Community Right to bid under scrutiny.

Since last year due to the passing of the Localism Act, local organisations wishing to secure assets such as pubs or shops in their village or town, have had a new right called the Community Right to Bid.  Under this right a community group has the right to register interest at the District Council, so that if an asset comes up for sale they have a window of opportunity to try to raise the money to purchase it on behalf of the community.

Recently Chilton Parish Council has successfully registered an interest in the Tree Nursery on the edge of the airfield and also the walkway to Chilton Church, both currently owned by the County Council.

On Wednesday of last week the Babergh and Mid Suffolk Joint Scrutiny Committee heard evidence from three other villages, all of which have experienced different outcomes when trying to exercise their powers under this new legislation.

We heard from groups that wanted to secure, respectively, a village shop, the car park and public toilets adjacent to a pub site, and a local pub.  The latter case was the attempt by Thorpe Morieux Parish Council to register an interest in the Bull, a hostelry that received a glowing report for its food on Trip Advisor, but recently closed.

District Council officers have been trying to assist with these bids.   It became clear during the meeting  that the complexities of planning legislation, particularly in respect of permitted development rights, combined with the fact that the owner of the property has the right to refuse to sell to the group, makes exercising the right quite difficult in some circumstances.

Nonetheless securing the pub car park turned out well. The village shop acquisition to date has not been successful due to the refusal of the owner of the property to contemplate a sale. Thorpe Morieux Parish Council has been unfortunate in that their attempt to register the pub met resistance and was one of the earliest cases to go to appeal.  Lessons have been learned from this, and the body of case law has now built up.   Accordingly it is thought that the next attempt will fare better.

It would be sad if these useful rights, which should result in the conservation of much needed facilities in rural areas, are rendered toothless by needless complexity and property owner resistance.  The Scrutiny Committee, having listened to the evidence,  felt however that officers at  Babergh and MSDC are doing all they can to assist community groups to exercise their new rights.