This welcome initiative was launched by the Homes and Communities Agency on 17th April whereby Rural Policy Advisors are to be available to assist Local Authorities in improving the supply of urgently needed rural affordable homes. The summary notes from the launch made mention of CLTs which indicated that the real situation was not widely understood. Hence Andy Lloyd provided this report by email to the the new Rural Policy Advisors and to Directors at NW HCA:

30th April 2009

Dear Dan & Sophie,

First of all a big welcome to you both in your valuable roles promoting rural affordable housing. My reason for emailing is to do with what seems to be an information gap in the perceptions of those attending the launch of the Rural Affordable Housing Project as reported in the feedback summary. I understand people may not be up to speed on what is happening with CLTs, but as the situation is much more interesting than the feedback describes I'd value an opportunity to circulate more accurate information on the real circumstances CLTs are working in. For instance now that Holy Island CLT have become the first CLT to have HCA grant in their bank account, and as the Community Empowerment Fund is now backing the National CLT Demonstration Project out of Salford University, it would seem in the interest of both the HCA and DCLG to help everyone to be up to speed as things evolve. 

The feedback from the Rural Affordable Housing Project was -

CLTs were discussed by many delegates and the general impression was one of ‘the jury is still out’. It was questioned how effective these were and how long they took to deliver. It was thought that they raised a number of problems and further experience / guidance needed to be shared before people felt confident that they could deliver.

Whereas this is what has actually been happening -

Whilst some of the new rural CLTs may appear stuck 'the jury' returned long ago for other communities such as Wooler, Coin Street, and the Isle of Gigha who have been delivering impressive sustainable social and economic regeneration via mixed community owned assets for some time. Of the three rural grant pilots in the pipeline Holy Island as mentioned is now the first to receive grant - perhaps due to stronger regional HCA support and having the DTA as intermediaries, whereas Worth Matravers and Buckland Newton still seem exasperated a the lack of progress. BN & WM actually acheived planning permission some time ago, and did so within the same timescales as RSL schemes (four years from survey to DPP) despite working through novel issues in reserved matters around suitable allocations policies, lender support, and failure scenarios. The delays after that point (several years) have been to do with the difficulty the HC / HCA has had in handling applications for modest amounts of grant (BN £150,000 for ten units). Fortunately Holy Island has now paved the way for others to follow, with the hope that the process can be further refined to become properly community friendly. We are also looking with the DTA at community share issues as an alternative or complementary route to funding.

The new wave of CLTs in the UK may not be widely established, but does need to be credited for their efforts rather than being subject to inaccurate comment. For instance CLT schemes are being costed at the same or less than RSL schemes yet being described as more costly, which is also frustrating. Example St Minver CLT Cornwall completed Dec 08 by Alan Fox at Cornwall Rural HA £85,000 per 3 bed unit & garage. Example Worth Matravers CLT eco build, initially costed below RSL m2 costs, now same as.

Trust based housing in the UK (alms houses / Letchworth Garden City) has a solid record regards community support and real perpetuity, and of course in the USA CLTs opperate in hundreds of cities with thousands of units (see bursaries for the Building and Social Housing Foundation study visit to Champlain CLT Sept 09), with lenders supporting their unique ultra low default mortgage models.

If you are interested please refer to the the powerpoint in the CLT section of www.crht.org.uk and details on this years national CLT conference June 30th London.

Kind regards

Andy