Fort William Common Good Fund
Lochaber Area Committee Members met yesterday (Tuesday 14 May 2024) and agreed the commencement of the public consultation on the list of proposed property in accordance with the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 (the Act) to enable the Fort William Common Good to be established.
Lochaber Area Committee Chair, Cllr Kate Willis said: “Establishing the Fort William Common Good Fund is a positive step for Fort William, as is the income generation potential of Fort William West Bay car park to the new Common Good Fund. A public consultation will be advertised in the coming weeks and will be published via the Council website, social media platforms and Community Councils.”
Common Good assets are property including buildings, land, rights (e.g. fishing), artwork, regalia, furniture, stocks and shares and cash funds that belonged to the Burghs of Scotland (pre-1975). They are held by the Council principally for the benefit of the local community within the specified geographical boundary of the former burgh to which each fund relates and must be accounted for separately to other Council property.
Fort William Common Good Asset Register and consultation process - The first step to formally establishing a Common Good fund for Fort William is to establish an asset register. Before the Council can establish an Asset Register, it must first publish and conduct a public consultation on a list of property it is proposing to include – land, buildings, moveable property, investments and funds. The public consultation will be promoted in the coming weeks and available via the Council website. The Community Council and community bodies will be notified direct however, as part of the consultation, representations from any member of the community are welcomed.
The purpose of the forthcoming consultation is not just to make the public aware of property the Council considers may be Common Good but also to generate queries about property not included in the current list that it is felt the Council should investigate further. The press release that will accompany the commencement of the consultation process will provide full contact details for making representations.
The report can be found here (Item 4)