17 December 2015
Plans are being readied for a scheme of 13 self build homes to be built by a group of local people in Devon.
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Members of the South Brent Community Land Trust (CLT) are gearing up to self build the one-and-a-half storey eco-homes on a site in South Brent. The homes will be built using oak frames with straw bale walls and lime render. They will also be predominently off-grid; benefiting from their own private water supply, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and a communal biomass boiler. Proposals also suggest an allotment, orchard and garden spaces, which would be open for use by the wider community.
Although there are some within the group who have building experience, all the self builders will receive support from the CLT to undertake bespoke training to build their own energy-efficient house. Locally sourced, sustainable and natural, environmentally-friendly materials will be used wherever possible and the construction of the homes will be overseen by professionals to ensure only high quality homes are created.
The self builders will obtain equity of their own home with the labour they put in building the house – and if the self builders sell the homes, they must be sold at an affordable house price and purchased by another person/family that meets the original criteria of the builder.
The next step is a planning meeting with the National Parks to determine the viability of the project as developed so far, taking into consideration any traffic issues and environmental studies. An outline planning application is set to be submitted by summer 2016 with work hoped to start on site by the end of next year.
South Brent CLT Chair John Presley said: “The reason we are aiming to deliver this scheme is to allow people to affordably own a home. The project co-ordinator runs a local roofing firm and his wife is a nurse; they can’t afford a home in the village that their family have lived in for several hundred years. I’m a local telephone engineer and my wife is a secondary school teacher; we can’t afford to buy a house suitable for my family’s needs. That’s the crux of it.
“If we can build house through this scheme for £120,000, I can afford a mortgage for that. If I wanted to buy a three or four bedroom house in my village, I’m looking at between £200,000 and £300,000. And that’s the issue.”
