Assets of Community Value - May/June 2023 Edition

Do you know your ACV from your elbow?  The Northants CALC Asset Mapping project (AMP) carried out in 2022 suggests that there is confusion about what ACVs are.  An ACV is an Asset of Community Value as defined in the Localism Act 2011 and the Assets of Community Value (England) Regulations 2012.

In other words, an ACV is a statutory thing, whereas in the AMP many parish and town councils interpreted it in the literal sense, listing an asset that the community values but which is not an ACV.

For example, one council listed a local bed and breakfast as an ACV because it provides local employment.  It may well be an asset that the community values, but it is not, and cannot be, an ACV.

An ACV is defined as a building or other land that “has recently been or is presently used to further the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community and could do so in the future”.  The Localism Act states that ‘social interests’ include cultural, recreational, and sporting interests.  A good example of an ACV might be a community centre, a public house, or a sports club.

The idea of registering ACVs is to protect them from being sold from under the noses of the community.  If the first the community knows that the local pub is under threat is when the “Sold” board goes up outside, it doesn’t give the community time to react.  If the pub is listed as an ACV and the owner wants to sell, they must inform the unitary council (which is responsible for maintaining the ACV register) and a moratorium period of six weeks begins, which gives the community time to decide if, and how, it might react.  If there is any community interest in taking on the asset, then a further moratorium period of six months is available.  It doesn’t mean that the owner must sell to the community, just that the community must be given a chance to bid, if it wishes.