Plans submitted for 'national first' community-led housing scheme

27 April 2011

A partnership led by TV presenter Kevin McCloud has submitted detailed plans to deliver sustainable, community-owned housing on the derelict Cashes Green hospital site in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Haboakus, a joint venture between Mr McCloud's company Hab and housing group GreenSquare, has applied for planning permission to develop new and affordable housing and community facilities on the site, which is owned by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The plans submitted to Stroud District Council include proposals to build 78 new homes; 20 affordable homes for rent, 19 affordable homes for shared ownership, and 39 for sale on the open market by Haboakus.

The designs by DSDHA and landscape architects Studio Engleback:

• Incorporate re-use of some of the existing old hospital buildings.
• Deliver a new building linked to community allotment gardens provided as part of the scheme.
• Introduce a green tree-lined 'spine' across the neighbourhood with edible landscaping in public areas.
• Include ecological measures to protect local bat, slow worm and badger populations.

If the proposals get the go-ahead, the freehold of the affordable housing would be owned and managed by a Cashes Green Community Land Trust which is being set up with the support of Gloucestershire Land for People (GLP), a local body which supports groups who wish to develop and own housing and other amenities. People who live in Cashes Green would be eligible to join the new trust and have a say in how it operates through an estate management board.

This ground-breaking project follows months of engagement with local residents, including public information sessions at which local people submitted comments which helped shape the proposal.

It is the first time a Community Land Trust housing project would be delivered on HCA-owned land in England.

Speaking after the plans were submitted, Kevin McCloud said: "Working up the planning application for Cashes Green has been challenging and enjoyable.

"The consultations we held with local people revealed a great deal about the site - how people remembered the old hospital and how they valued the orchard trees and former allotments. Those views altered what we did and so the plans we're submitting keep the old three-storey building on the site and the lodge.

"We will be also be reusing materials that we're salvaging from existing buildings, and leaving some of the structures standing as memorable 'archaeology'. We've already conducted a survey of fruiting trees and are creating a haven for slow worms on the site now.

"The most exciting news is that we're going to be able to bring the allotments back into use this spring - many months before we even begin work on the adjacent hospital site - using a temporary separate entrance.

"I'm personally looking forward to seeing the creation of a 'One Planet' sustainable neighbourhood in Cashes Green and seeing the work we do ripple out across the existing neighbourhood, enriching the existing amenities there."

As part of the agreement, Haboakus intends to construct all 78 new homes to meet Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, which is a higher standard than conventionally-built houses.

GLP chairman Max Comfort added: "We are very pleased with the involvement of local people in the consultation on this proposed scheme and we urge residents to write to the council to express their support for the planning application. We would then intend to launch the Cashes Green Community Land Trust to oversee the development and manage the site."

HCA head of area David Warburton said: "This project has been a great example of localism in action. The participation and commitment shown by the Cashes Green community in working up the proposals for this site has been truly outstanding and has resulted in a scheme which I know will be cherished by local people once built.

"It has taken a lot of hard work by everyone involved to get to this stage, but I congratulate them on putting in the effort to produce the exciting plans that have been put forward. The end result should be a long-standing derelict site replaced with much-needed new and affordable housing, which ultimately would be owned and managed by the local community."

It is expected that a decision on the planning application will be made in the summer.

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