CVCLT news April 2025   

 It’s only right that everyone should have a secure, decent and affordable place to call home.

There’s little land available for housing in the upper Calder Valley, and the need for affordable housing is urgent. Building new homes takes a long time too. It is quicker, cheaper and uses less carbon to bring existing homes into community ownership and we have done exactly that, read all about it…

 We have a new home in Todmorden!

Due to a great kindness from the owners, who donated the property to us, we have been able to provide a secure fully assured tenancy for the family who currently rent this house and provide a much-needed income to CVCLT.

 CVCLT’s legal structure protects gifts like this and secures them as a community asset into the future.

 Leaving a house to CVCLT in a will is possible. Contact our Executive Manager, Paul to discuss.

 We have a new home at Jerusalem Farm near Booth!

 Another family are now benefiting from the peace of mind of a secure tenancy and an affordable rent.

 We leased this empty run-down property from Calderdale Council then renovated it and improved its energy efficiency. Some of you might have visited it and seen the changes at our open event in February.

 Money lent to us by kind local people and Calderdale Council plus grants from Homes England and the Community Foundation for Calderdale helped us meet a big funding challenge.

 Just started!

 In partnership with Connect Housing, we have broken ground at Ferney Lee in Todmorden and the civil engineers are now preparing the site upon which will sit 19 social rented homes built to the highest sustainable standard and a 23-office enterprise centre, being developed by our wholly owned company CVCLT Enterprise Ltd.

 One of the beauties of the enterprise centre is that those who rent an office will be helping to create more secure tenancies in affordable homes, because some of that rent will be handed to the Community Land Trust to invest in expanding our homes in the upper Calder Valley.

 See our site launch video here.

 For information on the enterprise centre, contact CVCLT Enterprise Ltd at www.caldervalleyclt.org.uk or info@caldervalleyclt.org.uk

 See and read more at the Todmorden Town Deal website.

 Joanne from PLP Construction invites local tradespeople, who are interested in working on the build, to get in touch here.

About to finish!

The health and happiness of many people is greatly improved by participating in groups and events at Fielden Hall. To help secure its future we have almost finished the energy efficiency improvements that are forecast to lower energy bills by 54%.

Enough words, here is a video taking you inside the Hall and its work in progress improvements.

The Fielden Centre Association are organising a grand reopening on the 27^th of April from 2pm to 6pm. CVCLT will be there to answer your questions on the renewable energy system and our Ferney Lee development. There will be a hog roast, a bar, tea, cakes and coffee and a raffle with some great prizes. There will also be some presentations and opportunities to find out more about the history of the hall, the groups who use the hall and special offers for wedding bookings.

UK government funding from the Towns Fund and the Community Ownership Fund along with National Lottery Funding have enabled us to bring this project to life.

Preparing for!

We have been awarded funding from the Local Authority Housing Fund to bring 2 empty properties in Crown Street in Hebden Bridge back into use. They are owned by Calderdale Council, who have leased them to us. We are in the process of appointing someone to manage the renovation and retrofit.

The funding is to create homes for refugees, but should they cease to be needed to house people with refugee status, these homes will become available to house local residents.

Sauna news at High Street

Planning permission for 20 homes at High Street in Hebden Bridge has been approved, but so far have not been able to secure the funding to construct them.

In the meantime, we have agreed a community use for part the land in the form of a mobile outdoor sauna and plunge pool. The income from the rent will be used by us to maintain the woodland at High Street and create more secure tenancies in affordable rented homes.

Find out more here.

 Housing: It’s An Issue – Refugees and Housing

 We have partnered with Calderdale Valley of Sanctuary to create our next public meeting on the evening of the 19^th of June at Fielden Hall in Todmorden. More details will follow.

 Having read this far, if you are inspired, please become a member of your local land trust for £1. The more members we have the more seriously funders take out grant applications. Join here.

We welcome Neil and Hannah to CVCLT

Neil has taken on the voluntary role of assisting our Board of Trustees to provide administrative help. It is a pleasure working with Neil and we are very grateful for his assistance.

Hannah has joined our Advisory Panel. Hannah has over 25 years’ experience of managing, developing and building housing and public buildings. She has offered to assist us on the Crown Street project.

If you have any skills or experience that could support our work, please ask about joining our Advisory Panel.

Signal Box

This train is still rolling forward slowly and we hope the lease that will enable us to create a heritage centre and holiday accommodation in Hebden Bridge Signal Box will arrive soon.

In other news

The upper Calder Valley has a new car sharing cooperative called POD. We hope to host one of their cars at Ferney Lee next year.

Frome has made great strides in community-led development, read more about Saxonvale here.

 Thank you

 It feels like a long time ago, but the investment made by the Quaker Housing Trust is still supporting our work. The health and happiness of our tenants at our independent living bungalows in Walsden is partially built on that support.

 And thank you for reading, each reader inspires us to do more.

 Every new member makes a difference. To take the next step from newsletter reader to member please click.

 Patient Capital

 If you’re in a position to be patient about getting a quick return or even no return on your money, and you want to put that money to work in the community then Patient Capital could be for you.

 Patient Capital can take the following forms:

• Low interest loans
• 0% loans
• Purchase of Calder Valley Community Land Trust community shares
• Donations

 Contact Paul, our Executive Manager, if you would like to explore helping to create affordable homes in this way.

 Interested in investing?

We are now keeping a waiting list of people potentially interested in investing in the CLT in the future.  If you are interested in being added to this list, please contact our Exec Manager Paul on manager@caldervalleyclt.org.uk.  (‘Without obligation’, as they say!)

ARCHIVE OF PRESS RELEASES:

2022: Mar 8: Mayor of West Yorkshire visits CVCLT development

2021: Sep 13: Calder Valley CLT appoints its first Executive Manager

2021: June 6 Major grant will help save Hebden Bridge’s Signal Box

2021: May 26: Community-based trust is ready to recruit

2021: Feb 17: Community-led charity to receive national lottery funding

2021: Jan 13: Community trust pulls off successful community share issue

2020: Dec 8: Todmorden’s community share offer hits a key milestone

Oct 26: Todmorden community to come together to secure the future of a historic hall and affordable housing

Mar 1: First partnership between almshouse trust and CLT reaches successful conclusion

Jan 1: Wanted! Local charities’ independent-living bungalows need first residents

2019: Mar 4: Building work starts on six new bungalows for local older people

Feb 5: Statement from board of trustees following planning decision

2018: April 1: Local charity’s plans to bring back a lost Hebden Bridge street

2017: Jan 1: Community-led housing charity receives major grant for its ‘Big Potential’

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