Conservatives have set up a taskforce of leading experts on Community Land Trusts to increase their use and provide more affordable housing across the country.

The Conservative Party have today launched their Community Land Trust Taskforce designed to increase the use of Land Trusts across the country, providing more affordable local housing where it is needed most.

At a meeting with directors from Gloucestershire Land for People, a CLT group in Stroud, Gloucestershire, the Shadow Housing Minister, Grant Shapps MP, announced the formation of the taskforce, headed up by Dr Karl Dayson, the Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Community Finance Solutions at the University of Salford.

Community Land Trusts are a way for local communities to work together to build sustainable communities which benefit local people. The Trusts provide affordable housing because the land used is separate from the buildings developed and the impact of land appreciation is therefore removed. Recently the Conservative Party forced the Government to insert a clause in the Housing and Regeneration Bill which created a legal definition of Community Land Trusts to make it easier for them to find funding.

The Taskforce will examine the current difficulties with setting up Community Land Trusts and suggest solutions which will allow it to be simpler and easier to set Trusts up, encouraging more communities to get together and build affordable housing for people in their areas.

The Taskforce members are:
Chair: Dr Karl Dayson – University of Salford

Richard Blakeway – Director of Housing for the Mayor of London
David Brown - Chair of High Bickington Community Property Trust
John Cottingham - Director - Affordable Homes UK
Sian Flynn – Conservative PPC for North Cornwall
Alan Fox - Community Land Trust Project Manager - Cornwall Rural Houaing Association
Stephen Hill, Director - C2O futureplanners
Charlotte Hollins - Fordhall Community Land Initiative
David Rodgers - CDS Cooperatives
Dave Smith - Community Organiser - Affordable Housing, London Citizens

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