Dates :Thursday June 9th, evening, Friday June 10th, evening, Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th, both lunchtime onwards.

Venue :The Vaults

Entertainment :Bands, singers, DJs. A mix of local talent and great acts from further afield. Younger players and older ones, ska, indie,dance, dub, rock, jazz and everything. Details to follow soon.

Fundraising : Sale of Clt shares, selling food on the Saturday and Sunday, raffles and donations.

          Last year we raised about £2,300 at this event and recruited over 40 new members. With good preparation and plenty of volunteers we can do just as well or even better this year. Get it in your diary! Go on. NOW

]]> http://bcclt.co.uk/2011/01/constuction-has-begun/feed/ 0 http://bcclt.co.uk/2011/01/constuction-has-begun/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bcclt/~3/62FB7KFwRrY/ http://bcclt.co.uk/2011/01/other-news-updates/#comments Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:15:16 +0000 Jim http://bcclt.co.uk/?p=275 At our  recent AGM, 2 new directors were elected to the Board. Welcome to Stuart Phillips and Tim Phillips (no relation!).

Latest Membership, 185 members. Great stuff! Still need more, though!

Big thankyou to all who helped selling food for the Land Trust at the recent celebration for the Three Tuns Brewery. The sales raised £80.

Huge thankyou to all at the Three Tuns Brewery for donating all the sales of beer at the event to BCCLT and the Town Hall Restoration Fund. Our share was £250.

  Landfest was held over 4 days at the Vaults, Bishop’s Castle,– Thursday evening, Friday evening, and Saturday and Sunday from 1.00pm. Entertainment was supplied by 10 bands and 4 DJs. At least 30 volunteers helped out in various other ways, including holding a raffle each night, looking after the “information and shares” table, cooking and serving food for sale throughout Saturday and Sunday and helping with the venue and stage.

The raffles raised £565.00, the food raised £625.00 and the shares sales came to £1,190. A huge thankyou is due to all these volunteers and to all who gave, all who played and all who came along. The biggest thankyou must go to Mandy Green and Wayne Martin at the Vaults. They worked really hard, calmly and cheerfully. Without their positive attitude, Landfest couldn’t have happened. They’re both now members of the CLT.

  The benefits from Landfest go well beyond the funds raised. 40 new members joined, many of them young people. The atmosphere at the event was great. Everyone commented on what a good time it was, and all the better for the feeling that there was a real purpose to it. There’s lots of talk about making it an annual event!

Capital Grant for Kings Head scheme.

Great news! We’ve obtained £80,000 of capital funding towards the cost of building our first two houses on the site between the King’s Head and the Auction Yard. The Homes and Communities Agency, the UK Government’s social housing provider, has found £50,000 for us, and Shropshire Council has agreed to make available another £30,000. It’s very rare for such a small body as a Community Land Trust to get HCA funding. This national agency would normally deal only with the biggest Housing Associations. They’re interested in us partly because it’s becoming more widely recognised that CLT’s might be a very important factor in providing affordable housing in the future, and partly because we convinced them that an exceptional place like Bishops Castle, with an exceptionally committed community, deserves exceptional treatment!

  The overall cost of the development is about £160,000. This includes the provision of services to the site, buying the land,the build cost, overseeing the project and so on.

The Urgent Need for Local Fund-raising NOW!

Now that we’ve secured about 50% of the cost, there’s no doubt that the project will go ahead. We’ve approached various ethical/social lenders, and established we can borrow most of the balance of what’s needed, certainly up to about £70,000………….BUT

We must find at least £10,000 from our own resources. At the moment we have £4,000 of shareholders’ funds available, so we need to issue plenty more shares in the near future.

   Let’s Not Miss This Opportunity

PLEASE consider buying (more) shares now. If each of the existing 125 members bought an average of £50 more shares, the minimum finance would be sorted. Obviously, everyone will make a judgement on how many shares to buy depending on how flush ( or otherwise!) they’re feeling. Any purchases, whatever value, could be vital in the success of the project. Bear in mind the following:

1) This news will certainly encourage more local residents to join us. It won’t be just the 125 of us taking on the responsibility.

2)We’ll redouble our recruitment and fundraising efforts. Take a look at the attached publicity for a “Landfest” based in a local pub, for example. More events, stalls, displays and talks will happen throughout the year.

