ONE of the cornerstones of the Prime Minister's flagship Big Society vision is the Localism Bill, through which the Government intends to devolve centralised control and empower local communities to manage and maintain aspects affecting their members, such as transport services and property development.

The third reading of the Bill – a further line by line examination of its contents - in the House of Lords is due to take place on October 31, which means that its conversion to law is coming ever closer.

There has been much debate surrounding the planning proposals in the Bill, but some of the others, which could be significant for everybody from large scale developers right through to small and medium sized businesses, seem to have, to a greater or lesser extent, slipped under the radar in some quarters.

One of the central aims of the Bill is to give communities more power to become involved in the way local services are delivered, and one of the key elements is the proposal that communities should be given the right to buy local assets.

Local assets could be publicly or privately owned and local authorities will have to maintain a list of these “assets of community value”, then consider nominations from members of the public for proposed additions. Playing fields, greens, village halls, shops, post offices and pubs are obvious suspects for being considered assets of community value, but subsequent regulations may broaden the scope.

The implications for the owner of the listed asset are likely to be significant, particularly given that a proposed disposal of an asset of community value will only be capable of completion when certain conditions are fulfilled.

Those conditions include allowing a period of time for a community group to declare an interest in acquiring the relevant property and, where an interest is declared, that there can be no disposal until the community group has had an opportunity to seek finance. The Bill itself does not state the time-scales that will apply and they will therefore be clarified through further regulations.

Owners of property that could potentially be an asset of community value therefore need to be on their guard.

Although the right for a community to bid does not appear to be a right to buy (since there does not seem to be anything to compel an owner to accept the community’s offer over any other), it would appear that the valuation of listed property and its acceptability as security will be issues affected by this legislation.

That is not to mention the inevitable delays that will be caused.

It is hoped that this legislation does not further stifle what is already a struggling property market.

:: John Booth is an associate in the property team at leading law firm, Dickinson Dees.