We offer practical support and advice to boroughs and others on creating opportunities for community led housing which fit your strategies and achieve your objectives.
Community led housing can diversify and contribute to housing supply, unlocking delivery and increasing density in tricky contexts, including small sites and existing estates. Schemes lock-in affordability in perpetuity, and create mutually supportive and more independent communities.
Creating opportunities
We have a range of technical resources for CLH projects or initiatives. The NPPF says planning authorities “should seek opportunities, through policies and decisions, to support small sites to come forward for community-led development for housing”.
Our Coproduction Framework provides guidance on developing partnerships with communities.
We’ve hosted Borough CLH Forums with Future of London following their Foundations for CLH programme and report.
We work closely with officers as an extension to your team, to bring forward community led housing initiatives and projects. This tends to mean flexible resourcing for specific projects as required or requested:
LB Tower Hamlets had cabinet approval to make small housing sites available for community-led self-build. The council ran public workshops and we advised on their plans to make sites available as part of an internal project team, liaising with legal and procurement colleagues. Three small sites were released, with several others identified.
LB Waltham Forest have cabinet approval for an overarching approach and processes to make small sites available for CLH. Two sites have been released for CLH proposals. We were involved in early policy development, and CLH has also been referenced in planning policy. There have also been attempts to include requirements for a proportion of CLH as part of larger schemes with developers.
LB Croydon are bringing forward small sites for community-led housing. The Lawns was released first with an offer of council development management support for successful CLH groups. There is cabinet approval for up to 5 sites, and consultation began on a second site before the pandemic. We helped in early workshops to reach latent demand and advised on the process.
LB Barking & Dagenham and Be First have a cabinet approval with sites earmarked for innovative housing including CLH. Due diligence is ongoing on several sites, some of which should be released through the GLA’s Small Sites x Small Builders programme. We have discussed the process and are working on a developer enabled approach to CLH and reaching out to latent demand locally.
RB Greenwich have built on their strategic support for Community Land Trusts by approving the delegated disposal of two sites for CLTs, and ran a process to select CLTs during 2022.
LB Camden received cabinet approval to dispose of a site in Hampstead to a local CLT. We supported the preparation of a short Expression of Interest process to identify a CLT.
More recently, we have supported the Council’s community call for sites that could deliver CLH.
LB Brent sought cabinet approval to reserve a site in Stonebridge for a local Community Land Trust. We advised on cabinet papers and how the site could be transferred.
LB Newham cabinet approved the transfer of a small garage site in Canning Town to E16 Community Land Trust, which we have been facilitating for a long time.
LB Harrow have cabinet approval to delegate the disposal of several sites for CLH. The council is working with 2 CLH organisations in developing detailed proposals. We advised on cabinet papers and CLH definitions, and are now supporting schemes.
LB Hackney have a commitment to identify a site for CLT development. We have supported officers with research to identify a suitable site. The Council also launched a self-build challenge in 2020.
LB Southwark have released a small site for CLT development, after the Southwark Land Commission final report supported CLH in 2023. Southwark have historically led partnerships with Tenant Management Organisations such as Leathermarket CBS.
Our team have had a role in establishing LB Lewisham‘s pro-active support for community-led housing, alongside their own arms-length development. Lewisham has a wide range of community led housing activity.
Coproduction in housing and regeneration
We’re also supporting a number of coproduction processes, and are looking for more organisations and partnerships to work with. Our projects range from regeneration and development to housing services and management.