Friday, 18 April 2025
With thanks for this news from the Calder Valley Land Trust
Latest news from the Land Trust
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 Calder Valley Community Land Trust.
Calder Valley Community Land Trust's legal structure protects gifts like this and secures them as a community asset into the future.
Leaving a house to Calder Valley Community Land Trust 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 Calder Valley Community Land Trust 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 Calder Valley Community Land Trust 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 27th of April from 2pm to 6pm. Calder Valley Community Land Trust 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.
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 19th 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 Calder Valley Community Land Trust
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.