The Lewes Bus Station has been named an Asset of Community Value by Lewes District Council after an nomination by Lewes Town Council was successful.

Lewes Town Council has issued the following statement:

“Lewes Town Council is pleased that its application to list the Bus Station an Asset of Community Value has been successful.

“The application was suggested at February’s council meeting, and since then councillors have worked with local residents to share their memories of the Bus Station gaining further insights into how the bus station has contributed to Lewes town’s sense of place and community.

“Lewes District Council, after careful consideration, have agreed that the Bus Station (excluding the Bus Garage) is an Asset of Community Value. This makes land or property of importance to a local community an official asset.

“Although the new status does not halt the planning application from the Bus Station’s owner The Generator Group, Lewes Town Council hopes that the new status of the Bus Station will help provide a channel of understanding with the Generator Group that can lead to solutions that work for everyone.”

What is an Asset of Community Value?

The status of Asset of Community Value (ACV) makes land or property of importance to a local community an official asset. This can offer some protections to the asset.

On mycommunity.org, a website originally commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), the following definition is used: a building or other land is an asset of community value if its main use has recently been or is presently used to further the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community and could do so in the future.

Lewes District Council is the local authority which decides on nominations for ACVs in Lewes. To nominate a property as an asset of community value, the request must come from a voluntary or community body with a local connection, such as a Parish Council.

Nominations must demonstrate the following legal criteria for an asset to be deemed land of community value:

either

a) an actual current use of the building or other land that is not an ancillary use furthers the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community, and

b) it is realistic to think that there can continue to be non-ancillary use of the building or other land which will further (whether or not in the same way) the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community

or

c) there is a time in the recent past when an actual use of the building or other land that was not an ancillary use furthered the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community, and

d) it is realistic to think that there is a time in the next five years when there could be non-ancillary use of the building or other land that would further (whether or not in the same way as before) the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community

Social interests include: cultural interests; recreational interests; sporting interests.