Agenda item

Consider report by Executive Director, Finance & Regulatory Services.  (Copy attached.)

With reference to paragraph 7 of the Minute of 29 November 2018, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Executive Director Finance and Regulatory seeking approval for an amendment to the Council’s Community Asset Transfer Policy along with necessary changes to the Schemes of Administration and Delegation.  The report explained that on 29 November 2018 Council approved a Community Asset Transfer Policy through which it would comply with the provisions of Part 5 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.  That Act gave community bodies a right to make requests to a Local Authorities for the transfer of any land or buildings they felt they could better utilise.  The Act created a timeline for processing an application and required applications to be determined within six months of a valid application being received.  It also established a 2-tier process whereby an Authority was required to establish both a decision making procedure and an appeal procedure.   The Council’s procedure provided that an Officer group (the Asset Transfer Group) made the initial decision and that any appeal would be heard by an Ad Hoc Asset Transfer Appeals Committee.  The law then provided a further appeal to Scottish Ministers.  Scottish Borders Council received its first Community Asset Transfer Request for land held by the Common Good earlier this year.  In considering how to best progress that application it was recognised that the best decision making body in respect of Common Good issues was perhaps Common Good Trustees, and not Officers.  It was therefore recommended that the Asset Transfer Policy was amended to provide that any Community Asset Transfer Request in respect of Common Good Assets was determined in the first instance by the relevant Common Good Fund Sub-Committee.  It was further recommended that any appeal should thereafter be determined by the Asset Transfer Appeal Committee, acting as Common Good Trustees.  Councillor Tatler commented on the Peebles Common Good Fund experience and welcomed this clearer process.

DECISION

AGREED:-

(a)     to approve the revisions to the Community Asset Transfer Policy as detailed in the report; and

(b)     to amend the Scheme of Administration as follows:-

         (i)  that an additional function be added to the remit of the Common Good Fund Sub-Committees as follows:

“to determine any Community Asset Transfer Request made in respect of Common Good Property.  For the avoidance of doubt, there is no financial value limit to the exercise of this function.  However in the event that a Sub-Committee is minded to transfer property to a Community Transfer Body, the matter will require to be referred to the Community Asset Appeal Committee for ratification.”

         (ii) a new function be added to the functions of the Community Asset Appeal Committee in the following terms:     

“2.  Determining whether to ratify the value at which a Community Asset Transfer is to be made, where the Asset Transfer Officer Group or a Common Good Sub-Committee has determined to agree to that transfer at a value less than market value.”

         (iii)            a new function be added to the functions of Council in the following terms:

“In situations where the Community Asset Appeal Committee been engaged in Stage 1 of any Community Asset Transfer request, the consideration and determination of reviews by any Community Transfer Body made under Section 86 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, where the Asset Transfer Officer Group or a Common Good Fund Sub-Committee has:

(i)      refused the request; or

(ii)     agreed to the request but the decision notice relating to the request specifies material terms or conditions which differ to a significant extend from those specified in the request; or

(iii)    failed to issue a decision within the statutory period.”