Building from the Ground Up
The Power of Community in delivering affordable housing in Gloucestershire
Our Rural Housing Enabler Tim Gwilliam writes:
In the face of a growing affordable housing crisis, many Gloucestershire residents are asking: how can we ensure that our communities remain vibrant places where our children can afford to live?
Why It Matters for Gloucestershire
When we build community-led homes, we aren't just adding to the housing stock. We are tackling isolation, supporting the local economy, and ensuring that those who work in our schools, shops, and care services can actually live in the communities they serve.
The key to affordable rural housing is to allow the community to have meaningful input from the very start. This means that the housing is Community-Driven , where local people play a leading role throughout the process.
There are different pathways that communities can follow when leading on their own affordable housing projects, and here are a couple of examples where communities have done just this:
Pathway 1
‘Community-Led Housing’ (CLH), such as in Longhope in the Forest of Dean, is a movement where local people take the lead in designing and delivering homes that meet their specific needs.
What exactly is Community-Led Housing?
Permanently Affordable: Benefits are legally protected to stay affordable for the community in perpetuity.
Non-Profit: The goal is to create housing for people, not to create profits for developers.
Common models include Community Land Trusts (CLTs) , where the community owns the land forever, and Cohousing , where residents have private homes but share communal spaces like gardens and community kitchens.
Pathway 2
Rural Affordable Housing built using "Rural Exception Sites".
Rural Exception Sites are small parcels of land for which planning permission would not be normally be granted. Provided that the homes are for people with a local connection, affordable housing can be built.
The people of Berry Hill in the Forest of Dean recognised that the lack of affordable housing for local people was impacting on their community, and they included a planning policy in their Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) to tackle this.
Working with the Berry Hill NDP group and the wider community to identify land, GRCC brought in a local, Forest of Dean based Housing Association to deliver an affordable housing development of 17 units, including two designed for people with disabilities. Local builders were used for the project, now named Whitehall Close , and with the support of GRCC and the local community, all of these homes have gone to local people who were in housing need, thanks to the "local connection" policy.
Whichever pathway is taken, projects can be truly led by the Community, for the Community
Whether it’s a small Rural Exception Site, or a larger Community Land Trust or Cohousing project, GRCC works collaboratively to build local consensus through bespoke solutions .
How GRCC can help
Navigating the planning and construction world can be daunting. That’s where we in the GRCC Affordable Housing Team step in. As a local hub of expertise, GRCC provides the know-how to turn a community’s vision into reality.
Assessing Real Need: GRCC is the provider of Affordable Housing Needs Surveys in Gloucestershire. These surveys provide the robust evidence base required for planning permission for new affordable homes.
Expert Guidance: GRCC offers county-wide support, helping groups navigate complex legal structures, site identification, and the planning process.
Building Partnerships: GRCC acts as a bridge between community groups, local authorities, and housing associations to find funding and delivery partners.
Ready to start a project in your village?
You can get in touch with the GRCC Affordable Housing Team via email at affordablehousing@grcc.org.uk or call us on 01452 528491 to discuss your ideas.
