Welcome to the Stoke Gabriel Community Land Trust

Hello, we’re a group of people living in Stoke Gabriel, with jobs and families here. We’ve come together to find an answer to the lack of genuinely affordable housing in the village. To do this we’ve formed the Stoke Gabriel Community Land Trust (SGCLT) this is a Community Benefit Society – run for the benefit of the community with all profits re-invested back in the community. We may have been quiet, but we have not been idle! 

Exciting News - We have been offered land to build affordable houses!

Earlier this year, we wrote to the owner of a piece of land on Aish Road. As you leave the village it's on the right-hand side, after the last house on the right. It's tucked away behind a hedge and you may well never have noticed it - we certainly hadn't. To our surprise, the landowner rang us up a few days after we sent the letter and said he'd be very happy to sell it to SGCLT for affordable housing. We have waited a long time to hear those words!

We have also been accepted as the first recipients of the South Hams Housing Offer, a new SHDC scheme to help groups like ours deliver affordable housing.

As part of that we've appointed an architect that specialises in sustainable, affordable housing. In the next few weeks, we will have a draft outline of how the site could be developed and a financial feasibility study. 

A Housing Needs Survey has been carried out by SHDC with a view to identifying how many affordable houses are needed. A likely number is up to 15 houses. 

The South Hams Housing Offer provides funding and support to help communities kickstart housing projects, connect with Registered Providers (of social housing) and deliver homes where and how they are needed most.

 Affordable housing keeps villages like ours alive. It ensures young people can stay in their community, provides homes for people in key local jobs and addresses the impact of empty holiday homes on the vitality of the village as a whole. The number of private rental properties has decreased drastically recently as houses are bought as second homes or holiday lets. Private rental costs are continually increasing, with most 2 bed properties currently costing arounf £1200 per month.

Why is Affordable Housing Needed in Stoke Gabriel?

Our vision is to provide much needed homes for people on a low to middle income, who live, work and have family connections in Stoke Gabriel. These are for people who fall in the gap between being able to buy on the open market and being eligible for housing association properties.
 
We aim to build a small number of permanently affordable homes in the village - probably 10-15- matching the village’s Housing Need’s Survey. This is a new approach to housing here. The CLT homes would cost closer to 50% of open market value, making them genuinely affordable, in contrast to ‘affordable’ houses built by large profit driven Housing companies, and priced at 80% of open market rate - still out of reach to ordinary working people. We are working with National experts on affordable housing to achieve our aim. 

“CLT affordable housing, starts and ends with local people, rather than profits and share prices.”

What’s different about CLT housing?

CLT housing pays close attention to local housing need, is innovative, built to high standards, uses environmentally sensitive designs, and is most importantly affordable. It gives priority to providing homes for local people which they can call their own for as long as they wish.

When people live in affordable homes positive things happen. Relieved from the stress of high rents, there is at last opportunity to save money, undertake education and training and to confidently get on with their lives, knowing they can stay in their local community.  

How it works

Land is donated to the CLT by a village benefactor or bought at a special rate, so keeping costs down. Government grants are available to finance the scheme, in conjunction with special avenues via Planning that help this process. Following planning permission, homes are designed and custom built by professionals, using local firms and involving some hands-on work from CLT members to finish them off. 

Ownership

Each CLT house is part owned by an individual (with a small mortgage) and part owned by the CLT, providing long-term housing security for people. Houses cannot be sold on the open market, but are re-allocated to local people eligible for affordable housing. In this way the houses are a protected village asset and remain affordable long term.

We are working in collaboration with South Hams District Council, who currently have a fund of £2.88million to support affordable housing developments.