Heritage and the Common Good

The Common Good assets held by Scottish Local Authorities

Heritage and the Common Good

Many towns and cities around the world use their cultural heritage as a base for their sustainable development and to boost their local economy. Often, such places have been the recipients of major heritage assets supported by the funds of wealthy people who grew up in the city or made their fortunes there or elsewhere sometimes in questionable ways. Other cities benefit from major foundations created by industrialists and philanthropists which continue to provide finance for local and international development.

But at a much more modest level most places can point to heritage assets which owe their origins to local benefactors, or which have been acquired by local authorities as a result of the changing fortunes of prominent people and landowners within the town or city, often stretching back over many decades Many of these assets make a significant contribution to the common good locally through the local economy by encouraging visitors, supporting local employment and providing important cultural and environmental benefits. This essay looks at a unique category of community assets in Scotland – the diverse Common Good assets held by Scottish local authorities – and wonders if there are lessons there for the management and use of wider community assets for the broad social and economic good.

Common Good assets in Scotland

The ‘Common Good’ is a concept with a long tradition in Scotland which has its origins in the creation of burghs by medieval Scottish Kings. Scottish burghs were urban settlements which were granted trading privileges to collect customs and duties from economic activity in their area. The payments which flowed into a burgh would become part of a general fund known as the Common Good which was held on behalf of the inhabitants of the burgh alongside any other assets held in the burgh as set out in its Burgh Charter. The Common Good Act of 1491 remains in force in Scots law as part of the legislation governing the ownership and use of these common lands and other assets.

Scottish Burghs regulated their own affairs to varying degrees depending on their legal status. Trading privileges were abolished in 1832, but burghs themselves were not abolished until 1975.

Common good assets have been passed down from burghs to successor local authorities through successive local government re-organizations since 1975, and must be administered separately from other local authority funds for accounting purposes. Common good assets comprise heritable property (usually land and buildings) and moveable property (such as artwork and furniture) that belonged to the former Burghs of Scotland, acquired as gifts or purchases from revenues. The use or disposal of an item of common good property can be subject to conditions imposed by those who gifted or sold the property. Due to the time which has elapsed since property was first acquired by a burgh, it can sometimes be difficult to establish whether property is common good.  In some cases whether a property can be sold and what purposes are consistent with the common good has had to be decided in court.

The Common Good funds held by current local authorities are the oldest form of what would usually now be referred to as community assets. Common Good assets are substantial with an estimated value of £860m and are estimated to generate some £20m per year to be used for the benefit of local residents. Common Good assets include an enormous variety of types of property spanning town halls, churches, statues, schools, hospitals, green spaces, libraries, golf courses, public toilets, museums, carparks, harbors and more. Some are very well known from their prominent locations such as Princes Street Gardens in the centre of Edinburgh, George Square and Kelvingrove park in Glasgow, Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline and Inverness Caledonian Football ground in Inverness.  Some cost current local authorities funds for their maintenance, whilst authorities can derive an income from others.

The confusion about the status of Common Good assets and the uses to which it can be put for the ‘common good’ of communities has led to attempts in recent legislation in the Scottish Parliament to increase transparency about the existence of common good assets, and to ensure community involvement in decisions taken about their identification, use and disposal. The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 requires local authorities to maintain a register of property held by the authority which is common good and must publish details about any proposed disposal or change of use to which the authority proposes to put the property. The diversity of common good assets held by any one town is shown below in an extract of the register from the City of Stirling.

Despite these measures, controversies remain over the management and use to which Common Good funds are being put. A recent investigation by independent journalists at The Ferret has highlighted cases of mismanagement associated loss of value of common good, and where funds have been used to support activities which are of doubtful value to the common good of local communities..

Getting the most from Common Good assets

In 2019 the Scottish Land Commission issued a series of reports and protocols for local authorities aimed at securing the greatest benefit from the Common Good. Whilst the Scottish Common Good assets have a unique place as public resources for the common good in towns and cities in Scotland, the issues which have arisen over their identity, management and use are indicative of more general concerns with the securing and management of community assets more generally. There is policy interest across all nations in the UK to encourage and extend community control of local assets.

Identification of ‘common’ community assets

Such assets can sometimes be taken for granted and may have origins lost in time, and it is not clear which property is held to be ‘common’. In both England and Wales and in Scotland attempts are being made to complete registers of such assets through appeals to local knowledge by organizations, such as the Open Spaces Society in England and The Ferret in Scotland. (See the references at the end of this essay for more information.)

Asset transfer

Governments across the UK are committed to measures which allow communities to exert more control of assets in their neighborhoods. Measures are in place to allow asset transfer to community ownership and community-based organizations. In certain circumstances arrangements are in place to allow community buy-outs of land and property from private ownership.  

A study be the Joseph Rountree Foundation drew attention to the diversity of community organizations which now control community assets which range from small voluntary organizations to large social enterprises. Assets have been acquired by organizations in many different circumstances often as a response to a threatened loss of a valued facility in the community or as a legacy of previous government re-generation programmes.

Increasingly community organizations are becoming involved in developments with a clear concern for the ‘social good’ such as community-managed housing or in the provision of renewable energy. In Scotland in particular arrangements for community buy-outs have allowed communities to secure major changes to land ownership in rural areas and assume responsibility for encouraging the economic development and sustainability of significant tracts of land for the wellbeing and viability of local communities.

Community asset management – benefits and risks

Claims for the benefits which occur from asset transfer to community organization are many and include improved public services, increased local employment opportunities, restoration of unused buildings, greater independence and innovation in community organizations and empowerment of local communities.

There are also significant risks in taking on the ownership and management of sometimes substantial community assets. Essential is careful consideration of the physical condition of the asset, its suitability for community purposes and a suitable business model to sustain financial viability. There is the urgent need to ensure community capacity to understand and manage the issues which will arise, and avoid organizations from becoming pre-occupied with the technical and regulatory burden of asset management at the expense of the community benefits they provide.

In times of tightening public expenditure there is an increasing risk of reducing funds for the support of community-based organizations. There is a real challenge for community organizations to balance the needs for financial stability with the extent and scope of community benefit and innovative provision hat can be delivered. It may well be that the pressures to maintain the viability of the organization limit the quantity and quality of community benefits which can be achieved.

Delivering for the common good

These tensions which arise in the management of modern community-based assets are a replication of the tensions which arise for local authorities in managing the Common Good funds in Scotland. Whilst the common good arising from many assets is clear, at the margins there are real temptations for hard-pressed local authorities to blur the boundaries between the protection of common good funds for the continuing common good of the community and the financial pressures on local government expenditure. For example, does the local authority use its funds for the maintenance of common good properties? And where does income generated by Common Good assets go to Common Good funds or to the local authority?  Are the costs of receptions for visiting dignitaries or commemorating prominent local figures really for the common good?  Which is for the greater common good - the use of common good land as a site for new public services when the land had previously provided an open space enjoyed by the community at large? 

There is a growing body of research evidence mostly from professional people about management practice in the management of community assets.  There remains more of a gap in understanding of the realities of community benefit from common good assets which can be a major part of local heritage.

Further information

For information about common good properties in Scotland and how to submit new information to the common good register go to https://commongood.scot

For more on the work of the Open Spaces Society go to www.oss.org.uk .

For more on the work of the Ferret on Common Good in Scotland go to htpps://theferret.scot .