Community ownership and empowerment

When communities have a meaningful role in owning, managing, or influencing local land and buildings, they gain greater power to shape their future. This can strengthen local identity and support long-term resilience. It ensures that decisions about places reflect the needs and values of the people who know them best.

Scottish communities are increasingly stepping forward to protect what matters and create opportunities for the future. Community ownership could be taking on a historic building, managing green spaces, or contributing to local planning.

Helping communities to use local assets and participate in decisions that affect them is a top priority for the Scottish Government and for Historic Environment Scotland. Our approach is to help communities understand their rights and offer guidance as the lead heritage body in Scotland.

Community bodies have specific legal rights when it comes to taking control of land and buildings. These were introduced through the Community Empowerment Act in 2015 and the Land Reform (Scotland) Act in 2016.

Through this legislation, community bodies in Scotland have:

• the right to the ownership of land and other assets

• the power to engage in decisions relating to land

• the right to make a request to a public body to participate in the planning and delivery of public services

• the ability to make asset transfer requests to all local authorities, Scottish Ministers and a wide-ranging list of public bodies for any land or buildings that they feel they could make better use of

Under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 and the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016, community bodies have the right to request the transfer of land and other assets to community ownership.

We're committed to facilitating asset transfer where it will bring benefits to communities and secure positive outcomes for the historic environment. Community bodies can make an Asset Transfer Request for assets owned or leased by us, or that we manage on behalf of Scottish Ministers. These are listed in our Register of Assets.

We will respond to all enquiries and will be open and transparent in the way we assess requests and take decisions. We will work to support you as you develop your plans and your business case for managing the asset in the long term. Our Asset Transfer Policy Statement and Guidance sets out how we will do this. We would be very happy to hear from you at an early stage to talk through your plans. A pre-application enquiry form is available, and you can submit it to us at communityempowerment@hes.scot.

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act provides community bodies with the right to ask to be involved if a public body is engaging in work relevant to them. This is called a participation request.

You can't make a formal participation request to Historic Environment Scotland, because we are not listed in the Act. But we would still like to hear from communities who wish to be involved in services we deliver.

Contact communityempowerment@hes.scot to find out more about our current plans and share your views. 

Community bodies in Scotland have the right to register an interest in any land and be given the opportunity to purchase land in the public interest through Community Right to Buy (CRtB). The CRtB extends to churches, pubs, empty shops, fields and more.

This route can be used for land that has been abandoned, neglected or is causing harm to the environmental wellbeing of the community. The community body must have proposals for that land that could further the achievement of sustainable development.

Historic Environment Scotland is identified by CRtB as a regulatory body that can help to tackle abandoned or neglected land, buildings or structures to mitigate the harm experienced by communities. We encourage and enable the positive reuse of historic buildings by giving advice on project development, conservation, planning and feasibility.

Our Buildings at Risk Register is a searchable database which monitors the condition of listed buildings and buildings in conservation areas that have fallen into disrepair or are vacant with no clear future.

We offer grants to projects that share our aims to protect and promote the historic environment and deliver benefits for people. This includes funding to repair historic buildings and a support fund, which is used to provide support for one-off heritage events, small projects and training activities.

Learn more about our grants

You'll find resources and advice relating to community ownership and empowerment across our communities pages.