OUR VISION
What if many people in Eastbourne became members of Eastbourne Community Land Trust to acquire land and raise funds to build homes, which they then held in Trust for ever so that future generations could afford to live in Eastbourne.
If we did this then people on local wages (often key workers) could buy a share in their own home, which they would own with us. This will give them housing security and they could put down roots within the communities in which they grew up.
174 people have already become members of this movement for change. Will you join us?
We are Eastbourne volunteers and part of a UK wide people powered movement for community led housing.
Anyone can join Eastbourne CLT as a Member for £1 to help grow our voice, our influence and our work.
Our ambition is grow our membership and bring affordable home ownership to those on modest incomes in Eastbourne
174
MEMBERS
5
HOUSES IN THE PIPELINE
5
BOARD MEMBERS
Public Events
In 2024 you will find us at The Gather space in the Beacon Centre in Eastbourne on the last Friday of the month alongside other community organisations.
It provides an opportunity for local residents to drop in, meet our volunteers, take a look at our building plans and ask questions about our affordable home ownership scheme.
We hope people will come and meet volunteers and perhaps join as Members for £1 and be part of our movement for change.
Support us today
Please help us raise much needed funds towards running the Society and developing the land we've been gifted
Visit our page HERE
2023 Timeline
October 2023
Our 4th Annual General Meeting was held at The Gildredge Park Bowls Clubhouse and was well attended. Speaker, Caroline Ansell MP said housing is the biggest issue concerning local people.
August 2023
We finally achieved planning consent for our new build of five houses at Biddenden Close, Langney, which will be offered under a Shared Ownership scheme once built.
April 2023
We signed a grant agreement with Eastbourne Borough Council for a community led housing Grant of £65k for the new build development. This has kick started our fundraising.
2022 Timeline
Below are details of our journey towards house building...
December 2022
We hope construction will soon get underway at the Boutique Modern factory and our fundraising efforts will continue.
November 2022
We are working towards achieving planning consent with help from our construction partner, Boutique Modern. Grant funding research is also a priority this month.
October 2022
We will hold our AGM at 6.30pm on Monday October 24th 2022 at St Barnabas Church Centre (adjacent to Langney Shopping Centre). Speaker is Lucas Shone, our construction partner from Boutique Modern in Newhaven. It is a chance to meet Members and appoint Trustee Officers for the coming year.
September 2022
We are working with the Community Shares Company who are helping us develop our first Community Shares Offer, which is for social investors who will invest their savings with us and get 2.5% annual interest added to their share account. We hope to raise over £100k. Contact the office for details.
August 2022
Awaiting planning permission and technical costings for construction costs. Fundraising via Crowdfunder. We need funds to show grant funders we have community goodwill supporting us.
July 2022
Grant reporting; Land Valuation; Year End Accounts; FCA Reporting are all being worked on with our Accountant, John Caldine. We begin our road show of public meetings to share our plans with people iin Eastbourne. Site investigations begin.
June 2022
Chair of Trustees, Sandy Medway (left) with ECLT Member, Sue Relf, celebrating our land acquisition with Cllr Alan Shuttleworth (right) and Tom Warder (far left) from the Sussex Community Housing Hub. We submitted our Planning Application to Eastbourne Borough Council.
May 2022
We exchanged on the Land Contract and agreed completion will finalise once we have secured most of the capital funding we need to develop the site.
April 2022
Our solicitor, Zara Coton at Stephen Rimmer's, worked on our behalf to secure the land contract for the garage site at Biddenden Close.
March 2022
ECLT volunteers met with Architect, Ciaran Andrews at Boutique Modern to refine our concept and ideas.
February 2022
The Biddenden Close Project Management Team weekly meeting online develop new build plans with business partners, Boutique Modern and Lawson Queay.
January 2022
Welcome news of our successful application to the government's Community Housing Fund for pre-development costs.
2021 Timeline
Trustees worked on land acquisition and seeking funding opportunities and business partners...
