The Community Right to Bid gives community groups and voluntary sector organisations the right to register an asset of community value and the opportunity to bid to purchase it should it come up for sale.

We maintain the register of assets of community value.

To be included on the register, the principal current, or recent, use of the land must further the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community, and it must be realistic to think that the same or another such use will continue. 'Social interests' are defined to include cultural, recreational and sporting interests.

The land or building:

• can be of any size
• can be publicly or privately owned
• can lie in more than one local authority area
• may or may not consist of registered land
• can not be a residence and land connected with it
• can not be a residential caravan site
• can not be operational land of statutory undertakers.

We have eight weeks to consider a nomination. If it is approved, we will give written notice to the owner. The owner will have the right to request a review of our decision to list the land.

Who can make a nomination

The voluntary or community bodies which may make community nominations are:

• parish councils and neighbouring parish councils
• unincorporated groups (with membership of at least 21 local people who appear on the electoral roll within the local authority, or a neighbouring local authority)
• neighbourhood forums
• community interest groups with a local connection which are either a charity, a community interest company, a company limited by guarantee that is non-profit distributing or an industrial and provident society that is non- profit distributing.

How to submit a nomination

Nominations must include:

• a description of the nominated land including its proposed boundaries
• any information the nominator has about the freeholders, leaseholders and current occupants of the site (this information is desirable but not essential)
• the reasons for nominating the asset, explaining why the nominator believes the asset meets the definition in the Act
• the nominator's eligibility to make the nomination
• the contact details of the person managing the nomination on behalf of the community body.

Nominations can be submitted at any time. Please complete the application form and email it to communities@bcpcouncil.gov.uk.

More information about the scheme is available from the My Community Rights website or see the government's explanatory memorandum about the scheme.