T R O P E R L A U N N A
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OUR MISSION, PURPOSE, VISION AND APPROACH OUR MISSION
We are a grassroots movement enabling, and campaigning for, community-led development in Brighton & Hove, led by our large and diverse membership of local people and accountable to them and the wider community.
OUR VISION
Our vision is of a city where all current and future residents, regardless of their income, have affordable and secure housing; where the people of the city have homes that reflect their diversity and creativity. In this vision, local people have control and genuine choice in how they live, and the city makes the best of the resources it has.
OUR APPROACH
OUR PURPOSE
Self-help and mutual aid: we believe that people in communities have the power, knowledge and experience to collaborate with each other and make positive change happen. Through mutual care we contribute to individual and collective well-being. Local focus – We promote the local economy and the satisfaction of local needs, at the same time as supporting a vibrant urban life that is open and welcoming to others. Artistic expression: we encourage celebration, fun and cultural expression, and promote them in the processes and the place-making we support. Learning by doing: everything we do is a learning experience, for individuals, groups and wider communities. We think it is important to reflect on our action, and ensure our learning is captured and shared.
To further, in a sustainable manner, the social, economic and environmental interests of people who live and work, in the Brighton and Hove area by: • Acquiring, developing and stewarding land and other assets; • Promoting community-led initiatives, such as housing, community facilities, workspaces, renewable energy and sustainable land management projects. BHCLT ANNUAL REPORT APRIL 2019–MARCH 2020
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WHAT OUR STRATEGIC AIMS FOR 2019-2020 WERE… BACK IN MARCH 2019
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HOW DID WE DO? Grow our role as a steward of land and property for community benefit
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Many new projects based on land and property purchase were undertaken and have proved to be especially challenging. We successfully raised awareness of this challenge with Brighton and Hove City Council, managing to secure the offer of 10 new sites.
Promote innovation and sustainable design
We have endeavoured to put innovation and design at the forefront of these projects.
Ensure BHCLT remains financially sustainable
BHCLT remains financially secure through prudent and responsible fund management . The forthcoming Community Share launch is critical .
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Continue to host the Brighton & Hove Community Hub
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From July 2019 to Dec 2019 our priority was for the Hub to support our local community led housing groups that were ready, to apply for CHF pre development grant from DCLG. It was the year in which we secured a further year and half funding of £150K for the CLH Enabling HUB!
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED… APRIL 2019 Bunker Self Build Housing Co-operative succeeded in securing £162k CHF pre-development grant to self-build affordable eco homes for low income local households. MAY 2019 Council Manifesto Promise of 10 sites for Community Led Housing. JULY 2019 Bus tour of housing coops in the city, secured lots of interest from people new to housing co-ops. AUGUST 2019 BHCLT awarded grant (£150k) to run the CLH Enabling HUB for 18 months through to March 2021. OCTOBER 2019 BHCLT awarded the ‘People Powered Homes’ in the 2019 National Community Land Trust Network awards. This category celebrates community land trusts that prioritise community relationship building in their work.
OCTOBER 2019 Sea City Housing Co-operative succeeded in securing £35k CHF pre-development grant to enable them to purchase their first affordable home for their LGBTQ+ key worker members (Queer square mile project). OCTOBER, NOVEMBER 2019, JANUARY, MARCH, APRIL 2020 Five Community Organising day workshops with local CLH groups & BHCLT members. NOVEMBER 2019 Councillor and Officer engagement event – Innovation in CLH: experiences from Cambridge, Cornwall and Bristol, over 50 participants. NOVEMBER 2019 Petition and campaign to BHCC developed and launched by Nub Self-Build Housing Group and BHCLT to gain support for affordable and financial help for CLH. Reached its target of 1250 signatures, meaning it would be debated in full council.
DECEMBER 2019 Downsizing focus group run with people aged 50+ exploring experiences and thoughts about down-sizing, run by Andrea & Dot, funded by Power to Change.
NOVEMBER 2019 Petition to BHCC to gain support for affordable and financial help for CLH outstripped its target of 1250 signatures, which means it would be debated in full council.
DECEMBER 2019 Xmas social for all BHCLT members at The Bevy – good time had by all!
29 FEB 2020 BHCLT Community Share Offer launch party, with over 100 participants attending. Share offer goes live on Ethex platform.
