Purpose
The following outlines how Perth and Kinross Council will approach Community Asset Transfer (CAT) and provides a framework to enable and manage the sustainable transfer of assets from the Council to community groups. CAT can involve the transfer of:
- rights of access
- management responsibility
- short or long-term lease
- ownership of the asset
CAT can help the Council to:
- support communities to lever in investment, which would not be possible under Council ownership
- meet objectives to make more effective and efficient use of public assets
- deliver broader social, economic and environmental benefits in the community
- work in partnership with community groups to improve the services that they receive
Our approach
Perth and Kinross Council is committed to using public assets to meet the needs of communities and will support community groups to develop the best chance of a successful CAT.
The Council recognises that CAT can be a part of supporting and sustaining local communities and it wishes to ensure that public assets can be operated by the people who regularly use them.
While fully supporting the principle of CAT, this approach also recognises that some assets must remain under Council control in order to support delivery of essential services.
Eligible requests will be approved unless there are reasonable grounds for refusal. Key points that the Council will consider as part of any assessment of a CAT Request will include:
- the eligibility of the group making the application
- the identified benefit that the transfer will bring to the community
- evidence of community support for the proposal
- the business case and financial sustainability of the proposal
- the capacity and skills within the group to manage the asset sustainability
Requests will be made using a two-step process. The first stage is an Expression of Interest Form (PDF, 244 KB), also available in Word format (Word doc, 1 MB), which is intended to support community groups to explore what is required for a CAT Request and to enable relevant Council services to being gathering any necessary information prior to the formal start of the process. The second stage is a detailed CAT Request Form (PDF, 344 KB), also available in Word format (Word doc, 7 MB), which is the legal start of the asset transfer process. These stages are described in more detail in the Guidance (PDF, 291 KB) accompanying the CAT Request Form and more information is available on the main Community Asset Transfer web page.
The Community Empowerment Officer, who can be contacted via CommunityEmpowerment@pkc.gov.uk, is the dedicated officer at the Council who can support groups to navigate through the CAT process and support in gathering information required from various Council services.
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