CVCLT news November 2023

Please share your thoughts with us on our plans for Ferney Lee

As a community organisation, your thoughts on our proposed £8m scheme for an enterprise centre and housing in Todmorden are very important.

Simon our Chair and Paul our Executive Manager introduce the project here https://youtu.be/BgwSA8XWq2o.

You can see our plans and send feedback here http://caldervalleyclt.org.uk/ferneylee/

Supportive and critical comments are equally important.

Come and see us at Fielden Hall in Todmorden on the 22^nd of November between 2.30pm and 4.30pm & between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. The whole team will be there to share the latest designs and to discuss the project.

Diggers and drilling rigs were on site last week carrying out a ground survey, so it feels more real now. Still lots of hurdles to handle, but we can visualise handing over the keys, bringing jobs and changing lives for the better in a couple of years.

The Enterprise Centre project is part of the £17.5M Todmorden Town Deal investment programme led by Todmorden Town Deal Board due to be completed by Spring 2026. For more information, visit: www.todmordentowndeal.co.uk 

Grant success for our first Hebden home

It has been a pleasure to work with Homes England and secure their grant support to purchase and retrofit a terraced house in Hebden Bridge. It will be safe from becoming another holiday let and will now benefit local people in perpetuity. The owner of the property has been amazing in helping make this happen. It is a very unusual way to create an affordable rented home, but the unusual is what community organisations are good at.

Reducing Fielden Hall’s impact on climate change

A big thank you to the Fielden Centre Association who have partnered with us on around £700k of grant applications. At the end of the year, we will know how much we have raised to go with the £150k Town Deal grant for reducing Fielden’s carbon impact on the planet.

Membership survey

If you would like a full copy of the survey, please email Paul at manager@caldervalleyclt.org.uk

Refugee homes in Hebden Bridge

We are finalising our budget and contractors for bringing 2 empty properties in Hebden Bridge back into use. CMBC were successful in applying for a government grant agreement to fund most of the works and we will take a lease on the properties. Once the refugee need dissipates the homes will become available to meet the local housing need.

Support Anna’s PhD research by sharing your thoughts!

Hi, I’m Anna and I’m currently doing some research for my PhD in community-led housing. The research is looking at different ideas, visions and real-life experiences of community within housing projects. Here’s a link to more info:

https://www.uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/spe/members/research-

students#annahope 

I’m using Calder Valley CLT as a case study, and as part of this will be holding a small, friendly and informal conversation between 4-6 people where we will explore people’s lived experiences of being part of a community-led housing project.

The conversation will take up to two hours and be held online in late November. I would like a mix of residents, members, volunteers and investors, to get an idea of the range of experiences there have been of the organisation so far.

It should be an interesting session and hopefully a chance for you to reflect and be inspired, and to contribute to learning that can support other community-led projects in the future.

If you are interested in taking part, please could you:

1. Fill in this doodle poll to help find a date and time that works best for the session: https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/b49PM2Vd
2. Email me at anna2.hope@live.uwe.ac.uk so I have your contact details and can send you more information, confirm timings etc.

You are also very welcome to email me or call me on 07786126617 if you have any questions.

Advisory Panel

There is a fund raiser / grant applier sized hole in our advisory panel. The time commitment is absolutely down to you, but we would love to have a chat with anyone interested.

To get more involved, please drop our Chair Simon Brearley an email at simon.brearley@caldervalleyclt.org.uk or give our manager Paul a call on 07942 361205.

 Signal Box

 We are still waiting for the Network Rail train carrying the lease on the signal box in Hebden Bridge.

 We are looking for someone to take on a 6-month paid role to deliver the heritage aspect of the Signal Box. If you have previous experience on similar projects, please get in touch.

 Jerusalem Farm Cottage

 Sally, one of our trustees, has led on trying to bring this empty rural property back into use as an affordable rented home. The offer of a relatively short lease combined with high costs and interest rates makes it unviable. A conversation with Calderdale MBC where both sides were determined to make the project work has led to the potential of an offer of an interest free loan that would make it possible.

 We let our properties through https://keychoice.housingapplications.co.uk/property-search/ and apply some of our own local criteria. You must be registered on Keychoice to make an application. Subscribing to our newsletter is the way to be first to know when a property is available.

 Thank you

 Thank you to CMBC staff on the enterprise centre project board who are working closely with us to speed up the process of applying for planning permission at Ferney Lee.

 And finally…

 …made in Japan. We spent a half day with Anri who works at Kyoto City Hall and has worked with communities in Kyoto to address vacant houses and develop disaster prevention plans. Her visit relates to her PhD programme researching Community Asset Transfers with the aim of realising community-led neighbourhood development in Japan. Hear from Anri and Paul on site at our latest community asset transfer in Todmorden https://youtu.be/S3sB38Gl2PE?si=KxEneJZOUi9RlqPf

 Thank you reading and every read encourages us to create more homes.

 32 applications for one home

Sadly, one of our tenants died in June. We advertised the property and received 32 applications which demonstrates the desperate need for decent affordable rented homes in the valley. Our new tenant is moving from a building that has seen a significant increase in anti-social behaviour and is looking forward to a much happier life at Birks Court.

Annual General Meeting

That was a lively event! 40 people came along, shared ideas and dug deeper into our work. Your participation gives us added energy to deliver more homes. Thank you to the 4 people who offered to get more involved, and we will be in touch soon.

Planning approved in Hebden Bridge

We are delighted to announce that, after eight years of research and planning, our plans for 20 comfortable, low energy, permanently affordable homes for rent by local people were unanimously approved by Calderdale Planning Committee on 14th March 2023.

These revised plans addressed the more significant objections to our original plans. However, the delay means we face a new challenge due to the increases in interest rates and construction costs. We are working with our partner, Connect Housing, to find a sensible way of financing the build.

There are many people to thank, but we certainly would not have got this far without the support of:

• CMBC who asset transferred the land.
• Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) who created the Community Housing Fund enabling us to pay the fees to get this far.
• Connect Housing who have shared their knowledge and experience.

We wonder if those who originally built homes on the site in Victorian times had the same challenges!

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!)

Our social impact survey

The full social impact report is available on the website. Just click http://www.caldervalleyclt.org.uk/docs/socialvalue.pdf.    

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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