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New Boost for Rural Homes Initiatives
May 4, 2010 --
Community organisations trying to build affordable homes in the rural towns and villages of Somerset and Dorset are to get valuable business support from a new partnership.
Resonance and Wessex Community Assets are today revealing details of a two year partnership to pilot a support business for Community Land Trusts across Somerset and Dorset. The “action research project” is being supported by the Carnegie UK Trust, which promotes sustainable rural communities, using funding secured from the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Paul Sander-Jackson, Executive Director of Wessex Community Assets, says there’s a huge challenge ahead:
“We are very excited to be awarded a key role in stimulating and supporting communities to tackle the urgent problem of providing housing that is affordable for people who want to live and work in our towns and villages.”
Steve Watson, Resonance, formerly CEO of Somer Housing Association, will be leading the technical assistance team with outreach support from Alison Ward of Wessex Community Assets. Initially the team are working to establish relationships with key partners operating in and around the Dorset and Somerset area and identify communities that have both the housing need and capacity on the ground to develop a Community Land Trust.
Daniel Brewer, Director of Resonance, says the partnership creates an opportunity to put ideas into action for the people of rural Dorset and Somerset:
“There are a number of critical success factors we are looking to test, but we are currently convinced that having community entrepreneurs with focus and tenacity is one of them. Our role will be to walk with these key individuals to navigate the community development journey by providing expertise in project management and raising funds.”
Carnegie UK Trust awarded the contract to Resonance and Wessex Community Assets because of the team's experience in affordable housing, community development and financing social enterprise. The project has been devised on the basis of experience gained across the UK in finding community-led solutions to meet housing need, including practical examples from the South West region and the regional support of the Cornwall Community Land Trust Project.
Kate Braithwaite, Director, Rural Programme at Carnegie UK Trust, said:
“We want to demonstrate that the success in Cornwall, Northumberland and other regionscan be replicated, built upon and rolled out across the UK.
”Our objective is to provide a mechanism for communities to build homes that are affordable for local people and simultaneously enabling them to have greater influence and control over their environment.”
Initial funding for the project is for 2 years by which time it is hoped the umbrella organisation will become self-supporting through fees charged to successful developments.
Notes to Editors:
The legal definition of a Community Land Trust is as found in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008:
A Community land trust is a corporate body which,
1. is established for the express purpose of furthering the social, economic and environmental interests of a local community by acquiring and managing land and other assets in order -
◦ to provide a benefit to the local community
◦ to ensure that the assets are not sold or developed except in a manner which the trust's members think benefits the local community
2. is established under arrangements which are expressly designed to ensure that:
◦ to ensure that the assets are not sold or developed except in a manner which the trust's members think benefits the local community
◦ individuals who live or work in the specified area have the opportunity to become members of the trust
◦ the members of a trust control it
The Carnegie UK Trust works to develop evidence-based policy to support beneficial change for people living in the UK and Ireland. The Trust is one of over twenty foundations worldwide endowed by Scots American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Martin Evans is the Trust Chief Executive. Our current core workstreams are around
- democracy and giving new hope to people who feel powerless about policy;
- examining the role of not-for-profit “civil society” and whether its time for the voice of the grass roots to be heard in political and business decisions; and
- supporting people in rural communities to take charge of shaping their futures.
Resonance Limited is a social finance intermediary. The company assists social enterprises in securing investment from values-led investors, and supports organizations with investment readiness, as well as providing other complementary services such as project or property management. Resonance also operates Equity Plus Limited as a joint venture with Celarben Ventures Limited. Equity Plus runs the Social Enterprise Angel Network. www.resonance.ltd.uk
Wessex Community Assets (WCA) is an Industrial and Provident Society (IPS) for community benefit which facilitates the flow of investment into rural assets and enterprises in the South West. It currently has 3 main areas of work: community investment support, IPS registrations and research and development. Paul Sander-Jackson is Executive Director for WCA, which is part of the Wessex Reinvestment Trust group, including Wessex Home Improvement Loans and Wessex Reinvestment Society
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