3 ways forward

Our 3 next key deliverables

Early consultation summary

We have had a huge amount of support for the ambition to build affordable housing, and that is really heartening – and confirms the results of the housing survey last year. But we knew this was never going to be easy, nor without challenges. The feedback we’ve received, particularly on the potential site, has really helped us to focus on our next steps.

1 – Flooding

We always knew flood risk on the potential site would be an issue – and a challenge that we would have to try to overcome. And let’s be absolutely clear – if anything we would do on that site would make flooding in Howard Park worse, then we will not even recommend it to the community. As a housing group we are committed to that, as are Anna and Henry. What the feedback has clearly shown us is that the existing flooding situation in Howard Park is much worse than we, at least, realised. Something must be done to address it, and we want to work with residents, the Parish Council, Judith Derbyshire and relevant authorities to look for solutions to the wider problem. Ian is leading on this piece of work for us.

There will be a meeting being organised on this subject by Judith, and when we know more we’ll share details.

2 – Carry out a Housing Needs Survey

We will progress with a housing needs survey. This is fundamental to the question of not just affordable housing, but housing needs in general. It will give us answers to what sort of housing, and how much of it, we need. In conjunction with Action for Communities in Cumbria we will be producing a survey in the next few months. Watch this space for much more detail on this soon. Corrine is leading on this piece of work for us.

3 – Establish the Community Land Trust

The Community Land Trust (CLT) is a legal entity (a ‘Community Benefit Society’) which can hold assets in trust for the community. It is a membership organisation, where members have a vote in all key decisions. This is how we will be accountable to the wider community. This is how the community can join together to make ourselves heard. The CLT has the potential to be a really powerful voice in future housing discussions – the more members we have, the stronger that voice will be. We have a funding application submitted to allow us to incorporate as a formal body, with our own bank account – and then we can open up membership. Allan is leading on this piece of work for us.

Q&A

As a reminder we have a lot of questions from the public meeting and the drop is sessions – and you can read them on the website.

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