Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has ruled out lengthening the window of opportunity for civil society organisations to take advantage of the right to buy community assets, stating that six months should be sufficient time to submit a bid.

During a Q&A session at the end of Pickles' speech to the NCVO annual conference yesterday, Navca chief executive Kevin Curley said the right to buy outlined in the Localism Bill was very important and welcomed by the sector, but complained that the timescale suggested of three or six months wasn’t long enough.

“Many organisations need longer than that to assemble enough capital for a substantial purchase, they often need 12 months,” Curley said.  “Are you willing to consider a longer window?  Funders can six months or more to make a decision on a bid.”

But Pickles refused to budge. He said he had received submissions from people saying six months was an unreasonably long period to give CSOs.

“I think it’s about right because you have to balance the rights of landowners as well,” he said.  “You need to produce something that won’t be subject to judicial review.

“Of course we are open to suggestions in any consultation, but I can’t see that we will go significantly beyond six months.”