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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to review the criteria for designating Assets of Community Value to consider environmental benefit as a qualifying factor.

The new community right to buy, which we are introducing through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, will give communities stronger powers to take ownership of assets that are important to them and save them for future community use.

Communities will be able to nominate any asset that furthers the social or economic wellbeing of the community, which will include a range of environmental assets, and purchase these if they are put up for sale.