What are Community Land Trusts?

Community Land Trusts are locally-based, not for profit organisations which own assets such as land and building through a trust democratically controlled by the community.Below is some helpful introductory material on CLT's.

The Community Land Trust Website http://www.communitylandtrust.org.uk/

Community Land Trusts & Mutual Housing Models. A research report for the Mayor of London. (community_land_trusts_models.pdf)

Community Finance Solutions - an initiative of the University of Salford (CLT nat demo project.doc)

Read the Quirk Report ( CommunityManagementandOwnershipofAssets.pdf)

Putting the Community before Profit

For more than a year people in Lewes have been talking about how we can get development that puts our needs first rather than developer’s profits. Lewes Community Land Trust has now been formed to do just that. The Trust will conduct a survey of householders to see what priorities local people would like to set for development or regeneration of precious land in a Town hemmed in by AONB/National Park land. Lewes CLT will work alone or in  partnership with local authorities and national agencies and possibly commercial developers to achieve these aims, with help from professionals as need be. The Department of Communities and Local Government is encouraging community participation of this kind and the trustees will seek assistance and funding from these programmes.

Lewes CLT has expressed a desire for the North Street area to continue to be used for employment purposes for the moment rather than see it cleared and redeveloped for a large amount of housing, which might be unsustainable if flood risk increases as fast as some studies now suggest. The trustees see this as a continuation of the Council’s North Street Vision consultation. Whilst there are some empty units on the developer’s land in the Phoenix Industrial Estate, this may have more to do with ‘blight’ caused by his proposals than the lack of demand. The units in North Street on Council-owned land are fully occupied by thriving businesses. Repainting and recladding of some units and replacement of units that have burnt out would improve the look and usefulness of the site immediately and at a low cost. Great benefit to the community could be gained from developing a riverside walk, transitional parking in parts of the site that are not in use, and community use of the former Phoenix Foundry building for arts, exhibition and cinema. Lewes CLT have proposed the development of a media and technology park. It is the type, scale and density of development Angel Property is proposing that is considered unacceptable. Flooding is a greater threat to homes than it is to businesses. Does it make sense to invest £200m and put another 600 homes in an area where just one home flooded in 2000?

North Street is not the only site the Trust is interested in. Land outside the floodplain should be developed for housing – especially publicly owned land and especially for affordable housing. Lewes must play its part in providing the extra housing needed in the South East. But it must also give a priority to providing homes for the sons and daughters of residents who are priced out of the market in the Town where they live and for key workers like teachers, nurses and police officers who need a part equity scheme to get them on the housing ladder in a high price area.

Lewes CLT is a not for profit company in the course of registering as a charity. Its trustees all live in the Town.