Recommendations from To Buy, To Bid, To Build reflected in the Localism Bill are:
- A Community Right to Buy – providing communities with a time window and first option to acquire an asset of potential community value.
- A Community Right to Build – easing the way for community projects with very strong local support to get off the ground.
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A Community Right to Bid – giving communities the chance to bid and run local services themselves.
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A Community Right to Know – new rights for information on assets, providing the requisite transparency for people to take meaningful action to build community assets.
As the Bill continues on its passage through Parliament, we call for the Government to ensure that other vital measures are included, either within the Bill or through secondary legislation, in particular:
- A Community Right to Try - enabling community groups to test ways of making an asset viable during an extended moratorium period, thus allowing them to determine its viability as a community asset prior to assuming the full obligations of ownership.
- A Community Right to Support - ensuring that communities with the least capacity to take on assets are provided with the requisite support and assistance to take advantage of the Localism Bill’s provisions.
ResPublica will be producing additional work over the coming year aimed at ensuring the Localism Bill has the maximum positive impact. Early 2011 will see the publication of a new Report on the role of social landlords in developing the strength and capacity of the communities they work within.