Providing affordable housing in our district is vital to ensure that young people and families can continue living and working in the place where they grew up.

In rural locations, registered housing providers often find it difficult to deliver new housing schemes due to the small number of homes involved. This is why Community Land Trusts (CLTs) are so important — the affordable homes are managed by local people and protected for local use.

I’m delighted to say that a ground-breaking £3.6m community-led project to deliver 12 affordable homes in Westbourne has now been completed, with residents welcomed into their new homes last month. Led by the Westbourne Community Trust, this is the first purpose-built community-led affordable housing scheme in our district.

The scheme offers housing for local residents who cannot afford to buy or rent on the open market, with the rent set at approximately 55% of market levels for the area. These homes will never be subject to the right to buy and will be retained permanently for social rent.

To help deliver the scheme, the council provided the land, awarded grant funding, and worked closely with the Trust. Additional support was provided by Westbourne Parish Council, the South Downs National Park Authority, The St Mary’s Hospital Trust, and Homes England. This is a fantastic project that will make a lasting difference to local people, and I’d like to congratulate everyone involved.

Another successful community-led housing scheme is in Easebourne, where residents moved into eight new affordable homes last spring. The homes were purchased by Midhurst Community Land Trust, and we provided grant funding from the council’s Community Led Housing Fund and Section 106 affordable housing funding to support this. The properties will be kept for local people who live, were brought up in, or work in the area and cannot afford to buy or rent locally, with the rent set at around 70% of the local open market rate.

The Midhurst and Westbourne CLTs have shown what can be achieved when the local community works with the council and other partners to deliver affordable housing, and I’m pleased to say that we have more CLTs coming forward in other rural areas of our district.

Communities interested in setting up their own affordable housing project are encouraged to contact our Housing Delivery Team for advice. There are many ways to do this, including community-owned rented housing; low-cost housing for sale; housing co-operatives; self-build schemes; co-ownership; and housing for older people. For more details, visit: www.chichester.gov.uk/communityledhousing / www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk

As the council does not own its own housing, we proactively reach out to partner organisations in the social housing sector to invite them to work with us to deliver affordable housing projects within the district. As part of this work, the council recently committed a £950,000 grant towards a project that will provide 19 high-quality affordable homes in North Mundham.

In partnership with community-based housing association, Worthing Homes — which builds affordable homes across West Sussex — the scheme will deliver 13 Social Rent and six Shared Ownership homes for people with a local connection. This is a significant step forward in addressing local housing in the North Mundham area.

This project is not only increasing the number of affordable homes in our district, but also ensuring they are built to high environmental standards that benefit residents and the wider community.

By continuing to support innovative schemes like these, we can help ensure that everyone has access to a safe, affordable home in the place they love.

To find out more about council schemes and projects like this, sign up to our free monthly initiatives+ email newsletter — www.chichester.gov.uk/newsalerts — and join our new Facebook Messenger channel — www.messenger.com/channel/ChichesterDistrictCouncil — for local news, events, emergency alerts, and opportunities to have your say in consultations.

Best wishes

Cllr Oona Hickson

Cabinet Member for Housing, Revenues and Benefits at Chichester District Council