Right To Buy "Wouldn't Save Dunfermline"

Dunfermline Athletic would have been liquidated if fans had a legal right to buy the club when it entered administration.

Dunfermline chairman Bob Garmory is warning that plans won't work. Bosses have voiced their concerns with Dunfermline MSP Cara Hilton ahead of a final Holyrood vote today.

Members are set to approve the Community Empowerment Bill, with the football-related amendments put forward by Green MSP Alison Johnstone after she gained support from the ruling SNP administration.

Amendments to the proposed law would allow supporters trusts: 

• First refusal to buy the club if it enters administration
• Right to buy at any time
• A say if their club is sold from one private body to another
• The right to buy a proportion of shares at any point in 5% or 10% blocks to work towards ownership
• Access to Government funding

Mr Garmory says the legislation needs fixing:

In general, the law is designed to allow communities to buy local assets, Community Empowerment Minister Marco Biagi say more support and advice will be available for groups to take over land and buildings in their areas.

Mr Biagi said: “Every community across the country has a building or area of land that could be transformed if local people were in control. This funding will help communities realise their ambitions, and find a way to improve their areas by injecting life into an old office block or waste ground.

“Taking over land or buildings can give communities the opportunity to protect services that might otherwise have been lost, it can provide jobs, training and opportunities to generate income or allow groups to refurbish and make alterations to buildings they already use.

“COSS has already supported nearly 50 asset transfers across Scotland and through this funding and the work of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill I know even more communities will benefit.

“This bill is a momentous step in our drive to give people a stronger voice in the decisions that matter to them.

“The bill will give communities more rights to take over land in both urban and rural areas, provide protection for allotments, introduce new powers to transform abandoned or derelict land and opportunities to be involved in decisions around the delivery of services, community safety, healthcare or education from day one.”