Community Right to Challenge

The community right to challenge enables town and parish councils, and voluntary and community groups, to submit expressions of interest (EOI) to the council to take over the running of council services, either across the borough or in particular areas. Where an expression of interest is accepted, this triggers a procurement exercise in which the submitter of the expression of interest may or may not be the successful bidder. In order to be acceptable in law, expressions of interest must include certain information, and our expression of interest template has been designed to ensure that all of this information is provided.

Before submitting an expression of interest under the community right to challenge, you should consult our commissioning calendar, which specifies periods during which expressions of interest for different services will be accepted. You are also strongly advised to contact us for an informal discussion prior to submission of an expression of interest, as the community right to challenge may not always be the best mechanism for enabling community groups to take on services.

The Community Right to Challenge timetable provides a complete list of services run by the council, including a list of current contracts and a list of council-held assets. It is our way of specifying periods during which expressions of interest under the community right to challenge may be submitted to us, in accordance with section 82 (2) of the Localism Act 2011. Amended versions will be updated annually.

Downloads and more information

To download from this page:

• EOI template and associated guidance (MS Word - 94kb)
• Community Right to Challenge Contracts  (CSV 26KB)
• Community Right to Challenge In House Services  (CSV 3KB)
• Local First Policy
• Local First - a local prospectus of services
• Corporate plan

For more information, email our Right to Challenge officer.