|
|
|
buying the bank
|
| A Scottish village
is about to make community history. Sarah Louise Taylor reports |
|
Villagers of Neilston, East Renfrewshire, are close
to becoming the first community to obtain a commercial
building under the Community Right to Buy (CRTB)
provisions of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
Neilston Development Trust, managing the purchase on behalf of the community,
recently registered its interest to the Scottish Executive to purchase
the former Clydesdale Bank building situated on its local main street.
The Trust also submitted a proposal detailing how the building could
be used for community benefit, and in response it has now been given
permission to make the purchase under the proviso that it can raise the
finance required within a six-month period.
Funding is currently being sought from the Big Lottery Fund's Growing
Community Assets Fund, to cover the cost of buying the building (£210,000),
and develop a second stage application for conversion and revenue costs.
If the Trust’s grant application is successful, Neilston will be
the first community to utilise the CRTB legislation to buy within a built
up area and the first to use it to purchase a commercial property rather
than land.
The Trust plans to run the two-storey building as a social enterprise
that provides affordable offices for small businesses and agencies providing
services that are not currently available in the village.
For example, East Renfrewshire Credit Union is keen to become the anchor
tenant, restoring financial services lost to the community with the closure
of the Clydesdale Bank - which was Neilston’s only bank. In addition
a flexible, family-friendly space with a high quality café will
provide a new social hub.
The Development Trust will also be based in the building, developing
training provision beyond its current proposals for the café.
Future projects include an environmental initiative with young people
and further consolidation of a cultural programme taking place in the
village, which has seen the delivery of two highly successful Neilston
Live festivals. Renewable energy projects are also being considered as
part of the Trust’s commitment to sustainable development.
The ambition of community ownership has received strong support from
local people. In the community ballot demanded by the CRTB process, 97%
of those voting were in favour of the purchase.
Pauline Gallacher, volunteer project co-ordinator for the Trust says: “The
acquisition of the building will form part of a much bigger project being
progressed by the Trust, entitled Neilston: Space to live, which aims
to develop and deliver attractive and useful spaces in the village to
improve community life.”
|
community
right to buy
Community Right to Buy legislation comes under part 2 of the Land
Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
It enables communities to register an interest in acquiring a particular
plot of land in any rural area of Scotland, and be given the first
option to buy the land at a fair price if and when it goes on sale.
The Community Right to Buy also covers buildings, salmon fishing
and mineral rights - providing they are an accessory to land being
purchased.
Communities must register an interest with the Scottish Executive
before the land goes on sale, and to obtain approval of their plans
to buy they must prove that they intend to use it for community benefit
and that they have support from local residents. The Community Right
to Buy legislation can also be used to purchase buildings.
Once a community has received approval of their plans from the Scottish
Executive, the land or building of interest is protected under the
act’s legislation and cannot be sold without being offered
to the community first.
The community is then given a six-month period to raise funds and
complete the purchase.
|
Contact
Colin Gray at the SEERAD Land
Reform Branch on 0131 244 4447,
or email colin.gray2@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Independent
advice and support for communities
interested in utilising the Land
Reform (Scotland) Act legislation
is available from the Caledonia
Centre for Social Development.
For more information go to www.landreformact.com
|
|
|
|
Although the Trust and community are positive about
the purchase, the application process has been long and
difficult, and the Trust has encountered and overcome
some problems.
Pauline explains: “Community Right to Buy is an amazing tool for the
empowerment of communities. But ownership is not something to be undertaken
lightly, so it’s important for government, funders and local democracy
that it’s seen to be done in a transparent and rigorous way.
“ The challenge is to design a system that irons out some of the daunting
bureaucratic and logistical demands placed upon volunteers, while retaining these
core values. For example, after all we had done, something like really bad weather
during the ballot could have seen us failing to achieve the critical turnout
threshold set by the Act. But that’s behind us now - we are totally focused
on funding and development plans, and turning the key in that door at the end
of the year.”
Angus Hardie, Director of DTA Scotland, says: "This has been a fantastic
achievement by the Neilston community. The hoops that they have had to jump
through, the hours spent drafting the and redrafting the application, not to
mention the herculean efforts in organising and conducting the ballot all merit
very special praise.
“ Neilston has the largest population of any community to date that has
attempted to use the Land Reform Act, and the bigger you are the more difficult
it is to reach the critical mass of local support. There are a lot of lessons
to be learned in all of this and we very much hope that they will be reflected
in the impending review of the legislation."
The Scottish Executive intend to review the Community Right to Buy legislation
during 2007.
For further information
about the Neilston Development Trust contact Pauline
Gallacher on 0141 881 1337, pauline.gallacher@btinternet.com
or Shona Donnelly, secretary, on 0141 561 8836,
email shdonn@hotmail.com
www.neilstonspacetolive.co.uk
|
|
|
|
|
