Impact Evaluation of the Community Right to Buy - Research Finding

Main Findings

• As of late November 2014, 206 community bodies had been approved by Ministers as a company limited by guarantee for the purposes of land acquisition.
• However, the number of community bodies completing a purchase was much lower. At the time of the evaluation, there had been 174 applications made by 94 community bodies to register an interest in land and 22 purchases of land or assets had been made.
• Around half of those registering did not have the opportunity to purchase land as it had not come up for sale. Among community bodies where the land had come up for sale, around half were successful in purchasing (either wholly or partially, and within or outwith the CRtB legislation).
• In general, the positive outcomes that were anticipated from the CRtB such as an increase in knowledge and skills, community cohesion, motivation to develop initiatives, and involvement in land decisions have been delivered but to varying extents and in relation to various stages of the process.
• The extent to which positive outcomes had been achieved in the case studies varied in relation to a number of factors, including community capacity, stage of the process reached, and (where land and assets had been acquired) the scale and income generating potential of the asset. A fuller range of outcomes such as income and employment development and greater influence on land assets was evident in cases where land and assets had been acquired.