About Us
Who we are and what we do:
Land for People works with communities, landowners and the construction industry in mid Wales, Shropshire and the Marches become more sustainable, with an emphasis on building energy efficient, affordable homes for local people. We do this by providing:
- Help with housing need surveys
- Model rules for your community land trust
- Training, support and networking events
- Assistance with raising finance for your project
We are assisting housing projects in Bishops Castle in Shropshire and at Castle Caereinion, Ceinws and Pantydwr in Powys. And advising and supporting other projects in Powys and Aberystwyth.
Housing need surveys
One of the first steps you need to take when developing an affordable housing project is find out who is in housing need by carrying out a survey. We can help you to do this in your chosen area and also write up the findings. You can use our standard questionnaire that can be tailored to your requirements. We can:
- Source address labels for every household in the survey area
- Design and print the questionnaire
- Provide Freepost envelopes for the replies
- Ask your local community or parish council to provide a cash prize draw for all replies that provide a name and address
- Help draft press releases
- Analyse the findings and produce a report
As well as yielding the hard information that you and the planners will need when any specific building development and its intended site is being considered, the actual process of carrying out the survey itself provides you with useful opportunities for dialogue and explanation about what sort of project might be developed. It also gives people the opportunity to volunteer their services and skills your steering group may want to call upon as the project takes shape.
From our previous experience of undertaking housing need surveys in this way we can show that this approach will normally result in a response rate of at least 20% and we have achieved response rates of 39% up to 50%.
The cost of us doing all the above on your behalf works out at about £1.60 per household surveyed. The cost can be substantially reduced if your group can help with some of the mechanics, such as label sticking, envelope stuffing and, crucially, hand delivering and collecting as many of the survey forms as possible.
Make a start on your own housing needs survey by emailing gail@landforpeople.co.uk
Registering a Community Land Trust
At the beginning, whilst a potential housing project has no assets or liabilities, your informal steering group can function perfectly well as an unincorporated association. We can supply you with a model constitution for this purpose. However once you start to develop an actual scheme, you will need to be legally incorporated and there are several different legal structures for you to choose from.
(The term ‘legal structure' refers to the way in which an organisation is set up and the rules and regulations that govern it, providing the operating framework you will need to achieve your objectives. What is important is that form follows function, and that the choice of legal structure accurately reflects the needs of the enterprise in question. You should take advice on which legal structure is best for your group.)
A community land trust (CLT), is a community controlled organisation that owns, develops and manages land and buildings for the benefit of the local community. When registered as a society for the benefit of the community (a type of Industrial & Provident Society), it has an open and democratic structure, with one member one vote. People join by buying an agreed minimum number of shares and liability is limited.
Land for People is recognised by the registrar, which is the Financial Standards Authority (FSA) as a sponsoring body able to issue you with a set of model rules and to handle the registration of your CLT with the FSA on your behalf. We can also provide guidance notes on the registration process, a member's handbook and help with designing and producing the membership share certificates.
For more information on registering a community land trust email jonathan@landforpeople.co.uk
We organise a variety of events, visits and seminars for people wanting to find more about community land trusts and affordable housing. They also provide opportunities for you to meet and network with others with a similar interest.
