London CLT

"Local communities can be pro-housing development when they are more meaningfully involved in decisions and have a stake in the outcome." This quote, from the excellent New Local report Constructing Consensus, is exactly what CLTs are so good at doing through a community-led model. And it's what we have seen before: Citizens House, our affordable homes in Lewisham, received 100+ letters of support for the planning application. 'Constructing Consensus' spotlights the amazing work of Hastings Commons and its CLT, and the Community Land Trust Network. Good development can be done '𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵' 𝗻𝗼𝘁 '𝘁𝗼' 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀. Scaling up CLTs will make sure a chunk of the Labour government's pledged 1.5m homes are the affordable homes that communities want and need. 🏡 🏡 🏡

Are you part of a CLT that needs funding and a simpler planning policy (sigh)? Would you like to see more CLT genuinely and permanently affordable homes in your neighbourhood? 👏👏👏 𝗟𝗼𝗯𝗯𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗣 can make change and build momentum. The Community Land Trust Network provides letter templates here: https://lnkd.in/eK23VBPu 🏡 Constituent MPs are vital because they are the gateway to the Housing Minister. If they hear enough about the positive effects of CLTs and constituents’ desire for more, they will relay this upwards. Likewise, flagging common barriers faced by CLTs raises your MP's awareness. There are some key lobbying buttons to press re. the Labour government's housing policy: 🏡 A more diverse housebuilding industry, which includes CLTs, will speed up building. 🏡 Growing support locally via the community-led model and community engagement reduces planning disputes. Citizens House, our affordable homes in Lewisham, was a case in point: 100+ letters of support for the planning application! Planning reform, funding (particularly early-stage funding) and regulatory change are all needed to grow CLTs. Please share with CLT members. And write to your MP. Rural Urban Synthesis Society Greenwich Citizens Housing Forest Community Land Trust community led housing london Community Assets for Society and Housing (CASH) 📸 Yiannis Katsaris

When we held our CLT homes conference earlier this year, delegates raised the question of how to increase diversity in the community-led homes movement. This excellent research by Leeds Community Homes Ltd makes vital recommendations in areas including peer-to-peer support, establishing trust, raising awareness and access to funding. Take a look… 🏡🏡🏡 Greenwich Citizens Housing Forest Community Land Trust Rural Urban Synthesis Society Community Land Trust Network community led housing london Gida Housing Cooperative Community Assets for Society and Housing (CASH)

This is quite a milestone: seeing CLTs recognised in London local planning policy. 👏 👏 👏 In Southwark Council’s Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), Councillor Helen Dennis, Cabinet Member for New Homes and Sustainable Development, writes about “our aspiration in Southwark to deliver… Community Land Trusts”. A publicly stated aspiration is a start! Vitally for us, the document cites CLTs and discount market sale homes as “affordable housing which the council considers to meet the genuine needs of our residents”. The SPD also recognises the need for affordability in perpetuity and intermediate affordable housing, ie priced above social housing but below private housing. Exactly what we create! 🏡🏡🏡 There is support for CLTs in other local planning policies nationwide eg East Cambridgeshire and Cornwall. But we’re pleased to see this first for London. The SPD is open for 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟳 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿; please take a look and comment 👉 https://lnkd.in/em66BHsv Rural Urban Synthesis Society Greenwich Citizens Housing Forest Community Land Trust community led housing london Gida Housing Cooperative Community Assets for Society and Housing (CASH) #affordablehomes #communitylandtrust #communityledhousing

