More Cornish community groups are gearing up to build affordable housing themselves after our seminar this month highlighted People Power as the best way solve the county’s housing crisis.

The audience at packed meeting in Truro City Hall heard from a panel of experts about how to access the land, the funding and the legal expertise to build quality affordable housing for people priced out of the local market in their home towns and villages.

Our Director Andrew George said “The event was designed to empower Parish Councils and other community groups to tackle to problem of affordable housing provision themselves. Interest is growing and there’s a buzz in the air.”

Director of the National CLT Network Catherine Harrington also spoke at the seminar. She believes the Community Land Trust’s unique development model will play a larger part in the future of the housing sector in the UK.

She said “Community Land Trusts are a positive reaction to the housing crisis. They put communities in the driving seat of the building of homes that local people really want and need.

“Cornwall CLT is the pioneer of the movement and to date a quarter of the total CLT homes built have been built in the county. More affordable housing is desperately needed in Cornwall and we hope Cornwall Council can help lead the way in showing how local authorities can best support CLTs and community-led housing.”

Cornwall Community Land Trust has successfully delivered 236 genuinely affordable new homes at 23 locations across Cornwall and has ambitions to build hundreds more.