Area Partnership information pack

Asset transfer

Part five of the Community Empowerment Act introduces a right for community bodies to make requests to all Local Authorities, Scottish Ministers and other public bodies for any land or buildings they feel they could manage in a better way than the current ownership's arrangements. They can request ownership, lease or other rights as they wish. Find out more about asset transfer.

The Community Ownership Support Service (COSS) is a Scottish Government funded programme set up to help community-based groups in Scotland to take on land or building assets for their community. They have various advice documents to support the sustainable transfer of publicly held assets into community ownership, including an infographic route map and infographic flowchart. Module One: Introduction To Community Asset Transfer is the first of the six modules, and a recommended starting point. COSS also have links to other resources to help community groups get started with an asset transfer request, including case studies of successful applications.

Participation requests

Part Three of the Community Empowerment Act 2015 sets out a formal process enabling communities to proactively request to participate in decisions and processes which are aimed at improving outcomes. A community body (or group of people in a community) can ask to start a discussion with organisations in charge of public services, such as hospitals, schools and transport, about how to improve these services. Find out more about participation requests.