Comparability

While the data on community ownership are presented over, time users should be aware that the data presented in each publication are as at December for that year. For example, if a community group took possession of an asset in 2000 but sold the asset in 2010 and the new owner was not a community group, this asset would not be included in the data presented in this publication. Similarly, if a community group disposes of an asset in the future, again where the new owner is not a community group, and this is reported and/or made known to the Scottish Government, the asset will be removed from the database and will no longer be included in the published data. Please note that we do not have the capacity to routinely check whether assets which were reported in previous years are still eligible for inclusion in the statistics.

However, many community owned assets have been acquired using public sector funding and/or through a Community Asset Transfer, particular those assets acquired in recent years. These transactions usually impose restrictions on how the asset may be disposed of, e.g. if the new owner is not a community group, then funding discounts applied or other monies associated with the acquisition of the asset must be paid back. There is therefore a considerable incentive to ensure that where the ownership of an asset changes, the asset remains in community ownership and so where the current owner of an asset differs from the one which is recorded in the database, the asset will likely still be in community ownership.

The other UK nations do not produce an exact equivalent publication on community ownership. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government along with the independent charitable trust Power to Change commissioned research into the economics, outcomes and sustainability of assets in community ownership in mid‑2018. The scope of the project was to create a national picture in England of community asset ownership, to assess their financial health and economic impact. The final report published in July 2019 shows a community ownership sector that is growing fast and making an increasingly important contribution to the UK economy. The full report Our assets, our future: the economics, outcomes and sustainability of assets in community ownership can be found on the Power to Change website.