Impact Evaluation of the Community Right to Buy

6. Monitoring the Community Right to Buy in the Future

6.1 This section identifies the key indicators that could be used to monitor the CRtB in the future and the potential sources of information that could be used to measure these indicators. The recommendations made in this section are based on a review of the existing data collected by the Scottish Government on community bodies involved in the process as well as the additional data collected as part of this evaluation.

6.2 The key indicators that have been identified are those that would help to build on the findings of the evaluation and address any gaps in the existing information. These indicators can be grouped into three main areas: 1) the scale of participation in the CRtB at each stage; 2) reasons for community bodies exiting the process at each stage; 3) long term outcomes from the CRtB for those that have purchased assets, including the long term sustainability of the community bodies involved.

6.3 When considering the types of data that would help to monitor the CRtB, it is first important to acknowledge the amount of information that communities already produce as part of the process. The volume of paperwork required at various stages (particularly when applying to register an interest in land) has been identified as a particular challenge for those going through the process. Care should be taken, therefore, to not place further undue burden on participants to produce significant amounts of additional information. Having reviewed the information that is already provided by communities applying to use the CRtB and the data held by the Scottish Government, much of this information can help develop a picture of the scale and nature of participation in the CRtB. This existing data should, therefore, be the starting point for monitoring the CRtB.

6.4 The numbers involved at each stage in the process provide one measure of the scale of participation. The number of communities that have reached each stage the in CRtB process has been analysed as part of this evaluation using administrative data already available (information from applications to register an interest in land, collated together with information from any subsequent stages after an interest in land has been registered; and records of community bodies who had received a Section 34(4) letter as part of the CRtB legislation but who had not yet submitted an application to register an interest). Postcode data from each community involved has also been analysed to provide an indication of the geographic spread of communities at key stages in the process (see Figure 1.2). In order to measure scale of participation on an ongoing basis, it is recommended that the Scottish Government continues to collect and collate the existing administrative data from communities. This data should be analysed on an ongoing basis to identify (as a minimum): the number of community bodies reaching each stage in the process; and the location of communities at each stage of the process (to identify geographic areas where activity is particularly concentrated and those where take up is lower). This data provides a baseline against which the next stages of monitoring, outlined below, can be carried out.

6.5 Awareness of the scale of participation will make clear the number of communities that have exited the process at each stage. The evaluation has identified challenges that have been faced by communities and barriers to achieving some outcomes, but further data could be collected on the reasons for exiting the process at each stage. It is recommended that a form of follow up is carried out with communities that have exited at particular stages to identify reasons why they have not progressed any further. The follow up could be carried out through a feedback questionnaire, administered online or by telephone. The aim of the follow up would be to help the Scottish Government identify if there are particular hurdles that communities have faced at each stage (building on the feedback to this evaluation) and whether or not there is a reasonable level of additional support that could to help communities progress further.

6.6 The evaluation has identified certain areas where short and medium term outcomes have been more clearly demonstrated when a community has made a successful purchase. To help provide evidence of long term outcomes being achieved, it is recommended that the Scottish Government gathers further feedback from those that have made purchases on a periodic and ongoing basis (for example, every 2-3 years). This could be gathered through a questionnaire or through a structured interview with representatives of each community. The aim of the feedback would be to establish, for example: the extent to which communities are making use of the land or the land asset or are supportive of those running the asset; how changes to the use of land or assets have been sustained; the environmental impacts and how these have been sustained; number and type of employment opportunities that have been created and sustained; and the impact on local businesses. In addition to measuring the long term impacts realised through ownership of the asset, feedback from these communities would help to assess the extent to which community bodies have been sustained and what the legacy of the CRtB process has been on members of these groups.