Assets of Community Value

Eligible local organisations and groups, including town and parish councils, have an opportunity to nominate a building or parcels of land to be listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) to help keep it available for everyone as an important part of community life.

The Localism Act 2011 aims to stop important local assets, such as existing swimming pools, pubs, parks and community centres from being redeveloped for different use like flats or houses.

It works by allowing the sale of an ACV listed building or parcel of land to be delayed so local groups can make a bid for it on the open market – potentially keeping it as is for everyone to enjoy.

Guidance for applicants

If you want to nominate a building or parcel of land as an Asset of Community Value, you can read more information on what you need to do and what further information we will need from you in our guidance notes. We would also recommend contacting the Community Enablement team by emailing communityenablement@southandvale.gov.uk who can support you with the nomination process.

Click the button below to download our ACV guidance notes.

ACV Guidance note

Press the button below to start your ACV nomination form

ACV Nomination form

More information:

ACV Nomination flowchart

Selling an ACV flowchart

Information for ACV owners

Please note: The council reserves the right to reject nominations, where: due to the number of nominations already rejected, there is a perception that it is unlikely enough ‘new evidence’ could be provided to meet the requirements of the Act, and/or we perceive the repeat nomination is vexatious

You will be asked to first register yourself as a user on our online system before accessing the ACV nomination form. You can save the nomination form and return to it at a later stage before final submission

Help is available for community interest groups who wish to nominate or bid for a building or other land using the ACV guidance notes on this page and from the website Locality.org.uk

What happens after receipt of your nomination form?

You will receive an immediate electronic confirmation of receipt after submitting your form.

Upon receipt of a nomination form officers carry out initial checks to determine if the nomination is valid. We will check to see if the Title Plan and Title Register for the freehold and leasehold (less than one month old) has been received and that land and boundaries has been sufficiently described in Section 3. If the council do not think the land can be identified, then the form will be returned to the nominating party and they will be asked to re-submit.

Following satisfactory initial checks, we will inform all interested parties of the nomination e.g. the owner, occupier, town and parish council (if not the nominator) and ward councillors.

Officers will assess if the nominated building and land satisfies EITHER the present future test in s88 (1) of the Act OR the past future test in s88 (2) of the Act. Please see the Localism act definitions in section four.

If your ACV fails to satisfy the ‘present’ test in s88(1a) or ‘past’ test in s88(2a) the ACV assessment process will cease and your application will not be assessed against 88(1) b) or 88(2) b) the ‘future’ test criteria. Failure to meet the present/past will result in an ACV decision – not to list. We will make this decision within eight weeks of receiving a valid nomination. You will then be invited to submit a further nomination, with NEW evidence.

If your application satisfies the ‘present’ test in s88(1)a) or ‘past’ test in s88(2)a) we will assess the nomination against 88(1) b) or 88(2) b) the ‘future’ test criteria, and make a decision within eight weeks to list the nominated asset if it meets the definition of an ACV.

How we use your data and why

Please read more about how we may use your information and your rights, including those about accessing your records, by downloading our Community Enablement team’s ACV Privacy Notice