where local authorities listen to and work with their community partners to develop a strategic approach to the use of local assets. Transferring assets to community management or ownership in a thoughtful and supported way can bring real added social value, particularly important in these straitened times.”