{"id":57,"date":"2016-12-01T20:32:59","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T20:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"\/?page_id=57"},"modified":"2020-08-08T13:24:11","modified_gmt":"2020-08-08T12:24:11","slug":"background","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/eclt.eastington.website\/?page_id=57","title":{"rendered":"Background"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2012\/2013 the Parish Council instigated a Parish Survey to find out more about who \u2018we\u2019 really were and what our main likes\/dislikes\/concerns were about living here, \u00a0the things and places that we valued most and what we thought would improve lives. \u00a0Part of this survey indicated resident families\u2019 needs for smaller houses and property to rent.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was therefore followed up by a properly recognised \u2018Housing Needs Survey\u2019 to consider our own need for both Market and Affordable Housing over the next 5 years. This survey showed an actual requirement for 23 affordable and some market homes, mostly one and two bedroomed dwellings. \u00a0This survey was to be repeated every five years. \u00a0It was felt that the market home requirements would be met by outside developers ( e.g. Swallowcroft), but there was no mechanism to supply the required \u00a0Affordable rented housing for LOCAL people.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Parish Council at the time felt that a CLT was a good route through which this need could be addressed, and so we began our first project\u00a0 in 2016 – Fuller Close in\u00a0 Claypits.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time it was recognised that, with the coalition government \u00a0turning the planning laws inside out, the developers were having a hay day and that our valued green spaces were becoming harder to defend. \u00a0This gave some impetus to getting first our Parish Plan and later our Neighbourhood Development Plan into place, alongside the Stroud Local Plan, \u00a0as a means of trying to control where and when \u00a0developments in our area could take place. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Basically development was to be limited to areas already within the bounds of Alkerton, but provision was made to meet our own local affordable housing needs by means of exception sites outside the village envelope. \u00a0 \u00a0 This is endorsed in the Stroud Local Plan \u00a0(Policy HC4 – Page 111).<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(click to see an extract). \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The extract from the Local Plan\u00a0also describes how priority for local people \u00a0may be achieved (via \u00a0what is called a Section 106 agreement- a legal document a bit like a covenant that is imposed as part of the Planning Permission). \u00a0There is more detail on our FAQ<\/a> page.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019 the Parish Council repeated the Housing Needs Survey – which identified a demand for 51 affordable homes.\u00a0 As a change from 2013, the 2019 survey identified a significant need for Affordable Shared Ownership, as well as Affordable Rent.<\/p>\n

Fullers Close was to deliver 23 of these, leaving an unmet demand for a further 28.\u00a0 Hence, Project Two was required and, since we knew it would take a few years to commence building, preparatory work started in mid 2019.\u00a0 How Fullers Close and ‘Project Two’ are progressing is documented in their respective sections of this website.<\/p>\n