2021 July
We are awaiting news of the guidance for the latest Homes England grant, which will be published in August 2021. This is funding for pre-development costs.
We received a draft land contract from EBC and are seeking legal advice whilst also updating our business plan and community shares prospectus to be launched in September.
2021 June
Eastbourne Herald publishes an article about the Housing Minister visiting Sussex and the Zed factory producing modular housing units to help those struggling to buy as house prices rise across Sussex.
2021 June
EBC & ECLT agree heads of terms and an exchange of land contract date is set for mid July 2021.
2021 March
Eastbourne Borough Council cabinet members approved the transfer of land off Biddenden Close in Langney Eastbourne to Eastbourne Community Land Trust.
The land already has planning permission and the disused domestic garages site has no tenants
Different locations | Different people
Different challenges | Different solutions
To understand the movement we are part of,
click the link below and read about other community led housing success stories https://www.communityledhomes.org.uk/what-community-led-housing/success-stories
In early 2022 there were over 500 live UK community led housing projects
Here are some key facts about Eastbourne CLT
We are a Registered Community Benefit Society, established in 2018
You can read our Rules (governing document) HERE
We are developing
Community Led Housing
Run By Volunteer Members, our first project is for affordable home ownership
We are members of the National CLT Network
And one of over 300 UK based Community Land Trusts
Please Get Involved
If not us, then who else will determine
our children and grandchildren's future housing?
In partnership with others, we can create truly low-cost housing
for local families on low incomes.
For our first project, we are developing a shared ownership scheme.
Our asset lock rules will ensure that our homes stay community owned, in perpetuity, for future generations.
"The lack of decent and affordable housing for the people of this nation is a scandal that must be addressed with imagination and determination; across parties, across institutions and across communities."
Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, Foreword to "Coming Home" published in 2020
Our Passion
As a social enterprise we are collaborating with associates and partners across all sectors,
including government, the public sector, local businesses, and with community and third sector organisations.
New Build
Eastbourne Borough Council are supporting us with land and a grant to help us develop five new houses for key worker families wanting a shared ownership home.
Fundraising
We are actively raising funds for our first new build project, and need people like you to help us. Support Us Here
Housing needs
If you are a key worker living in Langney, and needing a permanent secure home in order to put down roots, we want to hear from you. Read our Allocations Policy HERE
Community
We need churches, charities and businesses to help us achieve our goals. Demonstrate your heart for our community by helping us.
2019/2020 Timeline
Follow our journey below...
2020 Zoom Meetings & AGM
During most of 2020 trustees met online via Zoom with other CLTs and the Sussex Housing Hub to further develop our plans around raising finance, construction methods and partners. ECLT held it's first AGM on Zoom in November 2020. With the help of Accountant, John Caladine, ECLT also submitted it's first set of accounts and Report to the FCA.
2020 Viability Studies
Finding construction partners and getting quotes is a lengthy process and we are hampered in making progress by several lockdowns affecting our ability to travel and meet on site with potential contractors.
2020 Planning Permission 5 Houses
The site had permission in 2018 to build five houses. We began working on a plan to build a mix of 3Bed and three 2Bed houses that will accommodate different size families in housing need.
2020 Land in Langney
Lockdowns began, due to the Covid-19. ECLT work stalled for several months, but in May 2020 the Council wrote with an offer of land in Langney and a grant to help kickstart our fundraising efforts.
2019 Searching for land again
Sarah Roberts from Eastbourne Borough Council worked once again with us to find an alternative site, and another disused domestic garage site was identified, this time in Langney. The site already had planning permission and we were assured all tennancies had ceased and the garages were in fact empty.
2019 Meeting with Garage Tenants
With our plans unfolding and costings looking favourable, we wrote in August 2019 to local residents living around the garage site we hoped to develop. However, residents told us they needed their garages and didn't want to lose them. They didn't want a block of flats on the land, it was overdevelopment, and would lead to overcrowding and parking issues, especially with regard to access via their narrow roadway. We decided to walk away from developing the land. Some residents joined ECLT as Members because they had been heard.
