What is Newton and Noss Community Land Trust?
A Community Land Trust (CLT) is a Not-for-Profit Organisation set up to benefit a specific community or communities.
Newton and Noss Community Land Trust has its roots in many years of community action and has been established to help protect the long term sustainability of our villages. As a CLT, we can own land and other assets, which are important to our community. The role of a CLT is to ensure that local people remain in control of local assets.
Our aim is to enable families and individuals with a ‘Strong Local Connection’, who need to rent their homes, to continue to live and work within the Parish, thus rebalancing and strengthening our community. We’re planning to start this process by building (subject to planning) eighteen Social Rent homes at Collaton, and because of the shortage of suitable building land in the Parish, the CLT can ensure that these homes are retained in perpetuity for the local community.
More information on Community Land Trusts can be found on the National CLT Network website
http://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/
Why are the CLT involved in Collaton?
We, Pillar Land Securities (Collaton) are committed to providing the mix of homes that are truly needed by the neighbouring communities. We recognise the role a CLT will have in ‘plugging a gap’ in the housing on offer in the Parish, and to make sure the CLT are included, they have very generously offered to gift us serviced plots for eighteen homes free of charge; an opportunity that the Parish has been working towards for many years.
What does Social Rent mean?
Social Rent homes have rents pegged to local incomes, and provide a truly affordable, secure housing option, for people across the country. Social Rent homes are provided by Housing Associations (not-for-profit organisations that own, let, and manage rented housing) and let to households assessed by Devon Home Choice as being in Housing Need in bands A, B, C, D or E. The rent will never exceed the Local Housing Allowance rate.
For more information please visit: https://www.devonhomechoice.
Why does our Parish need a Community Land Trust?
At the moment, we have over fifty rented homes, managed by a Housing Association, plus twenty-five homes for the over-55s in Newton Ferrers, with three more for the over-55’s being built at Parsonage Farm.
Many of these rented homes do have a ‘Local Connection’ requirement, but only for people assessed as being in Housing Needs bands A-D; essentially, people that are in really dire straits, and maybe at risk of being homeless. Currently, there are in excess of 25,000 households waiting for a Social Rent home in Devon, so pressure is extreme.
The problem we have in Newton and Noss, is that many of our locals who need to rent are either living with family or renting in the private sector on short term rentals, and, as they have a roof over their heads, are assessed in Housing Needs band E, and as such as very unlikely to ever qualify for a Government run home. To complicate matters even further, there are only two one-bedroom homes for the under-55’s in the Parish, so single people, or couples in bands A-D, who only qualify for a one-bedroom home, are also extremely unlikely to be offered a home here.
Our proposed eighteen homes at Collaton will be for people with a ‘Strong Local Connection’, who are registered with Devon Home Choice and assessed in bands A, B, C, D and E.
What are we proposing at Collaton?
The plan, based on our current understanding of what is needed, is to build (subject to planning):
- 4 x 1 bed maisonettes
- 2 x 1 bed houses
- 7 x 2 bed houses
- 5 x 3 bed houses
Every home will have its own garden and parking for at least two cars.
The homes will be built and managed by our partner Housing Association, Teign Housing Association, who are based in Newton Abbot. The Housing Association will allocate the homes in accordance with our Allocation Policy.
Who is eligible and how will the homes be allocated?
The homes will be let by Teign Housing, through the Devon Home Choice scheme and subject to the Newton and Noss Community Housing Local Allocation Policy.
The homes will only be let to a person who:
- is registered with Devon Home Choice; and
- is assessed by DHC to be in need of accommodation in Bands A, B, C, D or E; and
- has a ‘Strong Local Connection’ with the Parish of Newton and Noss
Households will be prioritised by ‘Strong Local Connection’ and then, if there are more applicants at any level than there are homes, by Housing Need.
We will also allocate a spare room, where possible:
- to families with children of opposite sexes, irrespective of age
- to households who have a child/children who do not live with them full-time, but have overnight contact with them at weekends, during school holidays, or occasional overnight access
- to couples
If there is no-one eligible in Newton and Noss then Teign Housing will allocate the homes to eligible households in the following Parishes, in this order: Holbeton, Yealmpton, Brixton, Wembury.
What does ‘Strong Local Connection’ to the Parish of Newton and Noss mean?
In determining whether someone has a strong local connection Teign Housing will consider (in this order):
1. At least one member of the applicant’s household has lived in the Parish for 3 of the 5 years immediately preceding allocation2. At least one member of the applicant’s household has Immediate Family Members who have lived in the Parish for at least 10 years immediately preceding allocation. (Definition of immediate family: Parents, step-parents, siblings, children, step-children nb. other categories of relationship may be considered including foster relationships or a long established carer, where clear evidence of frequent contact, commitment or dependency is shown)
3. At least one member of the applicant’s household has Immediate Family Members who have lived in the Parish for at least 5 years immediately preceding allocation
4. At least one member of the applicant’s household has Close Family Members who have lived in the Parish for at least 10 years immediately preceding allocation (Definition of Close family: Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews. n.b. other categories of relationship may be considered including foster relationships or a long established carer, where clear evidence of frequent contact, commitment or dependency is shown)
5. At least one member of the applicant’s household has Close Family Members who have lived in the Parish for at least 5 years immediately preceding allocation
6. At least one member of the applicant’s household was formerly a permanent resident of the Parish for a continuous period of 5 years or more (including as a child/young adult)
7. At least one member of the applicant’s household is permanently Employed in the Parish which has continued for the 6 months preceding the allocation (including self-employment)8. The applicant has one or more children attending Newton Ferrers Primary School
9. At least one member of the applicant’s household has been nominated by the Trust as someone with an exceptional reason to be considered. (This nomination must be unanimously supported by the board of directors of the Trust)