Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support community ownership.

Through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, we are introducing a new community right to buy to give communities stronger powers to take ownership of a range of assets which are important to them and protect them for future community use.

Communities will be given the right of first refusal on the purchase of registered assets of community value when they are put up for sale and a longer timeframe to raise funds to purchase the asset.