The Saxonvale housing initiative discussed in John Harris’s column (How one English town fought cookie-cutter housing by daring to dream a different future, 10 December) will not be unique as a large-scale community-led, mixed-use development, though its winding tale will make it a first of its kind.
Across England, more than 2,000 homes have been developed by community land trusts in the past decade, three-quarters in partnership with private developers and housing associations. A 500-home garden village is being built by a national housebuilder in Cambridgeshire, co-designed by the community land trust, which will take ownership of all the open space and amenities, and half of the affordable homes, as they are completed.
Community land trusts give local people a seat at the table. With this power they can ensure that they get the right mix of genuinely affordable homes, workspaces, open spaces and more, within what is financially viable. They can also be confident of looking after these for years to come with a trust that is democratic, accountable and legally committed to local wellbeing.
Politicians looking for a way to build popular support for housebuilding and regeneration need look no further. Will this government or the next one back the local builders?
Tom Chance
Community Land Trust Network
• John Harris relates a story of local people defeating a property developer that had proposed a scheme to build 300 homes. The community scheme that replaced it will only build 182. Harris is right to criticise commercial developers, but local residents rarely seek to increase, and often seek to reduce, the number of homes planned on each site. That might be better for the local area, but those homes must be built somewhere else, which might be more damaging, or the housing shortage will get worse.
Dr Steve Melia
Bristol
• Larry Elliott is right to point out the differences between the inflation of 1974 and now, but neglects today’s elephant in the room – housing (Labour is on course for victory – but what kind of economy will it inherit?, 10 December). In the 70s you could still house yourself affordably, and any rise in rents (and more people rented then) could be absorbed by pay rises, because unions were stronger. Inflation and recession are usually caused by political choices or external shocks, with the central bank looking like the flapping stable door after the economy has bolted. In spite of the huge number of column inches that are expended pondering over the base rate, the central bank will always to some extent be a blunt instrument trying to fix an interest rate for bits of the economy that are moving at different speeds.
Affordable housing and secure tenancies, along with more secure jobs and a fit-for-purpose social security system, would be much better subjects to expend column inches on.
David Redshaw
Saltdean, East Sussex
• Simon Jenkins is right about the need to build on brownfield sites, but ignores the practical and legal difficulties of doing so that make greenfield sites attractive to mass housebuilders (Housing policy in Britain is a chaotic shambles. Thank God for nimbys, I say, 14 December). A statutory presumption in favour of development and a relaxation of planning controls for brownfield sites would make them more attractive.
Michael Heaton
Warminster, Wiltshire
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