Data Providers

For the Community Ownership in Scotland publication series data are obtained from a combination of sources, which have been developed over time and will continue to be refined. For all sources, the data initially received was quality assured and any resulting queries raised with the organisation which had provided the data where applicable.

Funding Bodies

Funding bodies and related organisations were first asked to provide information on community groups that had been awarded funding to purchase assets during 2018. The organisations that were asked to provide information were the following:

• Highland and Islands Enterprise
• National Lottery Community Fund
• Development Trusts Association Scotland
• Community Land Scotland

Updates are now requested from these organisations each year.

The Community Ownership Fund was launched by the then Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, now called the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, in 2021. The Community Ownership Fund is a £150 million fund over four years to support community groups across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to take ownership of assets which are at risk of being lost to the community.

A list of successful bids to the Community Ownership Fund is published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The list of successful Scottish bids is cross referenced against the data held on community ownership. Any new assets obtained as a result of successful bids by community groups to the Community Ownership Fund are then matched against the Land Register by Registers of Scotland.

It should be noted that the date funding is agreed and the date of transfer of an asset may not be in the same year. The published statistics on community ownership use the date of transfer. In addition, funding being awarded does not necessarily mean that the community group will be able to purchase the asset. For example, the community group may not be able to agree the sale of the asset with the current owner.

Related Organisations

In addition to the above funding bodies the Community Woodlands Association is consulted both as a source of information about assets in community ownership which are not currently included in the database on community ownership and to verify the status of and information about known assets. Any new assets obtained from Community Woodlands Association are matched against the Land Register by Registers of Scotland.

Transfers of Publicly Owned Assets

Information about formerly publicly owned assets transferred to community ownership was obtained from public sector organisations which were believed to be subject to applications for asset transfer under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. This covered transfers up to 31 December 2018. Please note that whilst the 2015 Act requires organisations to report information about asset transfers on a financial year basis, usually on the relevant section of their website, there is no requirement to submit the information to the Scottish Government. This data collection exercise has not been repeated since then.

A data collection exercise requesting limited information about asset transfers during the 2019/20 financial year was carried out by the Scottish Government Community Empowerment Team and has been repeated each year since then. Information on asset transfers are then cross checked against the existing community ownership database to identify any potential new assets for inclusion in the database.

Community Owned Shops and Pubs

Data on community owned shops and pubs are sourced from two additional sources. Information on community owned shops and pubs was sourced from the Plunkett Foundation. The Plunkett Foundation provides practical advice, support and training to help communities establish and run successful community businesses.

Information on community pubs is also sourced from the Campaign for Real Ale.

The information obtained from these data providers and other sources are then checked against the Land Register by Registers of Scotland as detailed previously.

Community Controlled Housing Associations

In March 2020, Development Trust Association Scotland provided data about assets owned by community controlled housing associations in Glasgow, other than their tenanted housing stock. It was then investigated whether the housing associations met the used definition of being a community group. It was found that some of these assets were already included in the database on community ownership. From looking further into the housing associations, some assets were added to the community ownership database and some previously included assets were excluded, where it was found the definition of community group had not been met. As with the assets from other sources, these additional assets were matched against the Land Register by Registers of Scotland.

Scottish Men's Sheds Association

The Scottish Men’s Shed Association was launched in November 2015 with the aim of helping new and existing groups to set up and run a Men’s Shed in their local town or community. A small number of Men’s Shed groups were found to be recorded in the Community Ownership in Scotland database as of 2020. As a result, it was decided to try to identify any additional assets owned by Men’s Shed groups that fit the definition of being community owned. Following correspondence with the Chief Executive Officer of the Scottish Men’s Shed Association, in June 2022 the Men’s Sheds recorded on the Scottish Men’s Shed Association website were contacted using the available details.

For those groups who responded and met the definition of a community group, it was found that many of the assets owned were not land or buildings and instead were semi-permanent structures, such as sheds or cabins, where an agreement had been reached with the owner of the land on which the structure was located. Therefore, an additional asset type category to record these assets: “Structure on land not owned” was included. These assets were not matched against the Land Register, and they are excluded from the area figures. This asset type has also been used to record instances where a building owned by a community group is located on land that is not owned by that community group, although there may be a leasing arrangement in place for the land.

Register of Community Interests in Land

The Register of Community Interests in Land is maintained by Registers of Scotland. It contains notices of interest by groups or individuals that will allow them to purchase the land if the owner ever decides to sell it. This was used for the first time as part of the data updates for the 2022 publication. The Register of Community Interests in Land was examined for instances where a register of interest in an asset had progressed to its acquisition by a community group, and, as with other data sources, was then checked against the Land Register.