Eastington’s Community Land Trust

The ECLT aims to ensure that development within the parish is led by the stated priorities of the parishioners rather than those of the builders.

Visit the ECLT website at:-

www.eastingtonclt.uk

ECLT is a group of volunteers who have come together to help alleviate the shortage of Affordable Rented homes in our Parish.

This was highlighted in the Parish Plan 2013 and the subsequent Housing Needs Survey of 2014.

We now have a proposal to meet that need - 23 houses, mainly 1 and 2 bedroom – on a site in Claypits.

The map shows a close-up of Claypits, with the motorway running from the top right-hand corner, the road from the A38 coming in from the top left and the proposed site shaded in red.  

The proposal complies with the Stroud DC Local Plan as well as the new Eastington Neighbourhood Plan.

This report is to inform all parishioners of the outline proposal and further details will be reported in the next edition of the ECN, as design work evolves.

      To start  off, here is the background:

1. - ECLT – what it is and what it aims to achieve
2. - how ECLT arrived at this choice of site,
3. - what is happening now and what happens next

1.  ECLT – what it is and what it aims to achieve

Eastington Community Land Trust (ECLT) was set up in 2013 by ordinary parishioners in response to the lack of affordable housing both for the children of the parish as they grow up and for extended family support as we grow up even more.

The land for the affordable houses will be held by ECLT in perpetuity as a parish asset and will be kept for rental with priority to people with parish connections in perpetuity as well.

The primary aim is to try to fulfil the need whilst helping to resist other, unwanted development in our Parish, as far as possible. Independent measurement of “the need” was undertaken at the Parish Council’s instruction in January 2014.  You can read it all at www.tomlow.co.uk/parishplan where there is an excellent summary on the last page

ECLT was incorporated as a Community Benefit Society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, on 3rd November 2016 to make it fully independent of the Parish Council, in much the same way as the Village Hall or OHMG Community Centre.

There are currently 84 members who have paid their £1 lifetime membership and who will annually elect the Board of Trustees on a democratic basis.

Any person living or working in the parish or who has family links to the parish, is entitled to join by contacting the secretary : tom@eastingtonclt.uk (and paying £1.00).

2.  How ECLT arrived at this choice of site

ECLT has followed on from the work of both the Parish Plan 2013 and the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) of 2016.

During the NDP process, the principle was established that any houses should be within 800 metres of Alkerton Cross retail facilities AND 800 metres of the community facilities around the Owen Harris Memorial Ground. The diagram below shows how circles drawn around both points intersect in a rugby ball shape.

Every landowner inside the “Rugby Ball” was interviewed (some several times) to establish whether they would sell land for affordable housing.

Only two were willing to sell at a price which allowed 100% affordable homes to rent, of which the Claypits site (C) was closest to Alkerton Cross.

The location complies with NDP policy 8.0.6 and Stroud DC Local Plan policy HC4 (Exception sites), as confirmed by the Parish Council and Stroud DC planners.

3.  What is happening now and what happens next

We have started what is called “pre-application” studies, consultations and discussions. The objective is to prove the Feasibility – in planning, community and financial terms – of the Project. A grant of £10,000 from a Government agency called Locality Groundworks has been obtained, boosted by £2,000 from the Parish Council Solar Fund.

The first element is to employ a number of specialists to look at the site and identify any issues that may prove either expensive or indeed impossible to resolve. These include : Ground Survey,  a Highways report and a Sound survey.

Community consultation began in the 2011/12 Parish Survey, then the 2013/14 Housing Needs Survey and the NDP from 2014 to 2016. Now that a specific site has been identified, ECLT will be listening to ideas to improve the scheme and to concerns parishioners may have, in order to move to full Planning Application with a consensus which works.

Finally in this stage, ECLT needs to produce a Feasibility Study, complete with Project Plan and Business Plan, which stacks up. For this we will be working closely with Aster Group, a Housing Association with a strong track record of helping CLTs. Aster have 27,000 affordable homes, spread across the West Country. Aster must find the funding (maybe £2.5 million) and take responsibility for the build phase.

What happens next?   Everything depends on the Feasibility Study. If it is positive, ECLT will move to a full Planning Application. At a best guess, this would be in the Spring of next year.

There would be further public consultation, discussions with the Parish Council and with Stroud DC Planners.

Watch out for updates in the Eastington Community News and for banners and leaflets advertising Village Hall meetings. Come along to those to see the detailed plans and to make your views known, please.