The Labour Government has passed the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026. Experts have hailed this as a “foundational text we will be returning to for years.” The Act settles a number of issues of the time, the committee system of governance has not faired well and stronger leadership models have found favour.
There is strong support for a neighbourhood approach to governance, a section on community planning and Assets of Community Value (ACV) including a new class of Sporting Assets of Community Value (SACV).
“The Act creates a separate lane for sporting assets of community value ‘SACVs’. Local authorities will have to categorise these assets separately in their ACV register…Whilst “standard” ACVs will be on the list and benefit from protection for 10 years, SACVs will be on the list indefinitely.” – experts advise.
The current system of Community Right to Bid has been in force since the Localism Act 2011 commencement orders in 2012, it enables community groups to nominate any building or land that has an important social purpose for the community as Assets of Community Value. If the owner put an ACV up for sale, then a six-month moratorium period gave community groups time to prepare a bid to buy the asset to protect it for community use. However, at the end of this period, it was up to the owner to decide to whom it would sell the asset.
Parliament decided that this does not go far enough to protect valued community assets and the law has been changed with the new Community Right to Buy.
Lawyers have advised that the new legislation replaces the ‘right to bid’ with a much more robust ‘right to buy’, with landowners being required to offer to sell their asset to the nominating community group before they offer to sell it on the open market. They say:
“In practice, this will operate as a statutory pre-emption right, similar to those found in strategic land deals entered into between landowners and developers. This new ‘right to buy’ will need to be taken seriously by landowners, with the 2026 Act setting out a detailed statutory framework in relation to serving offer notices, agreeing price and timelines for offer and acceptance procedures.”
During the passage of the legislation there were many changes and a lively debate was had. Successful changes included the length of time for listing and continuation of ACV lists, Labour’s Baroness Taylor introduced two amendments to the new provisions for a community right to buy.
One amendment provided that land and property on a local authority’s list of assets of community value will remain on the list for ten years, instead of five.
The other amendment concerned local authorities’ existing lists of assets of community value. Properties on these lists are subject to the community right to bid introduced by the Localism Act 2011. This amendment makes explicit that existing lists of assets are to be treated as assets of community value for the purposes of the new right to buy that the bill introduced. This is intended to prevent, for instance, a property owner seeking to argue that the existing lists had been compiled for a different purpose and that the right to buy did not apply.
These important matters were the subject of a Public Question at Lewisham Council on Wednesday, 23rd September 2026.
Many of the reforms require secondary legislation. Also, statutory guidance is expected soon.
For the new community right to buy regime to work it will require up to date lists or registers of assets of community value, something that Lewisham Council has struggled to do. Only time will tell if they will support local community and sports groups in the months and years ahead.