2018/2019 Timeline
See below our journey since May 2018...
2019 Land in Hampden Park
During 2019 we had several meetings with Eastbourne Borough Council exploring the terms of our partnership and some outline terms were drafted.
2019 Meetings in Hampden Park
With land in sight, and a potential construction partner lined up, ECLT arranged a couple of public meetings with Hampden Park residents with Fr Adam Ransom's support at St Peter's Church hall. This was to introduce ourselves and the concept of community led housing. About 20 people attended and our hope was to find support within the community and to also discover if there were nearby people in housing need who might benefit from our plans.
2019 Exploring Modular Construction
ECLT were introduced to Newhaven based factory, Boutique Modern, a ten year old family firm run by father and son Dick and Lucas Shone who manufacture housing units. Volunteers visited the factory and were suitably impressed. We began learning more about this modular method of construction and continued working with Lucas to see if their cost effective methods were suitable for our project.
2019 Search for Land
During 2019, and with help from Sarah Roberts, Business Development Officer, at Eastbourne Borough Council, a plot of land in Hampden Park was identified for a possible new build development. The proposal was to demolish existing domestic garages and build eight 2Bed units. Work began on costing the project to check if it was viable for affordable housing.
December 2018 Formation
On 11 December 2018 ECLT received news that our Registration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was complete. Eastbourne Community Land Trust (ECLT) became formally a legal entity known as Community Benefit Society RS007293 on the FCA Mutuals Register. We were aided in this as a Start Up Affiliate with the National CLT Network who brokered our application. The Trustees appointed by members of the initial interest group, and subsequently formed steering group, were Sandy Medway; Christopher Snook; Howard Medway and Gordana Glamnovska.
November 2018 Launch
After months of education in CLT formation and related activities, with Graham Maunders from the Sussex Community Housing Hub, the steering group held a public launch at Eastbourne Town Hall on 26 November 2018. Attended by over 50 guests, which including several local councillors and the current MP, Caroline Ansell. Most attendees paid £1 and signed up as the first ECLT Members. Speakers included brief talks by several founding members who shared their passion for getting involved and volunteering to support a new movement for community-led affordable housing in Eastbourne.
Further Reading...
Here are links to informative websites relating to affordable housing. Click the logo image to visit their web page article.
Which? Money
Affordable housing: can you buy below market value?
What is an affordable housing scheme, and how can it help you get on to the property ladder?
Gov.uk
Affordable Home Ownership Schemes
Buying through shared ownership: When you buy a home through a shared ownership scheme you buy a share of the property and pay rent on the rest.
The share you can buy is usually between 25% and 75%. You can buy a 10% share on some homes..
NHF
Details on the next Affordable Homes Programme announced 09 September 2020
The government has announced the prospectus for the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme (AHP). It plans to build up to 180,000 new homes with investment confirmed in the Budget in March – £7.5bn will be distributed via Homes England and the government will negotiate with the Greater London Authority on the use of the remaining £4bn for London..
Housing Hub
Affordable Housing in Sussex
Action in Rural Sussex has been operating a housing enabling service for over 25 years, helping to deliver many affordable housing schemes to meet local needs.
Experience has shown, that continuous technical advice and support from locally-based expert advisers, is the key to helping communities navigate the many obstacles to ensure delivery of successful housing projects.
We provide two specialist services – The Sussex Community Housing Hub and a Rural Housing Enabling Service.
Briefing
This briefing paper considers how affordable housing is defined in England and looks at key trends in the affordability of different tenure types. It examines the supply of affordable housing and the role of Housing Benefit in enabling households to access and retain affordable housing. Read HERE
Registered Office: Caladine Chartered Accountants,
Chantry House, 22 Upperton Rd, Eastbourne, BN22 1BF
Copyright © 2018-2025 Eastbourne CLT. All rights reserved.
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.