Wiltshire CLT is here to tell you about Community Land Trusts: what they can do, how they work, how they can be used to help your community to own and manage assets in your village or neighbourhood for the benefit of your community.
If you feel your group has the skills and capacity to take your project forwards on your own, you can be safe in the knowledge that you can just pick up the phone to Wiltshire CLT and get advice on what to do at any stage. If you need it, we can offer one-to-one support every step of the way, or even a full development service.
This video will give you an idea of the different this kind of advice and help can make:
The Key to Success- Enabling Support 2011 from WeeFlee Productions on Vimeo
There are many advantages to setting up a CLT:
- Any income a CLT gets from its assets has to reinvested for the benefit of the community. Landowners gifting or selling land to a CLT know that this “asset lock” means that any future income derived from the property will always be used to benefit local causes. This is encouraging local landowners to making land available for CLTs to develop.
- CLTs tap into local expertise, knowledge and networks, which helps to increase wider community engagement and to identify local needs accurately. CLTs succeed where there is a determined steering group with the ability to engender strong community support.
- Volunteer time and effort can reduce development and running costs of a project, often enabling something to go ahead that would not otherwise be viable.
- CLTs can raise money through community share issues, which give local people an opportunity to invest in local projects
- In the long term, CLTs can create permanent community income through asset development, reducing dependency on grants to fund local schemes and activities
- People involved in running CLTs develop knowledge and skills that increase their confidence and create new life opportunities
If you want to explore further how a CLT might offer a solution to your community’s needs, contact us and we’ll talk through the options with you.
Wiltshire CLT are also a partner of Homes of Our Own, the community-led housing hub for Wiltshire and Swindon. Homes of Our Own can provide long-term support and information to people interested in community-led housing, from setting up a group and through the stages of developing, building and living in a community-led housing scheme. For more information, please contact us.
Wiltshire CLT is a member of the National CLT Network and through it has access to a whole range of additional help and advice to assist you.