Government 'fire sale' could weaken communities and endanger Community Asset Transfer...

With the Government seeking to reduce public debt, politicians are turning to the potential sale of public assets to secure financial stability. Steve Wyler, Director of the Development Trusts Association (DTA), believes such a move could have a damaging effect upon local authorities moves to transfer assets into the hands of the community.

Chrisanthi Giotis, SocialEnterpriseLive.com

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's plan to sell off government assets could injure the current move to transfer assets into community hands and hit community resilience during the recession, says the Development Trusts Association (DTA).

Brown announced yesterday the plan to raise £16bn from the asset sales to reduce public debt. The great majority of the money will come from local authorities with the sale of parks, libraries and other buildings all possible.

DTA director Steve Wyler said: 'Before selling a single public asset, the government must consider the role that the transfer of viable assets to communities can play in promoting the interests of the general public.'

'Not to do so would undermine the government's own efforts to improve community resilience in the face of the recession, and as we know community disintegration only stores up costly problems for the future.'

Community asset transfer has been strongly supported by the Department for Communities and Local Government in recent times. It involves the sale of council buildings to community groups, often at a reduced cost, so they can host community enterprises that create local jobs. The buildings can also serve as hubs of community activity.

Wyler urged the government to 'maintain consistency with existing policies' and support the 'efficiency and community empowerment objectives through the transfer of public assets into community control.'

He said: 'While some of these assets are redundant or underused by local authorities, many are nevertheless a vital community resource and all over the country councils are in the process of transferring such assets into community ownership and management- creating a long-term foundation for citizen and self-help, local enterprise, income generation, and neighbourhood services.' 

The DTA network of 466 development trusts across the UK currently has £565m worth of assets in community ownership.

It has been widely reported that £11bn of the £16bn total Brown expects to raise will come from local authority sales but the DTA puts this figure at £13bn.

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