Futures Forum: A solution to our housing problems: community land trusts
Futures Forum: A solution to our housing problems: community-led design and development
It's happening in Beer:
Futures Forum: Beer Community Land Trust
Beer Community Land Trust - Beer Parish Council
And it's happening in Christow, Dartmoor:
Home - Christow Parish Council
Digging into new ground - Christow Community Land Trust | Teign Housing
Local people get helping hand with new affordable housing partnership | Western Morning News
On Countryfile this evening on BBC1, the team popped by to see how the project is going:
Rural housing
Tom Heap is looking into the continuing shortage of homes in the countryside.
Most people agree there’s a national shortage, and many villages are becoming the preserve of commuters, and wealthy retired people.
It means local people working in low paid but essential jobs, from farm workers to pub staff, simply cannot afford to buy or rent.
Tom meets a family of five who are sharing with their in-laws because they can’t find a home of their own.
He sees a possible solution when he visits a development of houses which are soon to be made available to local people.
The project in Christow village has been made possible because local people saw there was a need for affordable housing and decided to take matters into their own hands.
And the Devon Communities website has just posted this:
Christow Affordable Housing
Project due to complete this summer
A new development of 18 homes in Christow is due to complete in August 2016. These homes have been built to an extremely high environmental standard known as Passivhaus. This is a design that has been developed in Germany. It results in very low energy buildings that require little heating or cooling to ensure low energy bills combined with a comfortable living environment.
Devon Communities Together has been involved in this project since 2009 when they carried out a housing needs survey which identified a need for affordable homes for local people in the village.
Following the survey negotiations took place between the Parish Council, DCT and Dartmoor National Park Authority to discuss the various sites and the number of homes that would be most suitable.
The Christow Community Land Trust was formed in 2011 and worked in partnership with the Wessex CLT project and Aster Homes who helped to drive the project forward. This partnership successfully
DCT refreshed the housing needs survey in 2011 to ensure that the right number, size and tenure of homes were identified. This survey also explored the housing needs of older people in the parish.
Following further development work planning permission for 18 units - 14 affordable and 4 discount market - was applied for in July 2013 and permission granted in March 2014. Pearce Construction Limited based in Barnstaple undertook the construction work and development started on site January 2014 and is due to complete in August 2016.
DCT also worked with the Community Land Trust, Teign Housing and Teignbridge District Council to ensure that all of the homes went to local people. Letters were sent to all those who had replied to the various surveys and those registered on the Devon wide housing register, called Devon Home Choice, to ensure people in housing need were aware of the homes and were registered to bid for them.
The homes are now allocated and new tenants will be moving in during late summer.
Devon Communities Together | Christow Affordable Housing
There are plenty of other CLT projects going on in Devon:
Community Land Trusts | WessexCA
Community Land Trusts - East Devon
Devon Communities Together | Upper Culm Community Land Trust
Transition Homes - Transition Town Totnes
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