Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a £20 million pound fund to support the delivery of community led housing in his Spring Budget speech. The news was welcomed by the community-led housing sector, including those with self build elements, such as UK Cohousing Network and the Community Land Trust Network, which has been lobbying for more support since the closure of the Community Housing Fund.
The funding is expected to support the delivery of up to 280,000 homes, a figure put forward by the Community Land Trust Network in its State of the Sector Report, published last year, launched by Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove. The report called for more support from local and national government to facilitate these homes, as opposed to solely supporting mainstream housing.
In his speech Hunt said: “We’re launching a new £20m fund for community-led housing schemes, supporting local communities to deliver the developments they want and need.”
The sector was also strengthened recently in the revised National Planning Policy Framework with the introduction of a new community-led exception site policy (Paragraph 75).
Words & image: Duncan Hayes
