Housing minister gives green light to local housing trusts

The Housing Minister has signalled the government's intention to press ahead with the creation of local housing trusts, promising a "revolution" where communities get involved in providing homes for themselves.

Speaking at the Community Land Trusts conference in London, Grant Shapps said LHTs would have to show they have the support of the local community for planned housing developments and that they meet some basic planning criteria. However, they would not then need to lodge specific planning applications.

Plans for the trusts will be included in the Decentralisation and Localism Bill, which is due to be introduced in the autumn.

The minister told delegates: “For the first time it will be communities, not central government, who decide what happens in their local area.

“We want local people to decide what happens in their community. Local housing trusts should be able to proceed in areas where there is overwhelming support for new developments from people living in the area.”

Shapps said he wanted communities to have the freedom to decide on the type and quantity of housing “without external restrictions imposed by a centralised planning system”.

He added: “The English villages that captivate the world’s imagination were largely built at a time before a planning system existed. They were built by local people to meet their needs.”

However, he warned delegates at the conference that they would need to have to work “within the same financial constraints as everyone else”.

Amid concerns that the plans will not deliver sufficient affordable housing, Shapps said he had “no doubt” that many schemes will seek to provide more affordable homes in villages.

“People want to help young people stay in their community,” he claimed. “Villages may also want to build some housing to sell, sheltered housing for the elderly, or even set aside plots for people to build their own homes. It will be up to the local housing trust.”

The minister added that LHTs would have to invest any financial profits back into the community, and that the land would remain in the trust for local benefit “forever – regardless of what happens to the homes built on top”.