3) Ideally, we’ll raise much more than the minimum £6,000.Every extra pound we can raise reduces the amount we have to borrow. The smaller the repayments we have to make on a loan, the more resources can be freed to move on to future projects, planning for which is already under way. The income to repay the loan will come from the rents on the houses. Of course, the levels of rent will have to be kept within the limits of affordability – at current rates that’s no more than £60 per week per house. Altogether, that translates into a guaranteed long term income of about £6,000 a year to the CLT. If we can minimise the proportion used paying back the loan,we can quickly make progress on other plans for the benefit of Bishop’s Castle.

  So, the first £6,000 raised now will get the houses built, but any more than that will be extremely important in building on the success of this first project. It’s a great opportunity, not just to provide much needed affordable accommodation to local people, but to start a process that will be useful to the people of Bishops Castle for years and years to come. The Community Land Trust will have both an asset and an income, but the usefulness of these depends on successful fund-raising now.

     SO……you could….

   Buy more shares( if you’re already a member)…or…buy some shares and thus become a member…or.. .come and support Landfest…or…volunteer to help at Landfest…or…make a donation…or…persuade friends to do one or more of the above.

(Although it is called the “Final Report”, it is required at the stage before the final quarter’s money is paid. The work we intend to get done over the whole lifetime of the funding is only about 2/3 complete ).

CO-OP GRANT FINAL REPORT

1. KEY AIMS

The key aims of the project were to;

• Deliver locally owned affordable housing to meet local needs.

• Explore the potential for the provision small affordable workshops, allotments and community woodland

• Build the membership of the CLT to 100

• Raise the public profile of the CLT.

2. ACHIEVEMENTS

2.1 The most notable milestone achievements to date include;

• An agreement being reached with two members of the CLT to purchase land for 2 small affordable houses for £12,500 (approximately 1/3 market value)

• Securing planning permission for the development

• The Section 106 agreement has been completed and signed.

• A commitment has been obtained from Shropshire Council to grant fund at least 50% of the total development cost of £160,000, in partnership with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA)

• The process of obtaining the architect’s drawings, advice from a quantity surveyor, the tendering process, and appointment of approved contractors has all been completed.

• Growing of the CLT membership, up from 65 to 125, as of the 25^th of January 2010. Membership by the end of the grant period will exceed 150

• The raising of £3,370 from within the Bishop’s Castle community (in the time covered by the Co-op grant) to date. By the end of the grant period this is expected to exceed £6,000.

2.2 Profile of the CLT within the community and beyond

• The website has been designed and launched online
• A new membership recruitment leaflet has been designed and produced
• Talks have been given to local groups, including the National Union of Farmers, the Women’s Institute, Parish Councils, and church groups
• Regular newsletters have been produced and good local press coverage achieved, and displays and stalls at local events have been organised
• Three benefit concerts and one barbecue have been held (total attendance approximately 400)

2.3 Volunteering opportunities and skills building

• Approximately 60 people have been involved in volunteer roles.
• Board members have supplied architectural, legal, financial, and administrative support.
• CLT members and supporters have performed at events, managed venues, cooked, manned stalls and displays
• Other volunteer roles filled include; minutes secretary, treasurer, website and database management, press monitoring, distribution of press releases, designing display materials and painting the picture for the front of the leaflet.

Several meetings have been held with builders, developers, and landowners in the area exploring potential future projects. Examples include Ochre Designs, Balfours and local business people interested in leading a community purchase of land on Bishop’s Castle Business Park.

3. OUTPUTS OF THE PROJECT

3.1 Project Management

Overall responsibility for the management of the project rests with the Board of the Trust. There are ten members of the Board and between them they have a good breadth of knowledge and experience relevant to the project. The Board delegates the day to day work to the two part-time project workers, Jim Gaffney and Jonathan Brown, who report back to the Board at its monthly meetings. The development of the Kings Head project has involved close collaboration and liaison with the architect Jonathan Greig, to research build options, identify possible contractors, and to conduct a tendering process to arrive at an affordable, energy efficient design and specification.

3.2 Market Research and Feasibility

The need for affordable homes is well documented. In the 2004 Parish Plan for Bishops Castle, 90% of respondents to the survey identified the lack of affordable homes as one of the main challenges for the town, and 65% of those made it their first priority. The housing needs and business survey conducted by the Trust in 2007 identified a similarly high level of support within the community for small developments of affordable homes. The findings of these surveys have been backed up with evidence of a more anecdotal nature, which arises from the various public meetings held by the Trust, and from conversations with elected members of the Town Council, former South Shropshire District Council, and the new unitary authority.

