Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has plans to extend the role of Community Land Trusts in rural areas.

The Government recognises that the community-led housing sector – of which Community Land Trusts are an important part – offers significant potential for helping to meet housing need across England, especially in rural areas. In addition to helping increase the rate of delivery of new housing, the sector will help deliver a range of benefits including diversifying the housebuilding sector, improving design and construction quality, developing modern methods of construction, and sustaining local communities and local economies. The support and close involvement of the local community enables the community-led approach to secure planning permission and deliver housing that could not be brought forward through speculative development.

The principal means by which my Department supports Community Land Trusts is through the annual £60 million Community Housing Fund. This fund makes revenue and capital grant available to support community-led housebuilding schemes, and supports a programme of training and development for organisations providing technical advice and guidance to community-led housebuilding groups. The Fund is currently scheduled to close in March 2020 and decisions on funding for 2020-21 onwards are a matter for the Spending Review, which will take place this year.