ANNUALREPORT2014

OCLT

Annual report to the board for year ending 31 March 2014

OXFORDSHIRE COMMUNITY LAND TRUST

2 | OCLT Annual report 2014

Annual report to the board for year ending 31 March 2014

OXFORDSHIRE COMMUNITY LAND TRUST

oxfordshirecommunityland trust

We are pleased to present the Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2014 under the Companies Act 2006, together with financial statements for the year.

OCLT exists to promote and secure community owned land for permanently affordable homes, business premises and other facilities for community benefit. It aims to gradually build this sector in Oxford and beyond and to work with local communities to do this. It is an Industrial and Provident Society for the Benefit of the Community and its Rules state that any surplus must be ploughed back into community assets. It is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Community consultation 2013

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DIRECTORS

The Directors of OCLT Ltd. are the directors of an Industrial and Provident Society. The Directors serving during the year (and who continue to serve) are as follows:

Fran Ryan

Jock Coats

Larry Sanders

Tony Crofts

Vyvyan Salmon

Method of Election

Directors are appointed by election at the Annual General Meeting. Directors cannot sit on the board for a period of longer than 9 years.

ACTIVITY REPORT

The year started with the arrival of our £22K pre-development loan from Venturesome funding, https://www.cafonline.org/caf-venturesome.aspx. Although it’s not cheap (costing an extra 25% on top of principal when it is repaid), it doesn’t have to be repaid if the project doesn’t go ahead. This is to cover the costs incurred as we prepare a planning application for our small site off the Eynsham Road which we are currently calling ‘The Dean Court Project’.

Design:

Having recently appointed Askew Architects from Bristol we began the serious work of designing the homes on our small site. In parallel with this, considerable research (and money) went into assessing the access

possibilities and Tim Foxhall from Glanville Consulting http://www.glanvillegroup.com/ came up with what we hope would be a successful solution to the access concerns.

Planning:

With an initial design for two options with up to 7 units in hand we had a pre-planning meeting in May with Vale. Unfortunately the planner was initially negative for a whole variety of reasons including this: ‘the proposals are harmful to the character of the locality’. It was surprising to learn that little weight could be attached to the Housing

Askew Architects: Chris Askew, Christine Skaar and Nerea Gonzalez

chair’s Report

One of the initial layout options from Askew Architects

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Needs Survey as current policy didn’t restrict housing development on the site, and the Needs Survey would ‘not outweigh the harm caused to the locality’.

Public Consultation:

So it was back to the drawing board: Chris Askew and Sally Daniels took all the feedback into account and then came up with a revised plan which was the subject of a very successful public consultation over two days in September. Over two days we had almost 30 people come and look at the drawings and a model of what the project would look like. There was considerable public support so plans were submitted in November for 6 units 2 x 2 beds and 4 x 1 beds. However we subsequently came under considerable pressure from the Planning Officer who made it clear he would not recommend it. We decided to go back to the drawing board and came up with a second proposal for 2 x 2beds and 2 x 1 beds and 2 studios. The main change was a slightly smaller building which resulted in 2 of the units being reduced

chair’s report (continued)

from 2 beds to studios. This revised plan was submitted in Feb 2014 (and successfully got planning approval with conditions in May 2014).

Funding:

Business Planning: Throughout all of these design and planning changes, Jock had been working furiously somewhat in the background with occasional help from people such as Steve Bendle to get our business plan ready to apply to funders. He had to re-iterate it countless times as assumptions changed. A thankless and invisible task but one we couldn’t do without.

HCA: In May we heard that we could apply for the Homes and Communities Agency’s Affordable Homes Grant funding. We initially spoke to Matt Dodd there but subsequently have worked with Lucy Atkins. After lengthy discussions meetings (both in Bristol and Oxford) we heard from HCA in January 2014 that we had provisionally secured £203K .

Model by Askew Architects

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This would be subject to planning, as well as setting up a partnership with a registered provider to enable us to access the funds. Thanks to Greensquare a local registered provider for subsequently agreeing to be our RP partner to secure HCA funds.

Resonance: We had already had a promise of funding from Resonance’s affordable homes rental fund (http://www.resonance.ltd.uk/funds/community-land-trust-rental-housing/). So throughout this extended and at times depressing round of changes and iterations Jock was in constant touch to keep them posted about progress.