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to our AGM last week and made it an event to buoy the spirits. Chair Colm Lacey summed up our plan for the year ahead as “cautious sustainable growth”. There are undoubtedly challenges for community-led housing. But we celebrated successes, our campaigners’ commitment and – fingers crossed – a favourable shift in the political landscape. The reformed NPPF and mention of CLTs in local planning policy is a good start. But we need to lobby for funding and delivery mechanisms to turn these changes into the affordable homes that communities want and need. Before the AGM began, we toured the Cable Street site – (photos below), gathering beside the mural commemorating the famous 1936 battle of Cable Street. It’s been an eight-year campaign for a CLT at Cable St and we now have GLA funding to take our 41 #affordablehomes to planning. Personal stories are the heart of these campaigns. Trish from the Cable St community group said: "My parents were on a council housing list for 30 years. They would have loved to have seen this opportunity." Over in Greenwich, with our partners Greenwich Citizens Housing (GCH), we have planning permission for seven homes and, shortly we hope, permission for nine on a second site. Reflecting on the seeds of GCH, campaigner Kim Hitch said: “Those small beginnings will produce new homes. GCH is about people. Homes are about people.” Our Executive Director Oliver Bulleid closed the AGM with huge thanks for the immense community and Board support that keeps us working for genuinely and permanently #affordablehomes. “When we come together, we can imagine a positive future for community housing even in a changing environment. I’m confident.” On we go! 🏡🏡🏡 Read more about our strategic objectives and all things LCLT in our annual report 👉 https://lnkd.in/eZHhaxGy (Photos: Oliver Bulleid starts the tour at the Cable St mural, with community organisers Curate Caitlin Harland and Davina Bacon from St George-in-the-East Church; Cable St campaigners Sarah and Trish; members' thoughts about the obstacles to scaling up community-led housing; our Communities Manager Dan Robinson looks over the 3D-printed model of Cable St with a CLT member; new and re-elected Board members; AGM attendees #communitylandtrust #communityledhomes #affordablehousing

🏡 Confirming how vital funding is to our movement! This review confirms that the Community Housing Fund ➡ more #affordablehomes ➕ public benefit ➕ innovative and sustainable housing 🏡 It's time for the government to offer new funding. Community Land Trust Network's Tom Chance: “This review shows that the government can stimulate more social housebuilding at a low cost by backing community-led housing. It can also diversify the housebuilding industry, which is needed to achieve the target of 1.5 million homes by the end of this parliament." Rural Urban Synthesis Society Greenwich Citizens Housing Forest Community Land Trust community led housing london Gida Housing Cooperative CREATE STREETS

We're excited to share that #CitizensHouse, our affordable homes in Lewisham, designed by Archio Ltd have been longlisted for the 2024 Dezeen Awards. Among more than 4,130 entries, from 82 countries, Citizens House is one of 227 architecture projects selected on the longlist. What a fantastic platform for #communitylandtrusts! 🏡 Community-led process. 🏡 Genuinely and permanently #affordablehomes. 🏡 Homes that are wanted and needed. Shortlist is announced in October. Read more here 👉 https://lnkd.in/etz6UnXP 📸 FRENCH+TYE

Here's an excellent summary by Tom Chance, Community Land Trust Network CEO, of the obstacles – finance, time, complexity, uncertainty – faced by CLTs. And the reforms that would help us to develop more community-led genuinely and permanently #affordablehomes. 🏡 More on Community Land Trust Network's draft response to the NPPF, with suggestions for a more supportive planning policy here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eiZA_MNc

If the government wants some tips for building its New Towns, it would do well to read Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA)’s ‘Health, hope and prosperity: a vision for healthy new towns‘. It takes Garden City principles as its starting point. But these could equally be community land trust principles. TCPA envisages a community “where people have real agency over their lives”. CLTs are community-led from the initial campaigning to the final design collaborating with a chosen architect. And when people are in control of the homes they want and need, they gravitate towards the TCPA’s excellent framework of principles (see image below). These include genuine affordability; community ownership of land and longterm stewardship of assets; climate resilience; vibrant and inclusive neighbourhoods – and more. If the government develops its New Towns to TCPA’s vision, we’ll all benefit. And if it recognises that CLTs can provide additionality, we’ll really be making progress. 🏡🏡 🏡 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵, 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eYEdN9sW Community Land Trust Network community led housing london CREATE STREETS #communitylandtrust #affordablehomes #communityledhomes

There is a mass of helpful guidance here around small sites, registered providers, climate change mitigation and more. As Community Land Trust Network says, the NPPF consultation "is a big opportunity for the CLT movement…" because the right NPPF "will embolden councils to adopt supportive local policies". 🏡 Consultation closes 24 September. 🏡 #affordablehomes #communitylandtrust #communityledhousing Rural Urban Synthesis Society Greenwich Citizens Housing Forest Community Land Trust community led housing london Gida Housing Cooperative