Mayor announces London's first Community Land Trust deal

Under the agreement announced by Mayor of London Boris Johnson yesterday, 200 homes would be built on publicly owned land at the former St Clements hospital site in Mile End.

The CLT deal means that the freehold of the site would be held in trust for the local community, which would preserve the value of the land for the community in the long-term, the Mayor said. 

It is proposed that the East London CLT will hold some of the homes directly and the residents will have direct involvement in the management of the whole neighbourhood when it is built. 

Proposals for the scheme include the building of around 223 new homes, 35% of which would be made available for affordable housing. The scheme does not currently have planning permission. 

"Around 45% of the affordable rented homes and 30% of the affordable home ownership homes are planned to be family-sized homes with three bedrooms or more," the Mayor said. "The affordable rented homes will be delivered by a registered provider and it is intended that the affordable home ownership homes (approximately 21 homes) will be owned by the CLT."

Members of the CLT control it and the assets it owns are protected by an asset lock, which means that if an asset is sold, the cash is re-invested into something else of benefit to the local community.

"Galliford Try is proud to be a part of the team delivering London’s first Community Land Trust development," said Stephen Teagle, of Galliford Try. "Our strength in building partnerships and delivering affordable housing solutions helps us create high quality mixed tenure communities and we look forward to working closely with the Community Land Trust on realising their ambitions and delivering an exemplar scheme for London."

Under the proposals, a number of "important historic buildings", including a nineteenth century,　grade-II listed workhouse, would be protected.