Oxfordshire Community Land Trust’s mission is to help solve Oxfordshire’s housing crisis through the provision of permanently affordable homes, and to act as a positive example for other community land trusts throughout the UK.
We caught up with Fran Ryan, one of the founding members of the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust to talk about their Crofts Court project that Ecology Building Society supported through the provision of a mortgage.
This is the inspirational story of Global Link, their determined leader, and the thousands of people who have been touched by the essential work they do every day.
Gisella, Executive Director of Global Link, truly embodies that great Henry Ford quote:
“If you believe you can, or you believe you can’t, then you’re probably right.”
Gisella believes she can, and it’s that mindset that has helped an Education Centre in the heart of Lancaster have a global impact.
“It might not be everyone’s idea of paradise, but we’re very fond of Chapeltown. This is where we belong and we want to see it flourishing.” That’s the word on the street at Chapeltown Cohousing (ChaCo) – a community-led housing project in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Formed in 2010 following some impassioned conversations between neighbours, Chapeltown Cohousing is based in Leeds’ Chapeltown/Harehills area. Statistically, the neighbourhood is one of the most disadvantaged in the country, with the Indices of Deprivation (2019) showing it to be within the top 5% most deprived postcodes in England.
What the statistics don’t show is the abundance of diverse and vibrant culture that characterises the neighbourhood. It’s this that has given rise to the unique vision behind ChaCo.
Bath Street Collective Custom Build is home to four separate families that came together to purchase the site and build a tenement block containing a custom-made flat for each owner. The families were excited by the prospect of being able to build their own property and inspired by the idea of creating affordable high-quality homes with exemplary environmental credentials.
London-based artists Jessie and George wanted to find an affordable property that they could treat as a home, not just an investment. Given the pressures of London’s inflated housing market, it was a challenge for them to find somewhere suitable, their options eventually becoming limited to the city’s outskirts. Keen to return to their community in the heart of London, they decided to look beyond the confines of the mainstream housing market.