Quaker Housing Trust: One of our founding members Tony Crofts had also been talking to QHT (http://www.resonance.ltd.uk/funds/community-land-trust-rental-housing) securing grant funding but this depended on us achieving charitable status something we had tried but not yet succeeded in doing. This is a key goal for the coming year.

Other stuff:

Although the site was not productive in terms of homes for locals thanks to Fran’s neighbour Stewart Young (thanks Stewart) it was rotavated and thanks to Vyv it was planted with potatoes! We only got two

Libby Hartwell of Stonesfield Community Trust Potato Flowers on the Eynsham Rd site

buckets of spuds so we really hope that future residents have greener fingers than our’s!

Fran also spent a happy day on site with Rita Depodesta (thanks Rita) in August clearing a path round the edge to give access for topographical survey. Fierce brambles left their mark though!

Thanks:

This has been a tough year as we waded our way through the planning process and it would have been a lot more difficult without the unstinting support of Cumnor Parish Council: in particular Harry Dickenson and Philip Hawtin who spoke in OCLT’s support at the Planning Committee. Local Lib Dem councillor Judy Roberts has also been incredibly helpful.

We would also like to remember with gratitude, Betty Rostance who lived at 93 Eynsham Road and who died in July. Through her Quaker connections with Tony Crofts, we found out about and secured the Dean Court site.

Finally we would also like to remember Libby Hartwell from Stonesfield Community Trust. She died in January and is a big loss to both Stonesfield Community Trust and to us.

OCLT Annual report 2014 |

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finance report

Balance Sheet at March 31st 2014 £Current AssetsBank Account 7,337Debtors 0Current liabilities Creditors in less than one year 0Creditors in more than one year 26,478 *Net (liabilities) -19,141 Revenue Account Opening Balance -4,040Deficit for year -15,108Closing Balance -19,148Share Capital 7Reserves 0Balance -19,141 Income and Expenditure Account

Income Donations Interest 5 Expenditure Architects 8,166Planning 2,766Access related 3,958Projects 32Regulation 55Bank 136TOTAL 15,113 Net (deficit) -15,108

FINANCE REPORT

Accounts to March 2014

Our accounts are hotting up a bit as we move towards having a real project on the ground. So this year we had a pre-development loan funding from Venturesome a branch of the Charities Aid Foundation who have a fund specifically set up to support the development of CLTs (https://www.cafonline.org/charity-finance--fundraising/borrowing/social-investment.aspx). We have also had two small individual loans, something we have needed, to keep us afloat from time to time. This cash has been paid out to advisers and architects to get the design in place and planning application submitted.

At the end of the year we therefore have net liabilities of £19,141 (the loans to be repaid once the project gets its main funding) and cash in bank of £7337.

OCLT LTD STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities.

*Includes provision for a grant/loan subequently accounted for elsewhere

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The next twelve months will be critical for OCLT. We anticipate getting full planning permission very soon and will then be into detailed design, going to tender, appointing a contractor and securing funding. We are also starting the process of finding suitable tenants through a number of workshop sessions in Dean Court.

In the coming year OCLT will be looking to take an increasingly active role in tackling the local affordability crisis, mainly through the successful implementation of the Eynsham Road project. One exciting new development however, is being led by newly co-opted Board Member Charlie Fisher. Apart from volunteering with OCLT Charlie is working closely with housing groups in the city and preparing for a big four day event called House of the Commons which will

be held in October 2014. House of the Commons will explore creative solutions to the UK housing crisis with a particular focus on Oxford. OCLT is delighted to be involved and will be speaking at the event (http://houseofthecommons.org/hotc-2014/).

This year the Centre for Cities and Lloyds Bank reports found that house prices are 11.27-times that of average local wages, putting Oxford at the top of the list as the most unaffordable place to live in the United Kingdom. Oxford is one of the most unaffordable places to live in the United Kingdom and a successful CLT would be very useful in order to demonstrate how permanent removal of land from the speculative market can create permanently affordable homes. This has to be a key strand in ensuring the future sustainability of our city.

the year ahead

OCLT Community Consultation 2013

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oxfordshirecommunityland trust

Registered office: 55 Henley Avenue, OX4 4DJ

Tel: 01865 264191

e-mail: info@oclt.org.uk

www.oclt.org.uk

Charity Number: EW19031

FCA Number: 30158R

Accountant: Critchleys LLP

Banking: The Cooperative

Solicitors: Ferguson Bricknell