Community Asset Transfer is part of The Deal - where the council and everyone who lives or works here works together to create a better borough.
It is the transfer of land, buildings or structures (assets) owned by a public body to community/voluntary groups or social enterprises. That group or organisation then becomes responsible for running, managing, and maintaining it, including all the associated costs.
We are looking for ideas from local communities and organisations wishing to take over the running and management of council owned assets such as playing fields, allotment sites, and bowling greens.
So we are inviting organisations to submit an expression of Interest in taking over our assets or helping to run our services in the future.
Why are we doing this?
We want to work imaginatively with local communities to look at alternative and innovative ways of providing some of our community based services - combining the ‘soft’ assets community groups bring in terms of knowledge, skills and volunteer time, and the ‘hard’ assets the Council can offer, from buildings and playing fields to bowling greens.
Since 2015, with support and advice from ourselves and our partner organisation Douglas Valley Community (external link), local groups have come together and taken responsibility for dozens of community assets.
Under community control many of these vital facilities have gained a new lease of life. Community groups running them have been able to access funding and resources not available to the council, allowing them to invest and improve what they are able to offer to local people.
Under The Deal 2030, Wigan Council’s success in meeting the financial challenges facing local government in the current climate owes much to the community involvement and partnership that lies at the heart of Community Asset Transfer. Without this involvement the Council would simply no longer be able to afford keeping all of these assets running.
Success stories
Support
We can provide support and are working in partnership with Douglas Valley Community who will help develop your ideas, assess your ‘readiness’ for asset transfer and support you through the various stages of the process.
Renewing existing community leases
We have also refreshed leasing arrangements when a lease expires.
We want to encourage and support existing organisations who lease community assets to continue with the valuable services they are providing in their communities. However we have a duty to ensure that these organisations are still ‘fit for purpose’ and the services being delivered are reflecting community needs and are accessible for local people.
All organisations who wish to renew existing leases will need to have an independent health check undertaken by Douglas Valley Community (external link). They will assess the organisations current and future ability and evidence of its contribution to outcomes of our Start Well, Live Well and Age Well objectives.