Families in Boscombe could be offered an affordable opportunity to buy their own home as plans to create a Community Land Trust are explored.
The move - part of the ‘Backing Boscombe’ drive to improve the area - is aimed at encouraging residents to take pride in their homes and their streets, creating more settled communities and boosting people’s job prospects.
Bournemouth 2026, which leads the Boscombe Regeneration Partnership, and brings together hundreds of private, public and voluntary organisations to work together to make improvements, has the support of Bournemouth Borough Council for the proposal.
Bournemouth 2026 has identified Boscombe as a priority area and is working with partners to develop plans to achieve its objectives of affordable, good quality housing, reducing crime and fear of crime, improving children’s prospects and improving job opportunities in the area.
The Bournemouth 2026 partnership will soon become a Development Trust and is leading on setting up a Community Land Trust as part of its new venture.
It’s early days but Bournemouth 2026, working with Bournemouth Borough Council, are progressing proposals for the construction of up to 14 quality, affordable family houses alongside an arts and culture hub using the old Boscombe Centre for Community Arts site in Haviland Road. Once the trust is established then other possible sites can be explored with a view to them being donated or purchased for community use through the trust.
The partnership will be exploring different models of home ownership with the aim of offering new homes at below market prices. It will also seek to ensure that these homes remain ‘affordable’ long after they’re sold on. Most importantly the community through the trust will have influence over how land and housing is used and developed.
Debbie Clifton, Bournemouth 2026 Development Manager said: “A recent independent report into Central Boscombe found much of the rental housing to be low quality and overcrowded, with the majority of people choosing to leave the area as they climb the housing ladder. We believe a Community Land Trust would give people a better start in life and will provide a legacy, a stepping stone for residents throughout Boscombe, who could not otherwise afford their own home, and an incentive to stay. The Trust will aim to provide a better mix of family housing, encouraging a more permanent, stable community which takes pride in its properties and surroundings.”
The partnership will seek to make as many additional benefits to the local area as possible, making homes energy efficient to reduce fuel bills, making use of the latest developments in fire safety, purchasing materials locally, making apprenticeship opportunities for local people to help with their construction. A self-build scheme will even be considered.
