Last edited 19 Jan 2021

Community rights

The coalition agreement published on 20 May 2010 outlined plans to promote devolution and reform the planning system to give communities greater powers to shape local developments and local services.

A range of ‘community rights’ were subsequently enshrined in law by the Localism Act which was given Royal Assent on 15 November 2011. These rights are support by:

The Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations.
The Community Right to Challenge (Fire and Rescue Authorities and Rejection of Expressions of Interest) (England) Regulations 2012.
The Community Right to Challenge (Expressions of Interest and Excluded Services) (England) Regulations 2012.
The Assets of Community Value Regulations.

Community rights include:

The Community Right to Bid, which came into effect on 21 September 2012. This gives community groups the right to prepare and bid to buy community buildings and facilities that are important to them.
The Community Right to Challenge, which It came into force on 27 June 2012. This allows voluntary and community groups, charities, parish councils and local authority staff to bid to run a local authority service where they believe they can do so differently to and better than the existing service. This may be the whole service or part of a service.
The Community Right to Build which came into force on 6 April 2012. This allows local communities to propose small-scale, site-specific, community-led developments.
The Community Right to Reclaim Land. This helps communities improve their local area by giving them the right to ask that under-used or unused land owned by public bodies is brought back into beneficial use.
The Right to Contest, which came into force on 8 January 2014. For land and property held by government departments and the majority of their arm’s length bodies a request can be made under the Right to Contest to release it for better economic use. Unlike the Community Right to Reclaim Land, which covers previously unused or underused land, the Right to Contest can be used to argue that land currently in use could be put to better economic purpose.
New neighbourhood planning measures, which came into force on 6 April 2012. These allow communities to shape new development by coming together to prepare neighbourhood plans.
The Our Place programme (formerly ‘neighbourhood community budgets’), which gives communities the opportunity to take control of dealing with local issues in their area.
Community shares initiative.
Tenant empowerment programme.
The Right to Transfer. Giving local authority tenants the right to initiate a transfer to a new private-registered provider of social housing.
Right to regenerate. Giving people the right to buy underused properties from public bodies.