Community Assets

All facilities that are owned and managed by rural communities are classed as community assets. The best known community asset is usually the village hall held on a charitable trust and managed by a committee of volunteers.

This is followed closely by the local playing field. Another asset could be the children’s play area – designed by local children in a competition, funded with a grant from the local authority and thereafter maintained by the parish council using the parish precept. The parish council may also take financial responsibility for assets such as the bus stop or plots of land, whether the village green or the playing field. Rural communities almost always have a place of worship, usually a church or chapel and many provide space for community activities.

View ACRE's Policy Position Paper on Rural Community Buildings

ACRE's National Village Hall Survey,carried out between 2009 -2011, updated data from almost 10,000 village halls and similar community buildings collected in 1988 and 1998.

Hornby Community Resource Centre, near Lancaster, encourages cycling and installed bike racks at the hall. The committee also successfully negotiated for a bus stop to be placed right outside the hall. The drop-in centre in the hall serves tea and coffee so that people can wait in comfort for the bus!

ACRE provides an information and advice service for the Rural Community Action Network.

info logo

The Department for Communities and Local Government commissioned an independent review that looked at community management and ownership of assets and the barriers which may stand in the way of owning assets. Led by Barry Quirk, Lewisham Council’s Chief Executive Officer, it mainly considered local authority owned facilities that could be transferred to community organisations or managed in partnership with the local authority. Click here to download report This model works well in urban areas where local authorities have the statutory powers, experience and professional capacity to support communities through a transfer and the organisations have a remit to engage and empower their communities.

Local authority owned assets as described in the Quirk Review are little known in rural areas. ACRE has been working with National Association of Local Councils (NALC) to develop the parish partnership model which explains and recognises the unique role that the parish council takes in rural areas. The ‘Parish partnership’ model of an effective community anchor