NHS Concept Note
Land near the Royal Albert Hospital
A proposal from the North Lancashire Community Land Trust
Author: Professor John Whitelegg
31st August 2013
1 Introduction
1.1 The North Lancashire Community Land Trust (NLCLT) was established in 2012 and is a legal entity, a not for profit company. A Community Land Trust (CLT) is an organisational structure that works to acquire and provide land for community projects and carry the administrative and legal responsibilities of land ownership for the benefit of the community and in a way that locks in these benefits into that community
1.2 The national CLT web site provides background information on CLTs:
They are non-profit, community-based organisations run by volunteers that develop housing, workspaces, community facilities or other assets that meet the needs of the community, are owned and controlled by the community and are made available at permanently affordable levels
Where does a CLT get its land? There are a number of possible sources of land. A CLT may:
· Receive public land at little or no cost;
· Purchase a rural exception site at about agricultural value;
· Acquire a site at open market value, through access to grant funding or community share issues;
· Already own a site that is permitted for development.
Source:
http://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/home
1.3 CLTs facilitates a wide range of projects including:
1.5 The CLT way of working is highly regarded by public bodies e.g. the decision by Bristol City Council to sell a parcel of land for house building to the local CLT for £1:
Bristol City Council has announced the sale of the old school at 325 Fishponds Road to Bristol CLT, for just £1. The site, which has been derelict for years, will be used to provide 12 affordable homes for local people.
http://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/news-list/bristol_clt_land_sale
2 Land acquisition
2.1 We have now spent approximately 18 months scoping the possibilities for land acquisition and talking to Lancaster City Council about its land ownership and the possibilities for asset transfer from the local authority to the CLT. Most city council land is already committed to planned development including new allotments sites and affordable housing so the scoping exercise did not generate many CLT possibilities. One site did emerge and we have inspected the site by the River Lune and discussed it in some detail and concluded it is not suitable for CLT activity
2.2 We have also had discussions with Lancashire County Council over one site, Riverside in Lancaster. County seem to be committed to maximising income from sales to help plug large holes in the budget which does not fit the CLT model but we will make another approach as soon as we identify another site.
2.3 We will also develop fund raising strategies to build up a fund for land acquisition and this is our priority this coming Autumn
3 NHS land
3.1 Our scoping activities and conversations with local residents have identified parcels of land in NHS ownership that we would like to propose for CLT projects. These were discussed in telephone conference on 19th August 2013 and are marked on a plan (Lakeland College of Nursing, Ashton Road, lancaster, LA1 5AJ, SD4759SE, dated 21st October 2009). There are 2 parcels of land that we identified as possibilities for CLT projects and they are marked on this plan as A and B and both are in the ownership of Lancashire Care. In an e-mail from David Tomlinson dated 18th June 2013, B is referred to as in the ownership of Lancashire Care and A as “in the process of being transferred to Lancashire Care”. For the purposes of this discussion we decided to disregard C and D which are in the ownership of NHS Property Services.
3.2 The area marked as “B” has a strip of currently unused meadow land that backs onto the adjacent housing estate. This is the area we are interested in discussing further
4 What would we actually do
4.1 The CLT model is a community led model so we would carry out surveys and door to door knocking in adjacent residential areas to the strip of land that forms part of “B”. The survey would introduce the CLT idea and ask for suggestions about what could be done with this parcel of land that would be of greatest community value. We would then analyse the results and feed them back to the same addresses and arrange a meeting to discuss next steps. This meeting would also involve Lancashire Care and we would involve city councillors and county councillors for this area to ensure maximum “buy-in”
4.2 We anticipate, but would be guided by the community response, that a community green space together with a “natural play area” and small scale allotments would be an ideal match for this site. We are not looking at more ambitious CLT options e.g. affordable homes or buildings of any kind for a community purpose. That is some way down the line and for another site.
4.3 When the community led plans begin to take their final shape and Lancashire Care has had the opportunity to consider the plans and respond we would then take the idea to the Lancaster City Council planning department to seek their views
4.4 Assuming we now have the community plan in place and support from councillors and planners we would request a formal agreement with Lancashire Care to take over the site. We would also formally establish a management group of local residents to get on with the work with the CLT acting as the legal body and carrying out a number of other functions such as due diligence, health and safety and meeting planning conditions and signing an agreement with Lancashire Care.
5 Next steps
5.1 We invite Lancashire Care to respond to this concept note and establish whether or not to proceed with the plan. We understand that both the CLT and Lancashire Care should not get involved in detailed work to make this happen if there are any doubts or concerns that cannot be resolved.
