Community Rights Scheme

You have the power to make the change you want to see in your community

Across the country there are hundreds of community groups who are making the changes they want to see. Government has provided over £60m to help them.   

There are four new Community Rights:

1)      Community Right to Build

The Right to Build gives communities the power to build new shops, housing or community facilities without going through the normal planning process.

2)      Community Right to Bid

The Right to Bid gives communities the opportunity to bid to buy and run valued local amenities if they come onto the open market.

3)      Community Right to Challenge

The Right to Challenge gives local groups the opportunity to express their interest in taking over a local service where they think they can do it differently and better.

4)      Neighbourhood Planning

Neighbourhood planning powers give people the chance to decide how their local area should develop and what should be built.

See what others are doing.  Our colleagues at Locality are hosting a dedicated website to help you find out more: http://mycommunityrights.org.uk/

• 300 communities have  developed neighbourhood plans to make sure they decide what their areas look like, including where shops, parks, schools and houses are built.

• Local groups in Bath and London raised over £700k from selling shares to buy their local pubs
  

• The Haverhill community are making sure young people get the right skills, training and experience for local jobs.

•  Whitstable Harbour Community Trust challenged their local council to give them the opportunity to run the harbour in the way the community wants.

• Oxford United supporters using the Right to Bid listed their stadium to make sure they are notified if it is going to be sold.

Read their stories, find out how they did it and make your change!

Grants and financial support available

1) Grants

For groups considering taking up the possibility of Asset Transfer, the Rights to Bid or the Right to Challenge there are three types of Government funding which is being channelled through the Social Investment Business (The SIB Group):

• Pre-feasibility grants are for amounts up to £10,000.
• Feasibility grants are mixed capital and revenue for amounts of up to £100,000.
• Capital Grants (only available until 30 August 2013) of between £100,000 and £500,000.

To find out more follow the links for each of the community rights on the My Community Rights website and look for the ‘grants’ links or directly on the SIB Group website.

You may also be able to raise funds through community shares. To find out more go to: http://communityshares.org.uk/

2) Further support and information

Community Matters are helping organisations who are particularly interested in Asset Transfer and the Right to Bid.

Read the Government’s own Plain English Guide to the Localism Act