Agenda item

To determine whether the St Johns Ambulance Hall meets the criteria set out in the Localism Act 2011 (“the Act”) and the Assets of Community Value (England) Regulations 2012 (“the Regulations”) following its nomination as an Asset of Community Value by Manningtree Town Council. No other criteria are pertinent.

RESOLVED that Cabinet -

(1)    agrees that St John’s Ambulance Hall, 55 Station Road, Manningtree CO11 1EB meets the definition of an Asset of Community Value, as set out in Section 88 of the Localism Act 2011, and that the asset be added to the Council’s list of Assets of Community Value; and

(2)    requests that the formal procedure for administering Assets of Community Value, adopted by Cabinet in 2015, be reviewed to enable determinations to be made by Officers under delegated powers and the appropriate review mechanism proposed for consideration.

Councillor G V Guglielmi declared for the public record that he was a local Ward Member for Manningtree but that he did not in any way consider himself to be pre-determined in this matter.

Cabinet considered a report of the Partnerships Portfolio Holder (A.7), which sought its determination as to whether the St Johns Ambulance Hall met the criteria set out in the Localism Act 2011 (“the Act”) and the Assets of Community Value (England) Regulations 2012 (“the Regulations”) following its nomination as an Asset of Community Value by Manningtree Town Council. No other criteria were pertinent.

It was reported that a valid nomination to register an asset of community value had been received from Manningtree Town Council.

Cabinet was reminded that if a local authority received a valid nomination, it must determine whether the land or building nominated met the definition of an asset of community value as set out in Section 88 of the Localism Act 2011 and The Assets of Community Value Regulations 2012.

Members were advised that the Government’s non statutory guidance defined an asset of community value as: “Building or other land whose main (i.e. “non-ancillary”) use furthers the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community, or has recently done so and is likely to do so in the future”.  The Portfolio Holder’s report provided an assessment of the nomination.

Cabinet was aware that it should consider the content of the nomination against the statutory criteria (and no other factors) and determine whether the asset should be included within the Council’s List of Assets of Community Value.

Taking the evidence provided into account it was considered by the Portfolio Holder that the building nominated did meet the criteria set out in Section 88 of the Localism Act 2011. Accordingly, it was recommended by the Portfolio Holder that the criteria were met and that the building should be listed as an Asset of Community Value.

Cabinet recalled that it had adopted the formal procedure for administering Assets of Community Value in January 2015, when the legislation and the supporting procedures were new to local government.  The Council had thus been operating within this procedure for 7 years and it was considered appropriate for a review to be undertaken, taking into account the experiences of past applications, case law around the subject matter, the strict criteria applied in making such determinations, the number of successful community bids and reviews requested.  Cabinet Members had previously expressed informal support for Officers to be provided with the appropriate delegations to enable applications to be determined quicker within the strict legislative framework.  However, the formal procedure would require amendment and due to the time passed since its adoption, a thorough review of operating procedures was suggested, including how reviews would be undertaken if the decisions were delegated to Officers.

Having taken into account the following:-

(1)    the site had for many years been used by the community.  As well as serving the needs of St John’s Ambulance, the building had been regularly used by local groups over many years for meetings and other social events.  Those groups included: Manningtree Museum, Photographic Club, the Town Council, First Responders, Manningtree & District Royal British Legion, Yarn & Thread (informal craft & social group) and Stour Valley Men’s Probus Club; and

(2)    Officers considered the building to have been recently (between 18 and 24 months) used for community purposes.  Although a fundraising group might not be off the ground it was reasonable to conclude that they planned to do it or that someone else might buy and run it for some community purpose. Government guidance indicated that authorities should lean towards the potential for some group to acquire properties even if one was not immediately in a position to do so.

It was moved by Councillor G V Guglielmi, seconded by Councillor Stock OBE and:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet -

(1)    agrees that St John’s Ambulance Hall, 55 Station Road, Manningtree CO11 1EB meets the definition of an Asset of Community Value, as set out in Section 88 of the Localism Act 2011, and that the asset be added to the Council’s list of Assets of Community Value; and

(2)      requests that the formal procedure for administering Assets of Community Value, adopted by Cabinet in 2015, be reviewed to enable determinations to be made by Officers under delegated powers and the appropriate review mechanism proposed for consideration.