One of the members of the Board is a young woman in housing need, and her predicament is shared by several of her friends and acquaintances who wish to live and work locally but find it impossible to afford the cost of buying a home. At its 2009 Annual General Meeting, she did a presentation on the difficulties facing young people on affordable housing. Other members of the Board supported her in this, and the implications of these difficulties resonated strongly with the meeting. The subsequent debate was picked up in the local press, and also highlighted by the Member of Parliament for Bishops Castle.

A study was made of the process through which 20 ‘affordable homes’, built by the local housing association in 2008, were allocated for sale to local people. When these were offered for sale or part sale, at around 40% below market price, it proved impossible to find enough people meeting “local” criteria who could afford to buy. One of the 13 homes for sale eventually had to be advertised through estate agents .By contrast, the 7 homes for rent were severely oversubscribed. When the allocation process was completed, 34 people,qualified as local, had applied but could not be housed. This serves to show the serious undersupply of homes that local people can actually afford, and that even when ‘affordable’ prices are calculated by the conventional formulae, the desired results are not achieved.This experience informed the decision by BCCLT to offer the homes in our first project for rent rather than for sale. A study carried out by South Shropshire District Council in 2006, showed that the average price of a house for a typical first time buyer was around £210,000. This has to be set against levels of average earnings, which only allow for a mortgage of at most £50,000.

At County level, the Shropshire Economic Assessment highlights the following issues;

• Shropshire has a rapidly ageing population, caused by the in-migration of people of retirement age and the higher than average out-migration of the young
• There is a significant level of net out-commuting
• Shropshire has a traditional dependence on agriculture and related sectors, and comparatively low employment in knowledge based industries
• House prices in Shropshire are higher than average and as such housing affordability is an issue
• The number of households is forecast to grow faster than the regional average between 2006 and 2026, which will put further pressure on the housing market

The combination of all these issues highlight the pressing need for rural communities like Bishops Castle to increase the number of affordable homes, as part of a drive to retain a young and economically active workforce.

In order to be able to build homes that are genuinely affordable, three critical factors are;

• Availability of land
• An affordable price for the building plots
• Realistic cost of construction

In the case of the Kings Head project, the concept of community ownership of land and buildings has been crucial in delivering the first two of these factors. The setting up and development of the local Trust to hold the land and the resulting homes in perpetuity has been key to providing the incentive and the confidence of the land owner that their ‘gift’ of a site at well below the potential open market will be protected. Having access to the services of an architect well versed in the practicalities and various methods of building high quality, energy efficient designs at an affordable price has been a central part of the project being able to achieve the third factor, namely a realistic cost for the construction.

3.3 Finance and Fundraising – progress to date

• £3,370 has been raised from the local community in the period covered by the grant. Nearly all of this has been through the sale of shares. Supporters have been encouraged to buy shares rather than simply make donations as this keeps them in touch with CLT activity, gives them the rights associated with membership and supports one of the key aims of the project, that of building the membership.
• There is a commitment from Shropshire Council and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to provide a grant of £80,000, which we expect to be confirmed before the end of March 2009
• Ethical loan finance. The Charity Bank, Triodos, and the Ecology Building Society are all interested in making available the finance required to build the project. Detailed negotiations will commence as soon as the grant sought from the Council and the HCA has been secured.

3.4 Land Search and Negotiations

In addition to being able to acquire the Kings Head site several other opportunities for sites are being followed up;

• Bishops Castle business park, where we are exploring the potential role of the CLT in proposed community purchase of part of the site
• Brockton “village green.” Village residents seeking support for purchase of plot in the middle of Brockton
• A farmer near Bury Ditches is seeking our support to turn disused barns into small workspaces

3.5 Professional Liaison

The successful development of the project has been underpinned and supported by the CLT consulting and working with a wide range of organisations and individuals. These include, in no particular order;

Land for People

Bob Paterson

The Community Land Trust Network

Whittingham Riddell Accountants

High Bickington Community Property Trust

Jonathan Greig Architect

Jake Berriman Head of Strategy, Shropshire Council

Caroline Denham Medlicott Snows, solicitors

3.6 Administration & Governance

This covers a wide range of tasks and services, including: Preparing the Agenda and writing the minutes for the Board meetings, providing progress reports to the Board, making the annual return to the Financial Services Agency, and arranging the Annual General Meeting. Bringing wider policy issues to the Board and providing a wider perspective for them to be aware of. Representing the CLT and its interests in other relevant forums and networks and contributing to and reporting back on our involvement in external events and pieces of work, such as Grant Shapps’s CLT Taskforce.

