In August, we finally had an in-person meeting with some of the officials from NHS Lothian who will be assessing our application to bring the garden into community ownership.
We had a good and frank discussion but it became clear that NHS Lothian is still not in a position to receive our application or agree the basis for valuing the land. This is the first such ‘community asset transfer’ application that they have had to deal with and they want to ensure that they have proper, robust processes in place and that all relevant staff and board members are properly briefed about the requirements of the legislation (Part 5 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015).
To further strengthen our case that supporting the continuation and further development of the community garden represents ‘best value’ for the NHS, we have now added an assessment of the financial impact of current and planned future activities to our draft application. For this assessment we have used the HACT Social Value Portal which is based on a robust methodology that is Treasury Green Book compliant and uses big data surveys such as the ONS Understanding Society annual report.
This rigorous methodology is used by NHS England, for example for assessing the social value generated by Cavell Centres, as well as by UK government departments including Highways Agency, Dept. for Culture Media and Sport, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government and, internationally, by the OECD.
Using the figures in our Business Plan which project a modest increase in activity once we have ownership of the land and proper infrastructure, the social value figure amounts to £3,575,398 over the first five years. This arises from regular volunteering sessions, sessions with clients with special needs, visits from local groups, community events and workshops plus structured training opportunities for young people.