Visioning
The first step for any CLT will be to develop a vision of your project's core purpose and how you may go about fulfilling this.
The creation of your CLT may have arisen due to the identification of a need in your area, whether this is a shortage of affordable housing for the local community, a lack of a particular type of tenure or size of home, or a perception of a need for a particular subset of the population. Whatever the roots of your CLT, you must identify your group's social mission and consider who the intended beneficiaries of the CLT's objectives will be. Both these aspects will influence future decisions regarding legal incorporation, possible charitable registration, and sources of funding.
It will be important to acknowledge from the outset that your CLT does not and will not have sovereign status within your community. That is, there will be other groups and organisations in your area with whom you may have to engage, particularly if they share a similar focus as you. This includes your local authority and parish council as well as other non-profit organisations in the area. There may be existing parish and community plans developed by either your local parish council or through community-led planning processes supported by Rural Community Councils. Local Strategic Partnerships, which bring together multiple agencies from the public, private and third sectors, often aim to create and implement local neighbourhood improvement plans containing a vision for future community development. Engaging with these bodies and processes early in your CLT's development will help garner support for your scheme which will be helpful in the future and, in addition, identify the extent to which your group's core purpose dovetails with existing plans.
For the purposes of this guidance it is assumed that the priority community need to be met by the CLT is the provision of affordable housing.
Having identified informally the need for affordable housing in your locality/community you will then need to obtain objective supporting evidence. A Local Housing Needs Survey (see “Who You Will House”) and/or a neighbourhood or parish appraisal are the kind of objective and formal reports that can substantiate the need for a CLT to deliver affordable housing.
These type of surveys will help establish not only the needs of the whole area but may also scope out potential development proposals for future housing activities. The document will be needed to support your planning and any grant application.
It may be that it’s the Parish or Town Plan which triggers identifying a CLT as the vehicle to achieve the community’s aims and objectives. Similarly the Community Plan drawn up by the Local Strategic Partnership can be the catalyst. However starting your journey with community engagement is crucial to the success of your project.
Getting local stakeholders such as the local authority on board is vital. Opportunities for involving a wide range of people will secure their support as well as spread the workload and build up the capacity of the CLT to act as a developer and manager of the property assets that are eventually secured. Depending on your circumstances, a public visioning or open launch meeting may well be a good starting point.