RORY HOLDS RECEPTION IN PARLIAMENT TO CELEBRATE AND RAISE AWARENESS OF CUMBRIA AND THE COMMUNITY LAND TRUST NETWORK

Rory Stewart, Member of Parliament for Penrith and the Border, hosted a reception in parliament this week to showcase the work of Community Land Trust (CLT) Network across the country. The inspiration for the event was the Cumbrian project in Crosby Ravensworth of community-led affordable housing. The event was attend by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Planning, Nick Boles MP, as well as members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords and representatives from CLTs.

The National CLT Network supports communities to take collective action to challenge the way we construct housing in England, and to deliver permanently affordable homes for their community.  The sector has more than doubled in size in the last two years and today there are over 170 communities in England and Wales which have formed a CLT. CLTs are owned and government by local people and are a powerful example of local democracy allow people to set their own agenda for their community: true localism in action.

Rory Stewart MP has been a long supporter of the national network of Community Land Trusts and instrumental in piloting some of the country’s most successful national pilots, both in the form of the Crosby Ravensworth CLT model and the Upper Eden Neighbourhood Plan.

Rory Stewart said: “I completely support the excellent work of both the national network and, closer to home, the Cumbria Rural Housing Trust, which have done an incredible job in increasing the number of community land trusts in the UK, and helping to get small-scale, community-led, affordable housing projects off the ground. We have living examples here in Penrith and The Border, showing just how effective these mechanisms can be, and government needs to do all it can to support this growth, and harness it as a force for tangible change in our rural communities. There is now a wealth of experience, expertise and knowledge to draw upon for future projects, and yet again Penrith and The Border is showing the rest of the UK how this can be done.”

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