Opportunities

The Royal Borough of Greenwich recently released two sites which are specifically available for Community Land Trusts.

Greenwich are the latest to join a string of boroughs including Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Croydon, and Camden in creating opportunities for community led housing, with several others work on programmes.

Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Anthony Okereke said “this initiative is part of our pledge to use innovative approaches to develop affordable housing in perpetuity for the borough’s residents and create sustainable communities”.

Details of the two garage sites in Kidbrooke and Abbey Wood are available through the council’s procurement portal by registering and searching for SPS 2457 under opportunities.
Proposals are sought by 28 January 2022.

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets has just released two sites which are specifically available for community-led self-build schemes.

We supported the council in developing their Affordable Self Build programme, which was delayed due to covid-19. Lark Row and Christian Street are the first of the 4 sites to be released by the borough.

The Council are looking for proposals from groups of local people by the 16th of April 2021, and will want to see how28 affordability is protected for future residents beyond the initial self-builders. To find out more about the programme, check out the Tower Hamlets self-build guide.

Camden council seek a local Community Land Trust to lead on delivering a new affordable housing development.

The redevelopment of 31 Daleham Gardens in NW3 will replace housing which was damaged by a fire in 2017, where a resident tragically died.

The Community Land Trust will be responsible for the delivery of around 14 new homes, which will not only be affordable and environmentally sustainable, but will also empower the community, allowing local residents to play a key role in shaping their housing.

Camden council are seeking expressions of interest from community land trusts with strong local knowledge and a focus on delivering high-quality, affordable housing. More information about the process can be found on Camden’s website.

LB Waltham Forest is looking for proposals to build affordable community led housing on two small sites. Interest is expected from local people. Full information about the sites, the form of contracts, and selection criteria are available on the GLA Small Sites x Small Builders web page:

• Claude Road could be of interest for community land trusts, co-ops, and cohousing;
• Kings Road could be of interest for co-ops or self-builders working together and protecting affordability for the future

The launch of these sites follows LB Hackney’s recent self-build challenge on a plot for self-builders in housing need.

We hope to see more opportunities for community led housing in these and other boroughs.

LB Waltham Forest are seeking expressions of interest from CLH groups on whether they would like to purchase a site with planning, once the council have built it out.

Although such “package deal” or “off-plan” purchases are not common in community led housing concepts, they could provide a quicker way of living in community, which we would like to explore.

The council has already got planning permission for the Central Parade site in Walthamstow, and intend to build out the scheme, and are exploring interest amongst CLH groups to purchase the opportunity, either once it’s been built out, or earlier.

The permitted scheme is mixed tenure with 11 market sale, 8 intermediate, and 2 rented, with more information in the Design & Planning Statements. The council are seeking around £1m-£1.25m for the opportunity.

Interested CLH groups should complete the questionnaire at the bottom of this link by Friday 26 June.

 

We are also very interested to hear from households or people who might like to form a group around this site. Take control of how the building is managed, how the community works, and how the shared garden / yard and ground floor non-residential spaces could be used.
Please get in touch on info@communityledhousing.london.