Empowering communities and making the most of local assets – a guide for officers

We know that local people in communities across the country are concerned about losing local assets and services – from inner-city community centres to village pubs and post offices.


At the same time, councils are facing intense financial pressure on both capital and revenue funding, resulting in the need to maximise the use of publicly-owned land and buildings, or dispose of them and the associated costs, wherever possible.

Through the introduction of the Community Right to Bid in the Localism Act 2011, Government has reignited local discussions about how we can make the most of assets to meet community needs in a challenging economic climate.

The Right to Bid came into force in September 2012. This guide aims to provide support to officers and introduces the full suite of tools available to unleash the creativity, innovation and growth flowing from community asset ownership and management. It draws on learning from across the local government sector to explore how these tools can be used by communities to turn liabilities into assets and problems into solutions.

The guidance is a companion publication to the guide for councillors which was published by the LGA and Locality in March 2012 and is available on our website:

Empowering communities: making the most of local assets – A councillors' guide

Published by:
© Local Government Association, October 2012
Reference code:
L12-288