Administration of the Common Good funds by Stirling Council

This page sets out the Council’s powers, duties and responsibilities in relation to the administration of common goods funds held by the Council in respect of the former burghs of Stirling, Bridge of Allan, Dunblane, and Callander. Whilst there was a former burgh in Doune, the Common Good Fund for the burgh is considered extant.

Common good is property owned by a local authority which has been passed down, through local government reorganisation, from former burghs. Those burghs may have received it as a gift or purchased it. It includes land and buildings, and moveable items such as furniture and art and it may include cash where property has been sold and income received.

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. In some cases, whether or not a property can be sold may have to be decided by the courts.

It is worth noting that, it can be difficult to establish whether property is Common Good, partly because of to the time which has passed since property was first acquired by a burgh, but also due to the lack of a statutory definition of what makes an asset Common Good.

The 2015 Act seeks to increase transparency about the existence of common good assets and to ensure there is community involvement in decisions taken about their identification, use and disposal. The 2015 Act does not define or redefine common good or remove or alter any restrictions on the use or disposal of common good property

The 2015 Act imposes certain duties on the Council, namely:

• To establish and maintain a register of property which is held by the authority as part of the common good; and
• Before taking any decision to dispose of, or change the use of, such common good property the local authority must publish details about the proposed disposal or, as the case may be, the use to which the authority proposes to put the property.

The Council is required to establish and maintain a register of property which is held by the authority as part of the common good (a “common good register”). Before establishing this register, the 2015 Act requires Council to publish a list of property that it proposes to include in the register, and to consult on this list.

The first step in the consultation exercise was for the Council to prepare a list of those assets which are most likely to fall into the category of being Common Good.

There is no statutory definition of what makes an asset Common Good but it is generally accepted that the following criteria will identify assets that fall within the Common Good.

Summary of Common Good Criteria

• The asset must have been acquired on or before 15 May 1975;
• The asset must have been used by the general public for a long time;
• The title deeds or trust deed specify that the area of land or building is to be held or gifted to the community;
• The asset should be dedicated for a specific public purpose;
• The land, building or artefacts was gifted to the community, usually for a specific purpose; and
• Title conditions ensuring public use were included within the initial grant of title of the asset.

Criteria discounting an asset from being Common Good

• The asset is not within a former Burgh
• The asset was acquired after 15 May 1975
• The asset was acquired using statutory powers
• The asset is or was held in a trust

The Council’s Legal and Estates teams initially undertook an audit of all Council-owned land and buildings in the five former Burghs, including Doune, to identify any land and property which may be Common Good.

In late 2021, this list was made available to the public on our Engage Stirling on-line platform so that they could comment on the draft list and suggest other land and property assets which they considered should be included as Common Good.

In total, 76 members of the public participated in the 3-month consultation exercise, suggesting 68 additional properties for consideration. There were a number of other properties put forward which were not in the ownership of Stirling Council and so these were discounted immediately.

Each individual land and property asset which has been submitted for our consideration has been investigated to decide whether the asset meets the criteria laid out above.

This checking process can take a lot of time, especially when the asset has no ownership or title deeds. This can involve searching through the Minutes of the former Burgh Councils and checking old newspaper articles to uncover evidence that an asset should be considered Common Good. Only once a specific asset has been thoroughly investigated and all available documentary evidence checked can an asset be added to the Register of Common Good.

It is important to understand that the Register of Common Good is not meant to be a “closed” document. Any and all enquiries regarding the status of any assets within the 5 former burghs are always welcome and any additional evidence from a community or member of the public which may suggest that an asset should be included in the Register will always be considered and investigated thoroughly to ascertain whether the asset should, or should not be, Common Good.

Where a decision is taken not to include an asset within the Common Good register, the Council will provide reasons for its decision not to include that asset.

If you have any questions about the content of this page you can email commongood@stirling.gov.uk