Agenda item

To consider the report of the Portfolio Holder for Assets and Property.

That the revised policy and processes for assessing and determining Community Asset Transfer applications be agreed subject to the following recommendations from the Place and Resources Overview Committee of 23 January 2024:

a)      That the requirement for an organisation to provide free access to the asset to Dorset Council following transfer, be removed.

b)      That relevant ward councillors are consulted on an asset transfer application, after an expression of interest is confirmed as valid.
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c)      That a mechanism for the appropriate councillor involvement in the community asset transfer policy decision-making process be explored.

d)      That Dorset Council provides relevant information held in respect of an asset, to an organisation as part of the asset transfer process.

The Portfolio Holder for Assets and Property set out the report and the refreshed Community Asset Transfer Policy.  He reported also that the policy had been considered by the Place and Resources Overview Committee of 23 January 2024.

The Portfolio Holder referred to the amendment put by the overview committee as set out in recommendation (c) and proposed the adoption of (a) to (d) including the amendments put by the overview committee.  The recommendation as amended was seconded by Cllr R Bryan.

In a response to a question, the Portfolio Holder advised that all councillors could include this information in their monthly report to their parishes. In response to a further question, the Portfolio Holder confirmed that policy should be reviewed by the appropriate scrutiny committee at some point during the lifetime of the policy.

Decision

That the revised policy and processes for assessing and determining Community Asset Transfer applications be agreed subject to the following recommendations from the Place and Resources Overview Committee of 23 January 2024:

(a)    That the requirement for an organisation to provide free access to the asset to Dorset Council following transfer, be removed.

(b)    That relevant ward councillors are consulted on an asset transfer application, after an expression of interest is confirmed as valid.
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(c)    That a mechanism for the appropriate councillor involvement in the community asset transfer policy decision-making process be explored.

(d)    That Dorset Council provides relevant information held in respect of an asset, to an organisation as part of the asset transfer process.

Reason for the decision

To enable the Community Asset Transfer applications to be assessed and governed in line with other property/asset decisions and as part of the emerging Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP).

Provide transparency on the assessment of Community Asset Transfer applications.

Introduce a refreshed and more agile two-stage process, (Expression of Interest (EOI) and Business Case), to allow applicants to assess against a set of pre-set criteria if an asset was potentially suitable for Community Asset Transfer in advance of writing a full business case.