In practice, many local authorities dispose of heritage assets as a gift either on a long-lease for a nominal £1 because, due to their condition, the assets have a "conservation deficit" meaning the scale and cost of repairs outweigh the final value of the building or site. Once the income or capital generating potential and the cost of repairs and any necessary alterations or development is known, the size of the conservation deficit can be assessed and other sources of funding can be considered.

Local authorities can aim to spread both the financial burden and the community benefit represented by the asset by disposing of it to the voluntary sector and local organisations. A 'back-to-back' agreement, often (although not necessarily) with a Building Preservation Trust, to take and restore a heritage asset at risk from the local authority if and when they acquire it, commonly forms part of a solution. By making use of volunteer workers and sponsorship through the provision of materials or labour at cost, charitable trust are also very often capable of bringing down the overall cost of a project.

A charitable trust will be able to access to sources of funding not available to local authorities including individual donations. Funders would expect to see a convincing strategy for resolving the long-term future of the heritage asset in the same way that local authorities need convincing that a community disposal represents optimum value for money.

The key here is to look as widely as possible at the range of outcomes that can be secured by the repair and re-use of the building or site, to consider whether they can be matched with public sources of funding, and which organisation would be best placed to access them. The Architectural Heritage Fund's website Funding for Heritage assets; A Directory of Sources (www.ffhb.org.uk, excluding the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) is an excellent starting point.