National Asset Transfer Action Group minutes July 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Kathleen Glazik (Chair), Community Empowerment, Scottish Government
• Malcolm Cowie (Secretariat), Community Empowerment, Scottish Government
• Christopher Robb, Community Empowerment, Scottish Government
• Rebecca Carr, Forestry and Land Scotland
• Sandra Holmes, Highland and Islands Enterprise (online)
• Linda Gillespie, Community Ownership Support Service
• Iain Mulholland, South Lanarkshire Council
• Pauline Bradshaw, Glasgow City Council
• Sarah Kimmet, Perth and Kinross Council
• Sandra Inrig, Renfrewshire Council  (online)
• Maureen Burgess, Fife Voluntary Action (online)
• Jamie McCraw, Scottish Land Fund (online)
• Elizabeth Doherty, Scottish Community Alliance
• Neil Henderson, Scottish Government (online)
• Dr Dani Hutcheon, Glasgow Caledonian University
• Marco Meoni, Scottish Government

Apologies:

• Max Steele, Property Division, Scottish Government
• Brian Paton, Edinburgh City Council
• Helen Emery, NHS Highland
• Jillian Matthew, Audit Scotland
• Alex Byres, Glasgow Life
• Geraldine Campbell. Scottish Government
• Robin Jamison, South Ayrshire Council
• Tracy Jackson, Scottish Government

Items and actions

Welcome and Introductions

The Chair welcomed online and in person attendees to the meeting. The Chair welcomed Sarah Kimmet, Perth and Kinross Council and Elizabeth Doherty, Scottish Community Alliance who were attending their first meeting of the group. The Chair noted the group’s thanks to Lee Haxton from Perth & Kinross Council who has moved post, and Angus Hardie from Scottish Community Alliance who has retired.  

The Chair welcomed to Dr Dani Hutcheon, Research Officer at Glasgow Caledonian University who was also attending her first meeting. Dani was invited to share findings from an academic research on rural community land use across the four devolved nations of the UK and following this meeting will now join the group. Neil Henderson, Statistician at Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) also joined the meeting.  

Apologies were noted.

Papers were shared with group members and invited attendees prior to the meeting, including minutes from the previous meeting and a discussion paper that outlined initial findings from the review of Part 5, Asset Transfer.  

Minute of Last Meeting

The minutes of the last meeting held on 21 September 2023 were agreed and have been published on the National Asset Transfer Action Group webpage.

Update since last meeting

The Chair updated the group that following portfolio changes, Ivan McKee, Minister for Public Finance is the new Minister with responsibility for community empowerment policy including asset transfer. The Community Empowerment team is continuing their work on the review of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.  There are three reports currently in the report writing phase which includes finalising the report on Part 5.    

Updates were provided from group members. Iain Mulholland mentioned that due to budgetary constraints South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture were forced to withdraw service provision from 30 locations which were owned by South Lanarkshire Council. Assisted by funding which was put in place by the authority work was carried out with a view to assisting local community groups to progress towards running these venues for and on behalf of the communities they serve. 

COSS highlighted that the Church of Scotland were looking to close around 500 churches over 5 years, many of whom are significant buildings. This coming into the mix of an already large number of land and buildings assets potentially available for community groups. Linda Gillespie also provided an update that the UK Government made £17m available for 47 projects in Scotland through their Community Ownership Fund, but with the change in the Government in Westminster, it was unclear whether this support would continue.

Sandra Holmes noted that this new and changing landscape creates opportunities for community groups, however reminded members of the need for post-acquisition support to groups taking on these new assets. 

Support from COSS was also mentioned as helpful in Perth & Kinross enabling positive conversations with community groups. Perth & Kinross Council is also working closely with the Scottish Land Fund to help groups progress their ideas. 

Pauline Bradshaw highlighted the “People Make Glasgow” voluntary programme of asset transfers run by Glasgow City Council. This was launched following the Covid pandemic, partly as a way to help Glasgow City Council identify and prioritise the facilities to be re-opened. It has now been running for 3 years and has developed considerably over that time. More information on the programme can be found here: https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/article/5104/People-Make-Glasgow-Communities

Action: Linda Gillespie to share information on post-acquisition support work with the group.

Action: Pauline Bradshaw to share further information on the People Make Glasgow initiative.

Presentation: Asset Transfer Annual Reporting figures 2023/24

Malcolm Cowie delivered a detailed presentation highlighting the latest round of national asset transfer annual reporting figures which were due on 30 June 2024.

This is the seventh year of annual asset transfer reporting since the legislation came into force, and to date 57% of relevant authorities have provided their annual reporting returns. Whilst annual reporting figures remain low, there is signs that local reporting levels are increasing, as more authorities complete their returns.  

Some high level data on asset transfer was shared with the group with the caveat that this was gathered from desktop research and is limited to what could be sourced from relevant authority websites and their annual reporting returns. From this information 54 assets were transferred in 2023/24 which is higher than the 36 assets transferred in 2022/23. Local authorities continue to receive the most requests (43 in 2023/24) and approved 30 in the same reporting year. The presentation also noted that figures awarded can be higher than those received in the reporting year as the decision making process can span multiple years.

Methods of good practice used by relevant authorities were highlighted including Highlands and Islands Enterprise who has a dedicated Community Assets Team; North Ayrshire Council using social media to raise awareness of asset transfer and has also developed an asset transfer toolkit on their website; South Lanarkshire Councils work with over 50 community organisations; and Perth and Kinross Council working with over 21 community organisations on asset transfer.

Review of Part 5 Asset Transfer

The Chair provided a brief overview of the approach taken to review Part 5 asset transfer and referred to the discussion paper shared with group members in advance of the meeting.  The review of Part 5 involved analysing information and data available prior to the review launch in July 2022 and an analysis of evidence gathered specifically as part of the review.  This included information from relevant authorities, communities and COSS.  The report is due to be published in early 2025.

Rural Assets Policy and Practice Report 

Dr Dani Hutcheon from Glasgow Caledonian University has been leading a project across the four devolved nations of the UK, which has been looking at national approaches to rural community land ownership and use. Dani delivered an update on Scottish findings from this project. Rural Assets Policy and Practice - Insights from Scotland report published on 24 September 2024 and is part of Glasgow Caledonian University’s wider Rural Assets: Policy and practice insights from the devolved nations report that considers the UK as a whole. 

This project found that key drivers for rural communities in Scotland to pursue asset acquisition were to preserve the historical and/or cultural significance of assets, to provide opportunities for local development, and to save facilities that may be under threat of closure. The study found that key motivators for public authorities to transfer assets were for communities to make better use of land and buildings and to free up resources and capacity from handing over responsibility for the management and running of assets.

It noted that some rural communities faced barriers including a lack of capacity and lack of skills and knowledge to complete the process, and also inconsistent public authority processes. It also noted that Part 5 legislation has helped facilitate a culture of self help and confidence in rural communities and having community rights, formal processes and funding has positively impacted the processes of empowerment.

The research recommended a need for capacity and knowledge building around legislative process, including opportunities for shared learning from other rural communities who have been through it before. It noted that Scotland is the most advanced nation in the UK in term of policy and law for community asset acquisition, and further opportunities should be identified to share learning with the other UK nations around what works (and what hasn’t worked so far), and in particular the differences that legislation had made since its introduction.