Representatives from four of the North Devon CLTs meeting to discuss and share information on their projects.
We’re always keen to learn from and share with other local Community Land Trusts. Recently, we were pleased to welcome colleagues from Braunton, Lynton & Lynmouth, and Mortehoe & Woolacombe, along with Alison Ward from Middlemarch, to Ilfracombe.
We heard of the challenges facing local CLTs - long struggles to get planning permission, to find suitable and affordable land, and indeed to find anywhere flat enough to build on that hasn’t already been snapped up for other uses. Conversely, while many areas have large empty buildings, converting them to modern accommodation is beyond the reach of most CLT budgets.
However, there was also good news. Firstly, the enabling works on Ilfracombe’s former Bicclescombe Nursery site are complete, and our partners, Aster Housing Association, will soon appoint a contractor for the building works.
Secondly, we were all especially cheered to hear that Woolacombe CLT finally has planning permission to build on some National Trust land next to the Village Hall. This is the culmination of over twenty years’ work - clearly, we all need to have persistence and patience!
We agreed to send a letter to Ian Roome MP, asking him to lobby the Housing Minister to allocate the English portion of the £100m windfall from the Competition and Markets Authority to community-led housing.
We also agreed to contact North Devon District Council about the potential for CLTs to use existing properties for community housing.
We’re grateful to our neighbouring CLTs for taking the time to join us, and we hope they’ll agree that it was time well spent.