The National Allotment Society - National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Ltd

Community Rights

Allotments are a valuable resource, and both you as individuals and as community groups take immense pride in their up keep and produce. As allotment holders you are already active in your local community. However, did you know that there are powers available that can help you and others in your local community shape and improve the neighbourhood in which you live? These powers, known as Community Rights, give recognition to valuable community assets such as allotments, pubs, local shops and community centres and can help ensure that these assets continue to be of benefit to local people.

You are able to list your allotment as an Asset of Community Value and this is where the Community Right to Bid comes in. It can help to protect vital community assets such as allotments in your neighbourhood. Allotments add to the wellbeing of local communities and you and your neighbours can therefore nominate your allotment to be put on a list of Assets of Community Value by your Local Authority. If an Asset of Community Value is then put up for sale, local community groups can ‘pause’ the sale for six months while they raise the funds to bid to buy it.

Nearly 140 allotments have been listed by local community groups across the country. For more information about assets of community value and how to protect them please visit Community Rights

You can also have your say in the way your neighbourhood develops in the future. Neighbourhood planning enables local communities to shape the places where you live and work. Over 2000 communities have started neighbourhood planning in their area and around a third of the neighbourhood plans which are now in force include policies on allotments. If you’re interested to find out how you can get started, there’s lots of information here: www.neighbourhoodplanning.org.

These are just some of the community rights that you can use to take more control over the place that you live, the decisions that affect you and the services that you value. Thousands of people in communities across the country are already using their rights to make positive changes in their area. If you’re interested in doing the same, find out more about your community rights and how to use them by visiting www.mycommunity.org.uk