Seend Community Land and Asset Trust is pleased to announce that it has submitted its Park Farm planning application for a development of one four-bed self-build house and 10 affordable houses. The trust is working in partnership with White Horse Housing and Homes of Our Own to enable affordable housing for the long-term benefit of the community.
The development has been designed to achieve the Passivhaus standard, which strives to significantly improve a building’s energy performance and far exceeds current building regulation requirements.
White Horse Housing specialises in building and managing homes in villages throughout Wiltshire, Swindon and surrounding areas. Belinda Eastland, from White Horse Housing, said:
“We are proud to be the development partner to Seend Community Land and Asset Trust. We have a strong track record of working closely with village communities throughout Wiltshire not only to give local people in housing need access to a quality home they can afford but also to help sustain the wider community in which they are located. You can read more about our work here.”
Homes of Our Own is the Community Led Housing Hub for Wiltshire and Swindon. It supports communities to establish a group, plan community housing projects, source funding and support grant applications. Lynn Gibson, CEO of Community First, a key partner for the hub, said:
“New housing developments planned by and built for the community are really a fantastic way to proceed. Seend really are a trailblazer for the county and have done a fantastic job. We are so pleased they have now got to this stage in the process and are an exemplary example for other schemes in the future. See our newly launched website about types of Community Housing and the services we offer.”
George Clarke from Seend Community Land and Asset Trust said:
“We’ve worked really hard with the community to take account of the positive feedback we have had and after more than two years of work are excited to have reached this stage. In the difficult months that lie ahead for the economy the availability of good quality affordable homes in our Parish is likely to prove a life-changing opportunity for somebody or indeed several people here.”
All three partners, together with the scheme architects, PKA Architects Ltd, have attended the four public consultation meetings for the scheme, prior to its submission. The trust is delighted to share this exciting news about the planning application and look forward to the next stage.