In the current tight fiscal climate effective and efficient asset management is a crucial element to improve service delivery and achieve efficiency gains. The culture and sport sector can maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of existing local authority assets’ delivery of services without the need to build new facilities.

Local authorities give grants each year to a large range of voluntary organisations in order to support the development of these facilities and services, including those which give advice and support to individuals, community organisations, sports clubs and art and cultural bodies.  

Purpose

Utilising existing and available assets and resources will help to achieve greater value for money – whilst meeting the challenge of improving local services.

Background research and further advice

Audit Commission, Hot Property: Getting the best from local authority assets, 2000
DCLG, Building on Strong Foundations - A Framework for Local Authority Asset Management, 2008
DCLG, Delivering Value for Money in Local Government: Meeting the challenge of CSR07, 2007
English Heritage, Managing Local Authority Heritage Assets: some guiding principles for decision-makers, 2003
Office of the Third Sector, Community Assets Programme
Quirk report on asset transfer to communities

Contact your local authority community development, sport, leisure and arts departments for further information.

You can find more information on how to influence decisions in local plans and visions in the Local Planning for Culture and Sport section of the toolkit.

Links to Case Studies

You can find heritage-related case studies in English Heritage’s Managing Local Authority Heritage Assets

Case studies about schemes under the Community Assets programme can be accessed on the Community Assets Programme section of the DTA.