DECEMBER 2019 BHCLT & CCOrg succeeded in securing £255k CHF predevelopment grant to enable the Coldean community to start envisioning a CLH and sustainable project on site 21a. DEC 2019, MARCH & JUNE 2020 Local enablers took part in three PAMWIN (development appraisal tool) Training days, working closely with Sussex CLH Hub. DEC 2019 & APRIL 2020 The CLH Hub ran two Development Economics learning sessions for local CLH enablers, with Prof Stephen Walker, author of key text on development economic and land valuation.
MARCH 2020 Housing co-ops get together to discuss how to best support members during COVID-19, launch small grants scheme to support. MARCH 2020 Visit from Frome CLT and shared successes and challenges. APRIL 2020 Bunker Housing Co-op residents move into their first two new self build houses on Plumpton Road!
BHCLT ANNUAL REPORT APRIL 2019–MARCH 2020
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OUR REFLECTIONS ON THE PAST YEAR: OUR HIGHLIGHTS RITA GARNER Working with Coldean Community Organisation (CCOrg) With grant from Homes England we have been working in partnership with CCOrg to undertake the predevelopment work. This involved us working closely together on the appointment of architects and project managers and meeting frequently. We have had to work through misunderstandings, listen to each other, problem solve together and all the time working with the complexity of the site and the uncertainty of the future. And then the mother of all uncertainties happened. Covid has meant finding a different way to engage with the community, involved making an award-winning film with more to follow that engage and inform people about the site and all its richness. Innovation in Housing Nov 2019 This event was a first for us. We brought together people from different parts of the country who had implemented community-led housing (CLH). We wanted this to be both a place we could learn from each other and an event that inspired local council officers, politicians our members and colleagues from Sussex. People from Bristol, Cambridge and Cornwall joined us in a lively event at the Ralli Hall in Hove. I needn’t have worried that the hall would be too big. We just managed to all get everyone a seat. DOT KIRK-ADAMS South Coast Community Organisers Along with Heart of Hastings CLT, last summer we applied to become a Social Action Hub through Community Organisers so that we could offer free courses in community organising skills. We trained over 40 people through five day courses before Covid began and we built partnerships with Heart of Hastings, Trust for Developing Communities and Action in Rural Sussex.
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ANDREA JONES Community Housing Fund For me, 2019 was dominated by accessing the Community Housing Fund for pre-development grants. Our groups were ready to use this fund to progress their project plans. Our Hub supported NINE applications. Amazingly, given the awkwardness of trying to fit community-led projects into Homes England’s systems, four groups received funding, amounting to £462k for projects in Brighton. • Sea-salt • Bunker Housing Co-op • Sea City Housing Co-op • BHCLT & CCorg joint Project at Coldean Site 21a This fund was closed earlier than promised by government. Frustratingly the others never received a decision – neither refusal nor approval. Lack of land opportunities was the difficulty; not because they weren’t great groups with great projects. Developing a co-op My other highlight was getting some wind behind Sea City Housing Co-op. We are trying to create affordable homes for fellow LGBTQ+ members – mainly key workers and carers – what we are calling our ‘queer square mile’ in Hove. This year, 3 new enthusiastic members joined, a viable way forward to achieve our first home was clarified, grant of £35k was secured and we raised £75k towards buying our first home. Unfortunately Covid thwarted and derailed our great plans (and outfits!) for Pride 2020 but we are determined to continue.
HELEN BARTLETT Share offer launch I started working for BHCLT in October 2019, so it’s been a pleasure to commit to something I’m so passionate about. One highlight was our share offer launch in February. Over 100 people joined us to celebrate food from the Bevy, music, presentations and a ceilidh. It’s been challenging to run our first share offer during COVID-19 but we’ve worked hard to respond to new and changing circumstances and are still aiming to buy our first property by the end of 2020. Working with young people My other highlight has been working with the groups themselves, all of whom contribute masses of time, energy and commitment into creating housing solutions to our current broken system. It’s been brilliant working with SEASALT, student housing co-operative, who will take the lease of our first property. They have plans to change the way student housing works in city. Young people are among the most likely to face exorbitant rents, inadequate housing and unresponsive landlords. This group of young people – many of whom won’t benefit from the project themselves – have worked incredibly hard and it’s a privilege to see the next generation of co-operative organisers emerge. CORINNA EDWARDS-COLLEDGE Petition and campaign success A real highlight for me this year, both as BHCLT’s Communications & Awareness Raising Co-ordinator, and a member of NUB Self Build Housing Group, was the success of our petition and campaign calling on Brighton & Hove City Council to prioritise community led housing over private development in the city.
