Calder Valley Community Land Trust

Since its establishment in 2014, the Registered Provider of Social Housing has successfully delivered six independent living bungalows for older people in Walsden and is continuing to work with local councils and community groups to expand their work.

For the past eight years, this CLT has been working on revitalising High Street, Hebden Bridge, a site cleared in the 1960s slum clearances. For them, it is important to build on sites of former housing or on brownfield land to avoid spoiling greenfield land. Despite facing planning application rejections, the charity is committed to involving community members through public consultation to ensure that the houses proposed are built where local people want them.

Practically, this has meant tweaking proposals to include details that would improve the local sense of community and living standards. After working tirelessly to address planning and community concerns, Calder Valley Community Land Trust has gained permission to build 20 ‘comfortable, low energy, permanently affordable homes for rent by local people’.

This development will provide sustainable homes for people who have been priced out of the local property market whilst adhering to the highest environmental and quality standards. Though they have made great efforts to fundraise through community shared investment capital, receiving funding from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has allowed the scope of their work to stretch farther than ever. With a grant of £38,000 through the Community Housing Fund Revenue Programme 2021/22, Calder Valley has increased opportunities to bring together communities to tackle their own housing challenges. The CLT uses their active voice to create a housing market that the local communities can afford to engage with.