YOUR COMMUNITY ASSETS ARE DISAPPEARING!
Last year, three Petitions demanding better protection for Scotland’s wealth of common good assets (land, buildings, collections, rentals, etc, etc) were piloted through Parliament by Mary E. Mackenzie (PE875), David Harvie (PE896) and Sally Richardson (PE961). These matters are still active in the new Parliament. Meanwhile, all councils have been officially reminded of their existing responsibilities accurately to record and separately audit Scotland’s huge wealth of property in direct community ownership. It is now accepted that for many years this wealth has been under-reported and mismanaged; this has led in many cases to your property being improperly sold or otherwise disposed of.
Concerned individuals and community organisations are now in a position to begin a fight back! You are urged to write to the Chief Executive of your local council asking for accurate, up-to-date information on common good assets held on your behalf by your local authority. Obtain the name and address of the relevant chief executive; below are skeleton sample letters and further information and advice.
SAMPLE LETTER ONE:
The Chief Executive Date:
[name & address from link above]
Dear Sir,
I wish to see the Council’s current list of common good assets (heritable and moveable) on the current common good register, and the audited accounts of these assets.
Please reply to me at the address below indicating where and when this information is available.
Yours sincerely,
[your signature] [your name, address and postcode]A local authority, if refusing information for any reason, must inform you how to use its review procedure. If there has been no reply within twenty working days (4 weeks) or an unhelpful reply, write again:
SAMPLE LETTER TWO:
The Chief Executive Date:
[name & address from link above]
Dear Sir,
I regret your decision not to respond to my request of [date of first letter] and ask that you review your adverse decision on inspection of the Council’s common good assets register etc.
Please reply to me at the address below indicating where and when this information is to be made available.
Yours sincerely,
[your signature] [your name, address and postcode]
KEEP COPIES OF ALL LETTERS, SENT AND RECEIVED.
If there is no reply to your second letter within twenty working days (4 weeks) or if the response is unhelpful, contact the Scottish Information Commissioner for advice on making a request under Freedom of Information legislation:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St. Andrews
Fife KY16 9DS
Tel: 01334 464611
IF VISITING YOUR COUNCIL OFFICES:
Ask for relevant photocopies, or take detailed notes of, for example, the number of heritable items listed, eg properties, shops, houses, streets, harbours, town halls, museums, galleries, parks, golf courses, swimming pools, etc (or rentals accrued from them); also, the total value of these assets as listed (see audited accounts, where they should be separately listed).
Ask for relevant photocopies, or take detailed notes of moveable items listed, eg, burgh regalia, paintings, furnishings, artefacts, gifts from visitors or residents, silverware, books, etc, etc. Also note the total value of these assets as listed (see audited accounts, where they should be separately listed).
Below are summarised a number of aspects of existing guidance given by the Scottish Executive as reminders to all Scottish councils in March 2007:
To Chief Executives:
1. Councils are the stewards of common good assets, responsible both for managing these assets and for ensuring that they are properly recorded and ensured.
2. Common good accounts are required to be shown separately.
3. “To discharge their stewardship responsibilities, councils need to maintain accurate asset registers which identify common good assets as such, distinct from the general body of assets under council control.”
4. There may be a range of formats, eg ordnance survey plans, GIS (Geographical Information System) computerised records.
5. Inalienable land may not be sold.
To Directors of Finance:
1. On 1st April 1996 any common good property should transfer to the authority covering the Burgh whose common good that property formed part on 15th May 1975.
2. Councils are responsible for common good funds within their area and for ensuring that, for example, assets are properly recorded and insured, and that these are audited . . . . . councils need to maintain accurate asset registers which identify common good assets as such, distinct from the general body of assets under council control.
3. It would appear evident that for councils to fully maximise the potential of their assets, they must hold accurate records.
Activists are encouraged to be rigorous in their enquiries and should not be deterred by the possibility that some councils will – either through unwillingness, or through their own ignorance of the true position – offer information that will quickly be seen to be either inaccurate, incomplete, or both. It is in the interests of all of us – councils included – that common good records are brought into the 21st century in a condition that benefits the whole of Scotland.