3.7 Promotion and Publicity

Please see under ‘Achievements to date’.

3.8 Membership Development

• Three newsletters have been produced
• Several email updates/letters to all shareholders, regular news updates on the website and in local media have been sent out
• Volunteering opportunities have been created, as described above in ‘Achievements to date’
• Speakers from other CLTs have given presentations at Open evenings and the AGM.

3.9 Community Involvement

At least 500 individual members of the Bishop’s Castle Community have been actively involved in CLT activity in one way or another, from supporting events and attending meetings to very committed on-going volunteering. 125 are shareholders, with shares ranging from £5 to £500. The following community groups have so far been involved:

• The Bishops Castle Town Council, which helped to launch the CLT, receives regular updates, appoints two representatives to the board, holds £1,000 shares, reports CLT activity in its newsletter and is, of course, generally supportive.
• Presentations have been requested by three local Women’s Institutes, three neighbouring Parish Councils, the local branch of the National Farmers Union, the Deanery Council and the Inter Faith forum
• To date, five of these presentations have been given, four are in the diary, and several more enquiries will lead to more bookings.
• Publicity and fund-raising events have involved three young people’s arts/music organisations; “Spotlight”, the Artists, Musicians and Performers which is a voluntary arts organisation, and performers from the Sport and Arts Centre at the Bishops Castle Community College.

4. OUTCOMES OF THE PROJECT

5. LESSONS LEARNED

• Building membership, level of shareholding and community faith in the CLT requires ongoing events, publicity, and activity. When things are happening, we move forward. When things are quiet, new support dries up.

• To sustain events, publicity, and activity at an effective level, paid support for volunteer work is highly desirable. A plan to determine how much paid work is needed, and applications to secure the necessary funding, must be put in place to continue the progress made during the period of this grant.

• Visible, practical progress on the Kings Head project has encouraged the CLT Board, the membership, other volunteer helpers, and the community as a whole. 1 relatively modest project successfully carried out will achieve much more credibility (and long term practical support) than larger schemes struggling through the planning and funding phase over a much longer period.

• More needs to be done to link the potential beneficiaries of CLT activity with its organisation, decision-making, and governance. Potential beneficiaries include young people, the relatively poor, elderly people and all those whose quality of life is threatened by lack of access to affordable land based assets- primarily accommodation, but also workspace and land/gardens for growing food. These groups can be the hardest to involve in decision-making and Bishop’s Castle is no exception, but the long-term success of the CLT will be closely connected to how well this issue is tackled. We’ve made a good start with young people, but we need a strategy for this problem.

• In a rural community, many long-term residents need to see how long a project like the CLT is going to be around before committing their support. They wait for evidence that the ideas are realistic and effective. Also there is less of a tradition of organised co-operative action in an area like Shropshire than might be expected in industrial (or until recently industrial) communities in the North West of England, for example. These factors mean that those setting up a CLT need to show patience and persistence. The priority must be practical, tangible progress.

• Allocating serious tasks and meaningful decision-making is motivating. Obviously people will make mistakes, but it’s more worthwhile to get them seriously engaged than to refuse to concede proper control and thus to undermine their enthusiasm.

• Because the type of project undertaken by a CLT is often long term, it would be helpful to plan future projects as early as possible. So much work and attention is demanded by the King’s Head project that long term planning could be neglected. A group of Board members might be set up to look at this.

At a barbeque on the newly cleared Kings Head site, Jim Gaffney presented the 100th share certificate in the Bishops Castle Community Land Trust to Tim Phillips.

By 14/12/09 the number of members had reached 120.

The Co-op funding also covers a small project, 8 full days’ work plus expenses, researching and reporting on the need for workspaces in Bishops Castle. Quite a lot has already been done in this area. It needs updating and presenting. If you’re interested in taking this on, please contact Jim by email or by phone on 01588638712

We now have planning permission to build two small semi-detached houses on land behind the King’s Head. They will be let to local residents at an affordable rate. The new Shropshire Council is very interested in helping with the capital funding for the scheme. It’s an exciting time!  The CLT is now in contact with quantity surveyors, local builders, and architects. If you are interested, or know someone who might be, please get in touch.