Model constitution now available for communities seeking to register an interest in land

COMMUNITIES looking to register an interest in a plot of land – using community ‘right to buy’ legislation – are being invited to complete a ready-made constitution form, to become eligible to apply.

Says the Scottish Government, here: “The model template can… be used by communities looking to form a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation for the purposes of submitting an application to the Scottish Land Fund.”

The template comprises relatively easy-to-complete fields, to assist in creating the necessary eligible constitution wording.

Says the template: “This model Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) template has been designed by the Scottish Government for use in terms of the Community Right to Buy under Part 2 (Section 34) and Part 3A (Section 97D) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 and Part 5 (Section 49) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016.”

The announcement does not make clear to what extent a SCIO is the only eligible constitution type (in other words, whether other constitution types are eligible), but does appear to consider ‘communities’ as only geographically-based, rather than ‘of interest’.

Nor is there any mention as to who the exact authors of the template are.

Picture credit: Place Design Scotland

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