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Aldingbourne, Barnham and Eastergate Community Land Trust (ABE CLT) was set up to develop and manage homes for which people living and working in the parishes will have priority.
Follow up to Housing Needs Survey
The report produced in Autumn 2019, kindly funded by Arun District Council, is available on the ABE CLT website and has informed discussions with Housing Associations, site owners and Arun DC. 489 forms were returned, a response rate of 12.3%.
Headlines:
• 46 households were shown to be in need of affordable housing locally, all having a local connection to the parish
• Only four (8.7%) identified that they are currently on a local authority or housing association housing register
• 59 (12%) said ‘yes’ they had in response to - Has any member of your family left the Parish in the last few years due to a difficulty in finding an affordable home locally?
Partners
The CLT works with partner Housing Associations Aster and Saxon Weald and with support from Arun District Council to obtain sites for affordable housing. Arun funds the Sussex Community Housing Hub at Action in rural Sussex (AirS) and the CLT has benefitted greatly from the expertise of AiRS in moving forward with proposals. The CLT is also working with Southern Housing Association in relation to the Wings Nursery site.
Housing sites
The CLT has been fortunate to be in discussion with owners for 3 sites, all keen to support delivering affordable housing for local people. In Aldingbourne, the CLT supported planning applications at Wings Nursery and land north of Lees Yard on the basis of s106 agreements to secure between them about 30 affordable homes for local people, these sites being identified in the review of the Aldingbourne Neighbourhood Plan as sites to deliver homes for local people. In Barnham the CLT has opened discussions with trustees of the Sidney Winton Trust about having nomination rights on a portion of flats forming part of a redevelopment.
Housing Allocations Policy
Clarity about how the CLT will allocate affordable housing is essential. With help from AirS a Housing Allocations Policy has been developed which prioritises people with local connections while integrating with Arun District Council’s Housing Register and s106 arrangements.
AGM
The second CLT AGM was held in September. The report of the Board’s activities is available on our website. Mike Link was proposed as Chairman, Joanne Brown as Vice Chair. Other Board members stood again and we are most grateful for the work all have done as ordinary local people to create a sound footing for the CLT.
CLT Membership keeps people in touch as housing schemes develop and costs as little as £1 (further donations welcome). A form is available on our website. Aldingbourne PC and Barnham and Eastergate PC appoint observers and we continue to be grateful to both Councils for their interest and financial support. Contact the CLT via infoabeclt@gmail.com if you would like further information.
Visit this website for further updates and please share our work on Facebook at BarnhamCLT, or on Twitter @BarnhamClt.