English Development and Community Empowerment Bill

[silent majority]

I know this sounds like a political subject and not belonging here but despite the very wide ranging and various subjects that are affected by this bill, which is currently going through Parliament, it does affect DRFC and the VSC and especially you, the supporters of this club.

I'll explain.

For some years the VSC have held an ACV (Asset of Community Value) on the Keepmoat Stadium. We applied originally some years ago but they lapse after 5 years, and we had a brief spell where no ACV was held, but we rectified that earlier this year. The new bill will affect this ACV in a positive way, and it's good to know what that entails.

Under the new bill they have created a special category called SACV (Sporting Assets of Community Value) and the expectation is that those holding an ACV currently will transition to the new one. The big difference for us is that we will have a Right to Buy clause inserted rather than a Right to Bid. Here's a better explanation;

Sporting Assets of Community Value

Since the introduction of Community Right to Bid provisions in 2011, fewer than 100 of the over 6,000 sports grounds in England have gained protections under the Asset of Community Value (ACV) framework. As a result, except for the limited number of sports grounds listed as ACVs, most are immediately available to the highest bidder on the open market when they are put up for sale – making them vulnerable to redevelopment. The government knows how much communities value their local sports grounds and want to give them greater powers to take ownership of them.

The Bill will therefore introduce a new type of ACV – the Sporting Asset of Community Value (SACV) and automatically designate all eligible sports grounds as such. As with the standard ACV regime, communities will have the first right of refusal when a ground is put up for sale. SACV status will also provide enhanced protections for sports grounds. For example, unlike the standard 5-year renewal period under the ACV system, sports grounds designated as SACV will retain this status indefinitely. Other facilities – such as car parks – that the ground depends on to function effectively – will also be eligible for SACV listing, preventing the ground from being undermined by the intentional removal of its supporting assets.

Here's a link that explains the bill in its entirety;

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-devolution-and-community-empowerment-bill-guidance/english-devolution-and-community-empowerment-bill-guidance

[SydneyRover]

Thanks SM, gaining and holding the SACV would appear to bond the VSC to any owner and more importantly future owner of the club, sounds pretty good to me.

Again thanks to the VSC board.

[BobG]

Seconded Sydney!  Congrats to the VSC and all who sail her.

BobG

[Usher wide.]

‘Power to the People’!

[silent majority]

Thanks SM, gaining and holding the SACV would appear to bond the VSC to any owner and more importantly future owner of the club, sounds pretty good to me.

Again thanks to the VSC board.

Exactly right.

The two major advantages for us, and DRFC supporters, is that we don't have to remember to keep renewing the ACV, which is not necessarily straight forward, and that we automatically have a right to buy.

That should mean that if and when the club is moved on to new owners we become part of the equation. Admittedly it would generally just be a transfer of the lease in our case if things stay pretty much the same but if there was a major shift and the new owners wanted freehold rather than leasehold that would make us a major player on that front.

[Silkscarf]

That sounds like a positive development and I really hope it is.

Generally, I’ve no confidence in our country doing the right thing with regards to our heritage buildings. If you ever read Private Eye there are stories every issue of valuable heritage buildings not being maintained, then suddenly ’going on fire’, and eventually being demolished. Even the highest listing status can mean nothing if some developer wants to bulldoze it. The profit motive Trumps everything.

I used to live near the Plough pub opposite Hallam FC’s ground and tried to fight its demolition. The oldest football ground in the world etc. Yes, it wasn’t a great pub in its final years and it wasn’t the original building. But it was on the same site, 100+ years old and a great building. It had an ACV and loads of community support. But that counted for sod all. The developer (Spacepad) won, knocked it down and it’s still a vacant plot several years later. Once it’s gone it’s gone forever.

Anything we can do to fight that kind of atrocity is to be welcomed.