Tuesday 24 December 2024
With thanks for this news from the Calder Valley Land Trust
Latest news from the Land Trust
The Land Trust have been pushing at numerous doors all year and finally, in December a lot of them have opened, and it is time to share those achievements.
Fielden Hall is about to become very energy efficient
We were successful in our application for planning permission for insulation, solar panels, heat pumps, heat recovery, secondary glazing. Planning can be tricky with grade II listed buildings, but early conversations with CMBC's Planning & Conservation teams helped shape an application that worked for both parties.
This week, they are finalising a contract with a construction company who aim to start the works in January and complete in March.
The Hall is really about the people who use it, and with that in mind we have worked with Todmorden Town Deal to create a film about the energy improvements and the experiences of those who use the building. Thank you to Music for the Many, Vocal Highs choir and U3A craft group. We hope to share the film with you in January.
Once complete, it is predicted that energy bills will reduce by 54%, energy use by 27% and CO2 emissions by 75%.
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.
A secure affordable tenancy in Hebden Bridge
We did it! We worked with the owner, and their home is now a community owned home giving security of tenancy at an affordable rent.
After years living in a lounge, our new tenant finally has somewhere to call home. It has made a huge difference to this family.
A big thank you to Homes England and Hebden Bridge Town Council for supporting our project.
Jerusalem Farm Cottage
Another tenant! We hope to have our first tenant move in next month.
Another labour of love with plenty of challenges met and dispensed with. Empty for over 6 years, we have taken on a 20-year lease from Calderdale Council to create another community asset.
Another funding jigsaw this one, and credit goes to the local people and Calderdale Council who lent us money, and we are grateful for grants from Homes England and the Community Foundation for Calderdale, and especially to Sally, our trustee, who has poured her heart and soul into this one.
Heptonstall
And onto the next one! We are working with a homeowner in Heptonstall to create another secure affordable tenancy and prevent the creation of another holiday let in the village. This intervention supports the existing health of the local community.
With the support of Co-operatives UK we have produced our Community Share Offer documents and secured a community shares investment from Co-operatives UK. Our trustee, Richard, who has worked incredibly hard to get us to this point.
In 2025 you will be able to help create this community asset through an investment in community shares. This short video introduces community shares.
Sold out: Rentier Valley public meeting
90 people attended our 10th birthday celebration and Rentier Valley public meeting.
Isaac Rose and Pam Warhurst led this lively and informative meeting.
This was billed as the journey from slums to social housing to right to buy to expensive rents, but it became apparent on the night that this was actually about the importance of place and the need to build strong social fabric as a means to address challenges like housing affordability in places like the Calder Valley.
Isaac's book, The Rentier City: Manchester and the Making of the Neoliberal Metropolis is reviewed here.
Having read this far, if you are inspired, please become a member of your local land trust for £1. Each membership helps us obtain funding. Join here.
Ferney Lee enterprise centre and housing
We are working in close partnership with Connect Housing to begin building 19 Passivhaus homes in Todmorden in January. Together we turned a £3.8m grant and
Homes England funding into an £8m project that includes a 23-office enterprise centre.
The custodian of the site is Calderdale Council. The process of gaining a lease, so we can build these homes, has been complex and time consuming but we are now very close to an agreement that will enable us to appoint a contractor to build the project.
We hope that in the next newsletter we will have a lease, a contractor and an active building site.
Refugee homes in Hebden Bridge
The 2 empty properties above One Stop in Hebden Bridge have funding to bring them back into use as affordable rented homes for refugees. The finishing touches are being added to the lease and we are waiting for the grant agreement. Once these are signed, we can begin the renovation and retrofit that will enable refugees to have a home.
It does take a long, long time to get from an opportunity to a person enjoying the security of a tenancy with the Community Land Trust. We have perseverance in spades!
We have met with Calderdale Valley of Sanctuary and hope to arrange a public meeting in the summer themed Housing It's An Issue: Refugees and Housing.
Should they cease to be needed to house people with refugee status, these homes will become available to house other local residents.
Advisory Panel
If you have experience of applying for grants and/or fundraising and would like to give something back to the upper valley community please drop our Chair Simon Brearley an email or give our manager Paul a call on 07942 361205.
Any other skills and experience are most welcome.
Signal Box
The wheels are still grinding forward on the lease that will enable us to create a heritage centre and holiday accommodation in Hebden Bridge Signal Box.
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.
Wishing you the best Christmas
From all of us at CVCLT.
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