The Welsh Government’s commitment is welcome, but its success depends on treating communities as active place-makers, argues Eleri Williams
When the First Minister set out the Welsh Government’s first phase of legislation in July 2026, the community right to buy sat alongside private rented sector reform, rural proofing and a right to adequate housing. It is framed as a mechanism to protect Wales’s “unique sense of community” by enabling eligible local groups to nominate and register buildings, land and spaces of community value. If an owner (private or public) decides to sell, eligible community groups would have first refusal.
This matters because communities and housing cannot be separated. A village hall, chapel, former school, pub, shop, parcel of land or redundant public building can all be part of the hidden infrastructure that makes somewhere liveable. In one place, the critical asset may be land for affordable homes; in another, it may be the last shared space or base for activity.
Why now?
Across Wales, communities are dealing with housing costs, fragile rural services, changing high streets and the loss of valued buildings to private sale, dereliction or conversion. In some areas, the second homes debate has brought a sharper edge to a long-standing question: are communities places where people can live, work, gather and belong, or are they assets to be traded?
The commitment also sits alongside consultation on the next National Development Framework, the successor to Future Wales, which asks how Wales should plan homes, community infrastructure, culture, transport and natural resources towards 2050. Development planning gives communities formal routes to shape Local and Strategic Development Plans, but those routes can feel distant when an asset is already at risk. A community right to buy could bridge long-term spatial planning and immediate local stewardship if the systems are designed to speak to each other.
A right that allows communities to register interest in an asset, without a realistic route to ownership, would fail on its own terms. The legislation must therefore be ambitious. A community right to buy must work for real communities, those with stretched volunteers, limited legal knowledge, uncertain access to capital and uneven confidence in public processes.
What the right could unlock
At its simplest, a community right to buy creates a pause in the market. That pause is the core of the policy. In effect, the speed of sale or disposal should not trump the social value of a place. As the model is likely to be first refusal, not a power to force sale, practical support for all partners will be crucial.
For housing providers, local authorities and community-led housing groups, this is not a minor issue. Land and buildings suitable for affordable housing are often lost before local partners can assemble a viable package. A community right to buy could help communities identify strategic assets earlier, align them with local housing need and combine housing outcomes with wider community benefit.
Arguably, the most exciting possibilities are mixed-use and community-led. A former public building could combine affordable homes with a community hub; a high street property could provide flats above and social enterprise space below. The point of the right is not nostalgia for buildings; it is about putting their future use in the hands of people who understand local need.
Right without resourcing
The greatest danger is an unfunded right. Communities may be able to register assets, but still lack legal advice, business planning, governance structures or bridging finance. If the result is repeated near misses, the policy will look symbolic and deepen cynicism among communities asked to engage without being given real power.
Fairness must be built in from the start. Some communities have development trusts, housing co-operatives, community councils and professional networks. Others have equal need but less capacity. If the right is to mean anything, support must be built in, and it must reach the places with the lowest social capital.
Good implementation
First, the definition of a community asset must reflect Welsh reality. It should be broad enough to incorporate land and buildings that contribute to one or more dimensions of wellbeing by meeting housing need, sustaining local services, protecting cultural life or supporting economic participation. The definition should be rigorous, but not so narrow that it excludes the assets that communities themselves recognise as essential.
Second, the process must be predictable and consistent across Wales. Owners need clarity; community groups need realistic timescales; public bodies need confidence about their obligations. Safeguards against speculative nominations should not become barriers that only professionalised organisations can overcome.
Third, the right needs appropriate resourcing. Community ownership requires early-stage grants, patient capital, professional advice and the ability to blend different sources of finance. Housing schemes may need pre-development support before they can compete for mainstream capital funding. Without this, first refusal risks becoming a right to discover that no viable route to purchase exists.
Fourth, the legislation should build in partnership rather than assume community groups must act alone. Registered social landlords, local authorities, community land trusts, development trusts and voluntary organisations could all help turn local ambition into viable stewardship.
A housing-sector agenda
The housing sector should not wait passively for the Bill. Providers should accelerate work with communities to determine which assets matter, and how they support homes and belonging. That means mapping valued land and buildings, reviewing disposal and regeneration policies, and engaging with the development of the National Development Framework and local development plan processes before assets are already on the market.
There is also a role for constructive scrutiny. A strong community right to buy should not be judged by the length of an asset register, but by whether communities acquire and sustain assets that contribute to wellbeing: facilities and homes created or protected, services retained locally, Welsh language and cultural benefits, social enterprise activity, carbon outcomes and long-term stewardship.
The promise and the test
The Welsh Government’s commitment matters because place is made from homes, streets, meeting spaces, services, land, memory and future possibility. If communities are asked to help shape Wales to 2050, they also need tools to protect and repurpose the assets that make that future credible locally.
A community right to buy will not solve Wales’s housing crisis, and it must not be used as a substitute for social housing investment, planning capacity, tenancy reform or action on affordability. It could, however, become a powerful complement if it gives communities a genuine stake in the assets that shape local life. The test is whether the legislation moves beyond empowerment language and creates a practical, equitable and well-funded route to community ownership.
If it succeeds, the community right to buy could help Wales protect more than individual buildings or parcels of land. It could demonstrate that place-based policy works best when it sees communities not as consultees at the end of a process, but as partners with the power to shape the places they call home.
Eleri Williams is the Policy and Research Adviser at the Building Communities Trust