5.2 We suggest a written response in the first instance followed by a meeting and suggest, if this can be arranged, that we meet near the site so we can have a site inspection at the same time
John Whitelegg
johnwhitelegg@phonecoop.coop
01524 63175
Land near the Royal Albert Hospital
A proposal from the North Lancashire Community Land Trust
Author: Professor John Whitelegg
31st August 2013
1 Introduction
1.1 The North Lancashire Community Land Trust (NLCLT) was established in 2012 and is a legal entity, a not for profit company. A Community Land Trust (CLT) is an organisational structure that works to acquire and provide land for community projects and carry the administrative and legal responsibilities of land ownership for the benefit of the community and in a way that locks in these benefits into that community
1.2 The national CLT web site provides background information on CLTs:
They are non-profit, community-based organisations run by volunteers that develop housing, workspaces, community facilities or other assets that meet the needs of the community, are owned and controlled by the community and are made available at permanently affordable levels
Where does a CLT get its land? There are a number of possible sources of land. A CLT may:
· Receive public land at little or no cost;
· Purchase a rural exception site at about agricultural value;
· Acquire a site at open market value, through access to grant funding or community share issues;
· Already own a site that is permitted for development.
Source:
http://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/home
1.3 CLTs facilitates a wide range of projects including:
- Community green spaces
- Wildlife gardens
- Affordable homes
- Renovating disused buildings
- Community pub
- Bringing an old bakery back into use and providing youth employment
1.5 The CLT way of working is highly regarded by public bodies e.g. the decision by Bristol City Council to sell a parcel of land for house building to the local CLT for £1:
Bristol City Council has announced the sale of the old school at 325 Fishponds Road to Bristol CLT, for just £1. The site, which has been derelict for years, will be used to provide 12 affordable homes for local people.
http://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/news-list/bristol_clt_land_sale
2 Land acquisition
2.1 We have now spent approximately 18 months scoping the possibilities for land acquisition and talking to Lancaster City Council about its land ownership and the possibilities for asset transfer from the local authority to the CLT. Most city council land is already committed to planned development including new allotments sites and affordable housing so the scoping exercise did not generate many CLT possibilities. One site did emerge and we have inspected the site by the River Lune and discussed it in some detail and concluded it is not suitable for CLT activity
2.2 We have also had discussions with Lancashire County Council over one site, Riverside in Lancaster. County seem to be committed to maximising income from sales to help plug large holes in the budget which does not fit the CLT model but we will make another approach as soon as we identify another site.
2.3 We will also develop fund raising strategies to build up a fund for land acquisition and this is our priority this coming Autumn
3 NHS land
3.1 Our scoping activities and conversations with local residents have identified parcels of land in NHS ownership that we would like to propose for CLT projects. These were discussed in telephone conference on 19th August 2013 and are marked on a plan (Lakeland College of Nursing, Ashton Road, lancaster, LA1 5AJ, SD4759SE, dated 21st October 2009). There are 2 parcels of land that we identified as possibilities for CLT projects and they are marked on this plan as A and B and both are in the ownership of Lancashire Care. In an e-mail from David Tomlinson dated 18th June 2013, B is referred to as in the ownership of Lancashire Care and A as “in the process of being transferred to Lancashire Care”. For the purposes of this discussion we decided to disregard C and D which are in the ownership of NHS Property Services.
3.2 The area marked as “B” has a strip of currently unused meadow land that backs onto the adjacent housing estate. This is the area we are interested in discussing further
4 What would we actually do
4.1 The CLT model is a community led model so we would carry out surveys and door to door knocking in adjacent residential areas to the strip of land that forms part of “B”. The survey would introduce the CLT idea and ask for suggestions about what could be done with this parcel of land that would be of greatest community value. We would then analyse the results and feed them back to the same addresses and arrange a meeting to discuss next steps. This meeting would also involve Lancashire Care and we would involve city councillors and county councillors for this area to ensure maximum “buy-in”
4.2 We anticipate, but would be guided by the community response, that a community green space together with a “natural play area” and small scale allotments would be an ideal match for this site. We are not looking at more ambitious CLT options e.g. affordable homes or buildings of any kind for a community purpose. That is some way down the line and for another site.
4.3 When the community led plans begin to take their final shape and Lancashire Care has had the opportunity to consider the plans and respond we would then take the idea to the Lancaster City Council planning department to seek their views
4.4 Assuming we now have the community plan in place and support from councillors and planners we would request a formal agreement with Lancashire Care to take over the site. We would also formally establish a management group of local residents to get on with the work with the CLT acting as the legal body and carrying out a number of other functions such as due diligence, health and safety and meeting planning conditions and signing an agreement with Lancashire Care.
5 Next steps
5.1 We invite Lancashire Care to respond to this concept note and establish whether or not to proceed with the plan. We understand that both the CLT and Lancashire Care should not get involved in detailed work to make this happen if there are any doubts or concerns that cannot be resolved.
5.2 We suggest a written response in the first instance followed by a meeting and suggest, if this can be arranged, that we meet near the site so we can have a site inspection at the same time
John Whitelegg
johnwhitelegg@phonecoop.coop
01524 63175
