Affordable homes are coming to Seend

SEEND Community Land Trust project to build ten affordable houses in the Seend Cleeve site is pushing ahead. 

The trust is a Community Interest Company (CIC) that has worked in partnership with the affordable housing association, White Horse Housing, and the community housing hub, Homes of Our Own, in order to build ten affordable new homes in the village. 

A Wiltshire Council report explains, “It has been a long road to get to this point.  Seend CLT formed in 2017, gaining a legal status of a CIC in 2018.  They undertook a search and assessment of the land in the Parish and were presented with an opportunity at Park Farm, Seend Cleeve. 

“Talks, negotiations, community consultation and planning applications have all now led to this point.  As with many CLTs the housing association (White Horse Housing) actually bought the land.  They then sold it to Seend CLT for £1 on condition of a legal agreement that it will be leased back to White Horse Housing on a 999-year lease.  Working in this way means that the Seend has the ownership it needs and that the housing will remain affordable in perpetuity. The site could not have been brought forward without the work of the CLT.” 

George Clarke, Chair of Seend CLT said, “This is a really significant step on the road to providing affordable homes in Seend. We couldn’t have got here without the support of ‘Homes of Our Own’ and White Horse Housing Association, I’m really looking forward to seeing this development completed and occupied. 

“The next steps are now to tender for a developer to construct the site which is being designed by PK Architects to Passivhaus standards with them hoping to start on site by the end of the year.” 

Steve Warran, Chief Executive of White Horse Housing said, “The purchase of the land is a significant step forward in bringing these new homes to reality. All the homes will be built to the highest environmental standards meaning they will be affordable to our residents with minimal impact on the environment. We will now start the process of finding a suitable contractor to undertake the building of this exciting and innovative project”. 

The Passivhaus Trust describe Passivhaus buildings as those which “provide a high level of occupant comfort while using very little energy for heating and cooling. They are built with meticulous attention to detail and rigorous design and construction according to principles developed by the Passivhaus Institute in Germany, and can be certified through an exacting quality assurance process.”