Adopting a strategic approach Debbie Lamb, DTA and Tony Rich, rich regeneration

What are development trusts? 400 in England and Wales £350m in assets Some £10m+ asset base, some small Community-owned Asset lock Often located in deprived areas See:

The importance of physical assets Benefits of the ‘reach’ of the third sector For reach to be consistent sustainability is key To be sustainable, organisations must have: Wealth and skills Physical assets can provide sustainable wealth

What we are not talking about… Short-term service delivery in vacant or underused buildings Capital investment without attention to business planning Untested assumptions about markets The transfer of liabilities not assets!

Benefits for community organisations A Place of our own—a focus for engagement Preserving key buildings Regeneration of an area A base for service delivery To stop paying rent To generate income To build balance sheet strength

Examples Amble Development Trust Glendale Gateway Trust Linskill & North Tyneside Development Trust Craghead Development Trust

What do third sector organisations need from their LA? An open dialogue about assets (not liabilities) A named officer who can help 3 rd sector organisations permeate the council and speed the process A chance to bid for service contracts On-going support from the LA

Need for a strategic approach “Too often approaches to asset transfer have been locally responsive and tactical and insufficiently located in a strategic plan for community empowerment and public asset management” (Quirk Review pp 5)

What do we mean by strategic approach? Regular reviews of the asset transfer potential of all council (or preferably cross-public sector) stock A transparent corporate process for asset transfer which includes clear stages and timescales for each party Viewing assets as a means for achieving corporate objectives Adopting an agreed method of assessing benefits of community uses/organisations (linked to corporate priorities) which allows a comparison with market disposal

Example of decision- tree diagram ( Source– Sheffield CC)

Assessing proposals from community organisations Source: Trafford MBC) 1. Open and affordable membership. 2.Proof of charitable status or objectives. 3.Facilities available to non-members 4.Substantial part of income NOT derived from bar receipts. 5.Active encouragement of disadvantaged groups. 6.Meets at least 2 corporate objectives. 7.Finance on open book basis. 8.Over 51% of members resident in the Borough. 9.Affiliation to a regional or national association to improve quality of service delivery. 10.Facilities compliant with DDA. 11.Annual statement of how rent grant used in development of group activities.

Asset maximisation Intervening at the point of disposal may be too late Need to ask – what role can the asset portfolio play in achieving corporate objectives? In terms of disposal, there will always be a need to balance market value with community benefit All assets have associated contracts (e.g. maintenance) which community organisations could compete for

Community asset transfer No of local jobs (and amount of likely local spend?) No of volunteers – cost of time Value of local purchasing Value of additional investment to go into building Service benefits e.g. savings to LA through recycling furniture Social impacts that can be quantified -e.g. reduction in cost of dealing with anti- social behaviour Market disposal Market value of site – using optimum land use Value of any additional investment (If employment use) No of local jobs Amount of local purchasing e.g. supply chains Local spending by employees Market disposal v. community asset transfer

Valuing community use Case study - Sofa project Furniture Recycling scheme 60 yr below market value lease on derelict building in low value area Sofa attracted £1.3 million investment to rebuild £416k pa staff earnings, £62k value volunteering £280k pa savings to low income people £45k savings in landfill costs Credit Union developed and co-located Property values increased in area Developing two new branches in deprived areas (Source: Bristol CC)

Potential tools for measuring impact of Sofa project LM3 (Local Multiplier 3) – measures impact of spending on local economy VIVA (volunteer investment valuation audit) – quantifies value of volunteering ‘Landfill Reduction Indicator’ – reduction in landfill tax SROI (Social Return on Investment) – helps organisations identify impacts and then add monetary values to them All above can be used reactively, iteratively or proactively and can be monitored over time

Where next? Demonstration programme with 20 authorities- October 07-March 08 Working with a group of authorities on model asset transfer procedures Working with a group of authorities to pilot tools for assessing benefits of community use Model tools and approaches to be made available more widely

Debbie Lamb E: T: Tony Rich E: M: Contact details