It’s poignant this day 28th June 2011 a day for future generations to remember a day destined to go down in the annuls of Middlesbrough’s history & heritage the day Middlesbrough MP Stuart Bell is exposed in ToryBoy the Movie
During the past few months community spirited residents from across Middlesbrough have worked tirelessly on their own initiative without help or interference from MBC in the setting up of a new UK wide recognised Land Trust namely-
Middlesbrough Community Land Trust
http://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/home
Campaign: save community land for future generations
Leaseholders who own a share of their home on land owned and provided by a CLT have the right to buy the freehold of the land, known as leasehold enfranchisement. If this happens, the land ceases to be an asset owned by the CLT and the homes on it move into the open house market and cease to be permanently affordable for the community the CLT has been set up to serve.
We want the land to stay in the hands of the community so that it can continue to have a social purpose and help those in housing need.
Why does it matter?
Because of these leasehold enfranchisement rights, the CLT cannot protect the long-term ownership of the land.
Landowners, be they private or public, are unlikely to make land available for CLTs or Local Housing Trusts because they risk losing the land asset
It is a major barrier to securing finance for CLTs because funders and investors want long-term investments and long term returns from investing in CLTs.
We are proposing an amendment to the Localism Bill that, subject to regulation and where the Trust wishes to apply the exemption, exempts from leasehold enfranchisement rights homes built on land owned by a CLT or Local Housing Trust that complies with the definition in S79 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. You and your local CLT can support the need for this amendment.
Take action: write to Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP
Personalise the ready-made template letter on headed paper and send to Grant Shapps MP, copying in your local MP - download the letter here or contact Cathering Harrington on catherine.harrington@housing.org.uk or 020 7067 1191 for any further questions.
Email the letter to Grant Shapps MP: grant.shapps@communities.gsi.gov.uk, copying in the CLT Network catherine.harrington@housing.org.uk and Sheridan Westlake, the Minister's special advisor - sheridan.westlake@communities.gsi.gov.uk
Tweet the following text once the letter has been sent: ‘Just written to @grantshapps on giving CLTs the right to be exempt from leasehold enfranchisement’. If you do not Tweet let the CLT Network know and we can Tweet on your behalf.
This is a joint campaign between the CLT Network and CDS Cooperatives. For more information contact Catherine Harrington on catherine.harrington@housing.org.uk or 020 7067 1191
The techy bit…
Leaseholders who own a share of their home on land owned and provided by a Community Land Trust (CLT) have the right, under the provisions of The Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (if their home is a house) to enfranchise the freehold of the land on which their house is built. Also, leaseholders of flats on CLT owned land have collective enfranchisement rights to buy the land freehold under the provisions of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. At present, only homes built in the small number of rural areas that have Protected Area status, where homes are deemed hard to replace, are exempt from these enfranchisement rights.
The Localism Bill does extend the exemption from leasehold enfranchisement rights to homes on land the development of which is authorised by a Community Right to Build Order (CRTB) – a welcome new way communities can, through a referendum, obtain planning consent for their development proposals in the face of opposition from a local planning authority. However, communities working with a willing land-owner and a willing planning authority ought not to have to go through the CRTB process simply to protect community owned land from being lost through leasehold enfranchisement.
It would be a simple matter for the government to amend the Localism Bill to extend, subject to regulations, exemption from leasehold enfranchisement rights to all community owned land where the CLT or Local Housing Trust meets the definition of a CLT in section 79 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008.
We want land acquired for housing by a CLT or Local Housing Trust to stay in the hands of the community so that it can continue to have a social purpose and help those in housing need. Indeed, in his speech to the Community Land Trust conference on 10 June 2010 the Housing Minister, the Rt. Hon Grant Shapps MP, said “...And the land will remain in the Trust for local benefit forever.. People have waited long enough for a model that is on their side rather than the side of the bureaucrat.... I intend to take the necessary legislation through the forthcoming Localism Bill”.
