Community ownership levels increase by three per cent

THE number of ‘assets’ in community ownership in Scotland has increased modestly between the years 2018/19 and 2019/20.

Begins a Scottish Government announcement (here): “There were 612 assets in community ownership as at December 2020. This is an increase of 15 (three per cent) from 597 in 2019. All but seven of the assets in community ownership are land and/or buildings.”

The announcement continues: “The Highland and Argyll and Bute local authorities together contain 234 assets, 38 per cent of all assets in community ownership. 

“The 612 assets were owned by 422 community groups and covered an area of 191,261 hectares.”

The announcement goes on to say: “There is increased focus on community ownership in Scotland. The Scottish Government asked the Scottish Land Commission (SLC) to review existing community right-to-buy mechanisms and recommend how best to enable community ownership. 

“Following the recommendations of the SLC, a ‘national indicator’ on community ownership was developed and included in the National Performance Framework in 2019.”

Picture credit: Place Design Scotland

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