The Community Right to Challenge gives community and voluntary sector organisations and groups of council staff the right to challenge local councils by putting forward an Expression of Interest in running their services.
We must consider Expressions of Interest and where we accept them, run a fully accessible procurement exercise for the service.
Who has the right to challenge?
The following groups are all eligible to express an interest in bidding to run a particular council service:
- A voluntary or community body.
- A body of persons or a trust which is established for charitable purposes only.
- A parish council.
- Two or more employees of the relevant authority.
- Any other person or body specified by the Secretary of State by regulations.
How does the right to challenge process work?
- Relevant bodies submit expressions of interest.
- Expressions of Interest are accepted or rejected.
- There is a procurement process.
More information is available on My Community Rights.
Community Right to Bid
The Community Right to Bid allows community groups to nominate local community assets for inclusion on a register of community assets. If those assets are put up for sale, community groups will have a fair chance to submit bids in the sale process.
To qualify, a property must have a current or recent use which can be shown to further the social wellbeing or social interests of the community. It can be a private or publicly-owned property. It can't be a wholly residential property.
Relevant community groups are:
- Parish councils.
- Neighbouring parish councils.
- Unincorporated groups with at least 21 local members.
- Neighbourhood forums.
- Community interest groups with a local connection (including local charities).
A nomination must include the following information:
- A description of the nominated land including its proposed boundaries. These boundaries do not have to be the same as ownership boundaries, for instance as shown on the Land Registry plan if the land is registered, nor is it necessary for all parts of the nominated site to be in the same ownership.
- Any information the nominator has about the freeholders, leaseholders and current occupants of the site.
- The reasons for nominating the asset, explaining why the nominator believes the asset meets the definition in the Localism Act.
- The nominator's eligibility to make the nomination.
An application form can be completed and returned to us.
We will consider whether the application meets the criteria to be included on the register of community assets.
The owner of an asset may appeal against his or her property being included on the list.
List of successful nominations for assets of community value.
List of unsuccessful nominations for assets of community value.