Definitions

The definitions of community, community groups and ownership were first established by the 1 Million Acre Short Life Working Group. The Group was established in January 2015 with a report on the findings and recommended actions being published in December 2015. The One million acres by 2020: strategy report and recommendations report can be found on the Scottish Government website.

The Working Group had the remit of designing a strategy to deliver the then 1 million acre target by 2020, including an agreed action plan outlining how to implement the 1 million acre strategy.

Having been established these definitions were used when data were gathered for inclusion in the Estimate of Community Owned land in Scotland 2017 statistical publication, released in December 2017. Even though the 1 million acre target is no longer in place these established definitions will continue to be the basis of the definitions used in relation to community ownership but they have evolved over time. This will allow there to be consistency between the existing and new data on community ownership.

The definitions used in compiling the Community Ownership in Scotland publication series are as follows:

Community

Community is defined on a geographical basis, which can be defined by postcode units and/or a prescribed area. This definition of community has been chosen to reflect the importance of place within Scottish Government policy and current legislation.

Community Group

A relevant community group is required to have a number of essential characteristics, which collectively ensure that community owned assets are used for the benefit of the wider community rather than one particular interest group.

The community group should:

• Have a clear definition of the geographical community to which the group relates
• A membership which is open to any member of that community
• Be locally-led and controlled
• Have as its main purpose the furthering of sustainable development in the local area
• Be non-profit distributing
• Have evidence to demonstrate a sufficient level of support/community buy-in

Additional factors are considered to ensure that the above criteria are met. Details of these are given below.

To ensure that membership is open to everyone within a community, any membership fee should be a nominal amount only, taken to be less than £30 per year. In addition, groups whose main purpose is a single activity, whilst it is recognised that they may benefit their local community, are not considered to be community groups in the context of the Community Ownership in Scotland publication series. Therefore, groups such as golf clubs or tennis clubs are excluded from the community ownership database as membership is limited to individuals who have an interest in golf or tennis and are capable of participating. The membership fees for these types of groups are also usually not a nominal amount and so they would be excluded on those grounds alone. By contrast, a group owning a village hall which may be used for a wide range of activities would be included.

In addition, organisations whose primary purpose is as an employer are excluded although they may bring benefits to a community. For example, an organisation providing support services to vulnerable adults and which employs staff to provide those services.

Ownership

Ownership is defined in the legal sense: A legal title coupled with exclusive legal right to possession. While it is acknowledged that communities can and do lease (e.g. from Forestry and Land Scotland or a local authority), manage and jointly own (i.e. equity stake) assets, it was agreed by the Working Group that for the purposes of measuring community ownership that the definition should be restricted to outright ownership.

Asset

This term is used to describe areas of land, buildings and anything else of substantial value a community group may own. This is to reflect that is it not just areas of land that can bring benefits to a community and reflects the diverse nature of community ownership.

An asset is counted where it is the subject of a single transaction. Where assets are acquired in a series of transactions, e.g. adjacent areas of land acquired over time, the assets in each transaction will be counted separately.

Transfer Date

This is the date at which a community group took ownership of an asset, either by purchase or as a gift, legacy or other non-monetary transaction.