Introduction
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Community Land Trusts - A practitioner's guide 1 Introduction Across the world access to land remains one of the most So what does come after right to buy? Perhaps the question politically fractious issues, from aboriginal rights in Australia and should be to ask what values should shape housing policy. uneven land distribution in the Americas to housing in Britain. The first thing to accept is that the main benefit of right to buy Disputes are invariably connected to ownership, and what can (fulfilling the desire of people to own their own home) will be be done on or with the land. lost if there isn’t a means to help the next generation get onto the home ownership ladder. This requires a combination of more In Britain ideological battles about land and housing formed a housing and a new finance package; and it needs to be designed backdrop to the post-war period. State ownership of land and to counteract the negative social impact of turning homes into the subsequent mass construction of council housing dominated commodities, which fractures communities, prices families out of the 1950s and 1960s. At the same time farmers were more desirable areas and forces people to live further from their encouraged to engage in intensive farming to feed a rapidly place of work. expanding population, which led to farm amalgamations and further reductions in agricultural employment. Many farms and This guide deals with one potential solution: Community Land farm buildings became redundant. Trusts (CLTs), which are based on the assumption that land and its use can be separated. After Margaret Thatcher became prime minister in 1979, things began to change. Council tenants were given the right to buy ‘In their modern form, CLTs have retained a clear and defined their homes, increasing the membership of the ‘home owning purpose. They exist to sustain community ownership, lock in land democracy’. However, this contributed to the growing gap value and support community based housing and enterprise. In between rich and poor. The centrality of asset ownership to the context of escalating house prices in recent years, they can British economic life meant that increasing wealth fed into house deliver affordable rural housing to local people on modest price inflation and, in rural areas, the purchase of second and incomes by taking the land cost out of the development retirement homes. equation. In the context of urban regeneration or to meet the Government’s Decent Homes standard, they provide a route for The impact has been that home ownership has become less public assets to be transferred to local ownership, thereby affordable and at the same time fewer affordable homes are engaging and involving the community with its valuable available in both urban and rural areas. Many rural workers find understanding of local needs and circumstances. In addition to it impossible to live near their place of work due to high securing affordable house prices, CLTs can provide job house prices. opportunities and support the development of community owned land and property assets.’ (Section 1.1.2) Away from the intensive policy and media environment of metropolitan areas, many people feel ignored and patronised by The guide describes how the ‘value lock’ works to the benefit of politicians and policymakers who don’t seem to understand their the householder and the community, ensuring that while needs. Even in the poorest urban areas, as house prices continue householders gain from an appreciating stake in their homes, to rise, questions are being asked about who the community the community keeps the property for future generations. belongs to, and how to ensure there are enough homes for the existing community and their families. Community Land Trusts and their forerunners have a long history in Britain and those interested in this should read Section 10. At the heart of this debate is the failure to ask what comes after Ebenezer Howard’s garden city model, which continues to be the right to buy. Selling off council houses only helped one represented by Letchworth Garden City, is the most significant generation and reduced the availability to those who followed. Community Land Trust in England, though Scotland has been This has been compounded by a growing population, fewer leading the debate in recent years. people per household, and insufficient house building. It does not take an economist to tell us that limited supply and unchecked Reviewing some of the literature on Community Land Trusts and demand result in inflation – and that’s before discussing multiple reading this guide, it is possible to discern seven interrelated home ownership and the growth of the ‘buy to let’ market. principles: Of course the simplest solution involves building more houses, 1. A separation of land and its use; whether through a new stock of council housing (using the 2. Capturing land for use by future generations; receipts from previous sales) or private sector development with a 3. An acceptance that enterprise and trade are necessary and proportion of affordable homes. But that only answers part of the people want to build asset values, while acknowledging we are question. After all, what’s to stop these new properties being more than just economic actors; bought by those seeking a return on their investment? Do they 4. A belief that communities do exist and that there are enough address our propensity to live alone, and do they add to local people in those communities who want to be actively involved. communities or become soulless estates disfiguring the Underneath this is an assumption that local control matters; environment and leading to social problems? More homes are 5. A perception that communities are more effective than the certainly needed, but there is a need to rebalance the economic state in forwarding their interests; and social considerations when building. 6. Activity must maintain the value of the land, ensuring 2 is fulfilled; 7. Collective activity must be on a scale that is manageable. Community Land Trusts - A practitioner's guide Community Land Trusts - A practitioner's guide 2 3 Route map: how to use this guide This list is not exhaustive and not all supporters of CLTs sign up to The purpose of this guide is to provide tools, technical resources by drawing upon the practical experiences of some urban these perspectives. But while some may be given a higher priority and contacts for developing a community land trust (CLT) project. and rural projects. than others, they all inform the process of creating a CLT and those involved in it. It is not intended to be comprehensive but does seek to include Section 8, From space to place is about setting up a CLT for the material and advice which is relevant, whether the aim is urban long term. It contains information about the marketing, sales and Consequently, the concept of a Community Land Trust is a regeneration, affordable rural housing, workspace or a lettings of the completed property, together with suggestions for curious synthesis of political stances, combining elements of community building. The guide aims to give help in getting operational sustainability and preserving affordability in socialist libertarianism, co-operativism, One Nation Toryism, started and also to be a useful reference tool throughout the perpetuity. neo-liberal social policy, and Schumacher-inspired Green politics various stages of a project. To this end it includes some helpful and localism. What they share, to a greater or lesser extent, is an contacts and references for further information and support. On the website there are case studies which should help to give acceptance that humans are social and responsible beings and encouragement and inspiration by finding out how others they are the best agents to make decisions about their future. The main body of the guide consists of explanatory text achieved their vision. To limit the size of this toolkit, these papers Moreover, they imply that we are part of communities so that enhanced by additional documents containing further or are only available online. So that new groups can share their informal social mechanisms are the best means to maintain order. technical information, precedents and examples of documents experiences, ideas and obstacles, the website will also include a This relies on a sense of ‘knowingness’ (awareness of others and and leaflets. We have called these ‘exhibits’, and they can be ‘portal’ from early 2007, where details of schemes can be posted your links to them) and the self-limiting obligation best found at www.communitylandtrust.org.uk. This is an evolving so that communities and their supporters can find out what summarised as stewardship. In sociological terms community land area of policy and other material will be developed. It is worth others are doing. The exhibits on the website also include trusts owe far more to Durkheim than they do to Marx or Smith. checking the website for the most up to date information. examples of documentation which others have used. The principles behind Community Land Trusts and the underlying As a supplement to the toolkit, there is a brief history that political philosophy are still nascent. There is much work to do explains some of the thinking behind community land trusts. before a cogent theoretical understanding emerges. However, that is a task for another project. Section 1 is intended as a resource for anyone who needs to make the case for CLTs to funders, local authorities, landowners This guide seeks to be a practical document for those who want and other stakeholders. It offers a definition of CLTs and, to establish a CLT. It does not assume that CLTs will solve the in conjunction with the website, an overview of the current policy social housing problem in England, but does indicate that they context as it applies to both rural and urban communities.