Our Trust’s job is to develop and build genuinely
affordable housing for local residents and workers, many of them
young people, that will always remain in the our village’s
ownership. We are the village-owned not-for-profit
Pulborough Community Land Trust, so totally different to
commercial housing developers or housing associations.
Vital local jobs, in retail, maintenance, transport, offices,
health care or social services etc., often do not pay workers
enough to live locally. And we all know the rocketing costs of
local housing. So our Trust aims to build local homes at
lower costs to rent or part purchase, to be affordable to local
people on local wages who live or work here.
About Pulborough CLT:
A Community Land
Trust (CLT) is like a housing developerbut
owned by the local community. Owning, building and
running property assets in Pulborough for the benefit of all
Pulborough residents as well as for their children‘s generation.
CLTs allow communities
to design and build local housing for themselves. They are not
for personal profit but are community based organisations that
develop all types of housing for young and old, together with
business space, and other assets that meet the needs of local
people. They
are owned and controlled by their Members, who must all be local
residents, although housing for established local workers will
also be considered.
There are now almost 290 CLTs in England and Wales,
and they have completed 826 affordable homes. There are an
estimated 5800 more homes in the pipeline - proving the success
of CLTs - with several excellentlocal examples that can be
visited. This also means that we can learnfrom
the experience of local CLTs who are always prepared to share
their experience.
There are also surprisingly generous Government
grants to spend on expert help and start up costs, which we have
already applied for to help get us going. You can find out a
lot more by exploring the website www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk.
To see one view of why we need affordable housing in Pulborough
(as presented to our launch meeting) see Why
Pulborough needs a CLT.
Action in Rural Sussex Housing Needs Survey
Report 2023 Action in Rural Sussex (AiRS) is an independent charity, who
have previously produced housing needs surveys in support of the
Pulborough village Neighbourhood Plan, and carried out this web
based survey during February 2023. In summary the survey shows
that 85% of respondents supported the aims of our trust to provide
affordable housing on rural exception sites. See the report
here: Final
report
Social housing vs
affordable housing:
There is a
difference between social housing, which is aimed at those in
need and who are supported by benefits, and affordable housing
which is aimed at young people starting out or those not
earning enough to pay for rented accommodation or get a
mortgage. The wages for care workers, shop assistants,
teaching assistants, nursing assistants, many tradesmen and
all those other people who support the community and in fact
anyone on the median wage for Horsham District – let alone
those on less than that – means they cannot afford the
cheapest rented property or any mortgage available on any
Pulborough property.
The government’s
definition of affordable housing is too expensive for such
people. That’s why they live on the coast and commute here.The
aim of the CLT is to build and own properties in Pulborough
that will go to those with a Pulborough connection, either
working or living here.Social housing, run by Saxon Weald and
others, goes to people from anywhere. The CLT members will
decide who gets the houses the CLT builds and owns. The number
of over 65s in Pulborough is expected to rise by a third by
2030 and such people need more help than the younger
generations so we need to make provision for the people who
will provide that help, help in the widest sense.
If you already
live or work in the Pulborough Parish, all you have to do to
become a Member of the new Pulborough CLT is to buy a share
of £1 using this form.
Members
can join just to find out more, to suggest ideas or, even
better, to provide the knowhow and skills required to run the
CLT. We will need expert help for surveys, design,
construction, fund raising, social media, and project
management.
You can also ask to be kept informed if you do now wish to
become a member, e-mail
pulboroughclt for more information.
Currently we are
researching for suitable sites for a small development of between 6 and 20 dwellings, which may include self-build. We
have a shortlist of 3 sites but would be
glad to hear of any possible sites.
News
We are currently
seeking funding to pursue planning permission for a 'rural
exception site' in the Pulborough Parish. As an
exception site it is not covered by the Neighbourhood
Plan.
We are preparing a
housing needs survey to go to all residents to be run on
our behalf by by Action in Rural Sussex.
If you have not yet become a
shareholder, please do consider it. It only costs from
£1 and it gives you voting rights, which will be important
when we come to consider the type of housing we build.
You can drop your form off, with £1, at the Parish Office in
the Village Hall or at Number Three, Rectory Lane.
For more information and
answers to questions see our Q&As.
About us
Pulborough
Community Land Trust Ltd. was formed in August 2018
and is incorporated as a Community Benefit Society -
number 7975 - Registered address Number Three, Rectory
Lane, Pulborough, West Sussex, RH20 2AB.
Our CLT is supported by
Pulborough Parish Council, the Pulborough Community
Partnership and is a member of the National CLT
Network. It abides by the Code
of Good Practice set by the CLT Network.
It has a Board
which meets 3 monthly consisting of
Roger Paterson
MBE (Chairman). Chair of Rural West Sussex
Partnership for economic development. Previously
District Councillor, inc Chairman, of Horsham DC. Business
career as Division President of The Stanley Works (Stanley
Tools).
Anna
McMorran. Formerly
Chartered Surveyor with degree in Estate Management
and Masters in Land Economy. Currently
Ambassador and fundraiser for Sussex based charity
Children on the Edge.
Chris
Metters. (Treasurer)Global
Compliance Manager for Chapman Freeborn (Aircraft
Charters), formerly Company Secretary.
Kate Williams
(Vice Chair & Legal Secretary). 11 years law firm experience. 6 yrs as a legal
secretary, and 5 yrs paralegal mostly covering dispute
resolution and insolvency.
Andy
Tilbrook. Formerly chair of the Pulborough
Parish Council Planning & Services Committee, acting chairman of
Pulborough neighbourhood plan group. Retired deputy dean
of faculty of Engineering, Science and the Built
Environment at London South Bank University.
Stephanie Farr. Formerly a qualified PA in London
Architectural Practices and and a Sales Executive for a
Storrington company dealing with key accounts.
Currently runs a local cleaning company with approximately
a dozen cleaners.
Assisting the Board as Project
Manager for the planning process is
Justin Harper-Ronald (Architect). 7 years in the
British army before going back to university to retrain
as an Architect. Currently acting Managing Director of a
medium size architectural practice working on projects
from £100k to £20m.
Currently it has around 40 member/shareholders.
It has a Twitter account
@PulboroughCLT and a Facebook page 'Pulborough CLT'.