Community Asset Transfer Return 1st April 2021 – 31st March 2022
Renfrewshire Council · 15 June 2022
Back to Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board — 15 June 2022 and its agenda
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___________________________________________________________________ To: Infrastructure Land & Environment Policy Board On: 15 June 2022 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Chief Executive ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Community Asset Transfer Return (1st April 2021 – 31st March 2022) ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 In accordance with the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 the Council is required to publish its Community Asset Transfer report for the period from 1st April 2021 until 31st March 2022. 1.2 In this year the Council received 11 new enquiries/interests regarding asset transfers with 3 full requests being received. One request was ‘validated’ in the period but no requests in the period were concluded. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that the Board: - i. Approve the Community Asset Transfer Return which will then be published on the Council’s webpage for the period 1st April 2021 – 31st March 2022. ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Background 3.1. The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 (“the Act”) became effective from 23rd January 2017. From this point Renfrewshire Council has been actively promoting requests to transfer assets to its communities under medium / long term leases, or full ownership where appropriate, and have been supporting Community Transfer Bodies in making such requests via a Community Empowerment Fund.
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3.2. Full CAT requests are reviewed for completeness by officers from Estates, Legal, Economic Development and Community Planning teams before being formally acknowledged (validation). 3.3. Only fully validated requests are considered by the officer CAT Panel and recommended to the Council Board for approval or rejection. 4. Community Asset Transfer requests 2021/2 4.1. Within the period 1st April 2021 – 31st March 2022, the Council received 11 new enquiries/interests regarding asset transfers with 3 full requests being received. One request was ‘validated’ in the period but none advanced to the CAT Panel or concluded. The list of full CAT Requests received during the year, are: Inchinnan Development Trust - India Tyres Playing Fields, Inchinnan – Request validated January 2022 [this request will be brought to the ILE Board for decision in June 2022]. Kelburne Hockey and Community Sports Club – Ralston Community Sports Centre, Paisley – progressing towards validation at 31 March 2022. Spateston Community Development Trust – site of old Spateston Nursery, Johnstone – progressing towards validation at 31 March 2022. 4.2. A number of outstanding CAT Requests received prior to April 2021 are being progressed, these are: Woodlands Bowling Club – Woodlands Bowling Club, Linwood – progressing towards validation at 31 March 2022. Western Desert Recce Group (WDRG) – Whitehaugh Barracks, Paisley – progressing towards validation at 31 March 2022. Renfrew Cricket Club – KGV Playing Fields, Renfrew – progressing towards validation at 31 March 2022. Foxbar Garden and Environmental Projects Group – site of old St Paul’s Primary, Paisley – progressing towards validation at 31 March 2022. 5. Reviews and Appeals 5.1. During the reporting period, there have been no appeals in terms of Section 85 and no review requests in terms of Section 86 of the Act in respect of refusals or conditional acceptances of asset transfer requests. 5.2. There have been no reviews of decisions by the Scottish Ministers in terms of Section 87 of the Act.
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6. Other Developments 6.1. Within the period covered by this report, the Regeneration and Place Team undertook a review of the policy and procedures for CAT and sought to streamline these in order to process requests more efficiently. The refreshed CAT Policy and Procedures are presented to the June 2022 Board for approval in a separate report. ___________________________________________________________________ Implications of the Report 1. Financial – Not applicable. 2. HR & Organisational Development – Not applicable. 3. Community/Council Planning – Our Renfrewshire is well – community transfer applications will be considered for the benefit of our communities. Working together to improve outcomes – we work across Council department and with external agencies to enable our Community Transfer Bodies to be successful in their request for assets. 4. Legal – Legal Services are consulted in terms of advising on the title for the applications and reviewing Community Transfer Body’s’ constitutions, as well as the conveyancing for successful applications. 5. Property/Assets – Consulting with the community transfer bodies and Council departments to progress applications. 6. Information Technology – Not applicable. 7. Equality & Human Rights - (a) The Recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 8. Health & Safety – Consideration given to individual applications where applicable. 9. Procurement – Not applicable. 10. Risk – Not applicable. 11. Privacy Impact – Not applicable.
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12. Cosla Policy Position – Not applicable. 13. Climate Risk – None. ___________________________________________________________________ Author: Sandra Inrig Sandra.inrig@renfrewshire.gov.uk Tel: 07483 395 945