Peninsula Village Community Land Trust (PVCLT) has got the green light to work with Crocus Homes on the purchase of four affordable homes at the School Lane site in Bawdsey.
The homes, which will be managed by Orwell Housing Association on behalf of the CLT, will include two two-bedroom semi-detached properties and two one-bedroom semi-detached houses, all of which will be constructed to the same high standard of the other properties on the site.
A spokesperson for PVCLT said: “For more than a year we have been working on setting up the CLT, this will be the first of many homes we plan to own on behalf of our communities. This is a great step forward for us and the villages we represent.”
The villages of Alderton, Bawdsey, Boyton, Hollesley, Shottisham and Sutton have joined together to set up the CLT – a not-for-profit organisation which will work with communities, landowners, housing associations, developers and the local authority to improve the availability of affordable accommodation in the area.
The group, run entirely by volunteer trustees, aims to identify more sites suitable for building permanently affordable housing for rent; once built they will remain owned by the community forever.
The PVCLT spokesman added: “The problem is that many of the people who work here find the lack of suitable accommodation and house prices a barrier to living here.
“Local people who want to stay here are put off setting up businesses in the area for the same reason. Equally, some senior members of our community may want to move out of from their large houses but are unable to find something smaller which allows them to go on living in the area that they have made their home.
“Our primary aim is to work collaboratively with housing associations to ensure that there is more affordable housing both for rent and as shared equity in our parishes. This will enable local people to live and work in our villages and, in turn, help to make our communities more sustainable.
“We are conducting a Housing Needs Survey in the six villages which will provide us with accurate detail for the local demand for such homes. We want to see an allocations policy which will ensure priority is given to individuals who have a strong personal link to the peninsula.”
John Whitlock of Crocus Homes said he was looking forward to working with the PVCLT on its first project.
“Together with the trustees of PVCLT, we plan to build high specification and energy efficient homes. This is a win-win situation for the local communities on the Wilford peninsula.”
Welcoming the work of PVCLT, Suffolk Coastal District Council’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for Housing, Cllr Richard Kerry, said: “We welcome this positive development on the Wilford Peninsula.
“It sums up the ‘can do’ attitude of our local communities, banding together to make a real difference to the housing situation in their area. We will do anything we can to support this, and similar initiatives, to help provide the affordable homes needed to allow local people to stay in the area and for our economy to continue to flourish.”