Fort William Common Good Asset Register next steps

At a recent Lochaber Area Committee (Tuesday 12 November 2024), Members agreed to the publication of the Fort William Common Good Asset Register following a twelve week public consultation period.

Although the assets listed on the Fort William Common Good Asset Register remain the property of The Highland Council, they must be held in a separate common good fund account. The re-classification of assets will result in income reductions for the Council’s General Fund whilst at the same time, continued support will be required to help maintain the assets. This position however will need to form part of careful forward planning, to allow the Fort William Common Good Fund to accumulate adequate balances, discharge its asset duties, whilst ensuring the maintenance of common good properties are still supported appropriately.

It is important to highlight that the asset register is a fluid document, and properties can be added and removed as circumstances arise. Since the consultation period for example, the land beside Craigs Burial Ground has been identified as common good and included on the asset register.

The decision-making process to publish a common good asset register and set up a common good fund for Fort William is appropriate to take place at Area Committee level. This is in-line with governance procedures when managing common good assets in Highland. However, an acknowledgement of the decision should also be reported to a future Highland Council meeting to reflect the fact that every elected Member of the Council are custodians of all Common Good Funds in Highland.

The finance service will be instructed to proceed with setting up the Fort William Common Good Fund account. This will be in-line with other Common Good Funds in Highland with processes and procedures implemented for reporting and monitoring purposes. Given that at least one property has been identified to date as income generating (West End Car Park), quarterly monitoring of the fund will be reported to the Area Committee. An annual review and budget setting is unlikely to take place initially, until such time the fund has been established for at least 12-months.

The full report can be accessed here (Item 6) and the Common Good Asset Register accessed here.