MARTYN HOLMES Eco homes built Bunker Housing Co-operative can happily say, with persistence and a lot of hard work, we have done the impossible… we are now the landlord and the tenants of our first beautiful homes. Two local families are off the housing register, out of insecure, damp & overpriced private rented accommodation and into healthy, affordable and secure housing that they collectively own and control. Our vision to build “High Quality Homes for Low Income people” has become a reality as we completed our eco homes at Plumpton Road in Brighton. We have built two super insulated wooden 3-bedroom homes, using a modular system on an ex garage site leased from Brighton & Hove City Council. These provide a safe and secure environment for our children to grow up in. A big thank you to everyone who has helped and supported us. PETER CLARKE Council commitment Gradually increasing the understanding and appreciation of community-led housing in Brighton and Hove City Council both among officers and elected members. We held hustings in April prior to last year’s Council elections, where all political parties were represented. From then a strong joint housing policy of Labour and Greens was forthcoming , including the commitment to 10 new sites for CLH.
Our video had over 10,000 views, the petition reached over 1300 signatures and this meant it was debated in full council later in 2020 with fantastic results. It was a real example of how we can work with our members and housing groups to build a vibrant movement in a city that desperately needs innovation and collaboration to combat its deepening housing crisis. Link to video: tinyurl.com/BHCLTvideo BHCLT ANNUAL REPORT APRIL 2019–MARCH 2020
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CASE STUDIES CASE STUDY 1 The Story of 9 Madeira Place
BHCLT ’s role as a property enabler supporting Seasalt Student Housing Co-op Project Nicola Thomas In April 2019, Seasalt and BHCLT viewed 9 Madeira Place; a guest house with 12 rooms near the seafront. The same month, BHCLT made an offer of £800k which was accepted subject to planning. A change of use from existing hotel planning class C1 to Sui Generis (larger HMO) was necessary to enable the student housing coop to live there. The application was contrary to existing planning policy and as the guest house was in the ‘Hotel Core Zone’, we had to make a case that didn’t weaken the Council’s position with subsequent planning applications. Approval would be an “exception” in the circumstances. With the planning application submitted, in July 2019, Seasalt and BHCLT worked hard to get 37 letters of support, including two local Councillors and the East Brighton MP. October 2019: the council policy team confirmed they were not against the application. November 2019: with the application still undecided, the vendor decided to sell the property to another party. However by New Year it was back on the market again! January to May 2020: discussions continued with the planners regarding communal space standards leading to a reduction in the number of bedrooms, which in turn affected the Valuation. Just as we finally heard that the application was to be permitted, we had to reduce our offer to the vendor. The vendor refused our revised offer and we lost the property. We withdrew the planning application in July 2020 to avoid other parties making use of the new user class for yet another overpriced market HMO. Sixteen months of hard work ended in frustration. Both Seasalt and BHCLT learnt a lot undergoing this terminated purchase. We all still remain passionate about this project and will keep going.
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CASE STUDY 2 Development at Coldean Peter Clarke
The Site: Urban Fringe site 21a above Varley Halls in Coldean is currently the only site of significant scale that BHCLT has a good chance of developing. The project is a partnership with Coldean Community Organisation, dating back to September 2017 when Brighton and Hove City Council Housing Committee passed a motion proposing the allocation of this site for community-led housing. It is a difficult site: steep and highly visible, located on the boundary of the South Downs National Park, distant from road access and services, and with a sensitive ecology, including some vestiges of chalk grassland under threat from rapid scrub growth. But these same characteristics make the project an exciting opportunity to show how community-led housing can add value. We are committed to providing muchneeded affordable housing while responding positively to the landscape location, improving the site ecology, exploring low carbon construction, and building a community within the development at the same time as supporting community development in its wider neighbourhood.
Numbers: Development of the project has been additionally challenged by the lack of clarity about numbers. The site is designated in the City Plan for 12 housing units, yet BHCC has carried out capacity studies showing as many as 211 units! In the first half of 2019 we worked on a proposal for 16 units, combined with other community facilities, submitting an application to the Community Housing Fund for pre-development funding, and presenting a proposal for pre-app advice from BHCC and a Design Review Panel. Their advice, received in July, was to increase housing density, an approach that received confirmation in the BHCC housing capacity studies shortly afterwards. This led to negotiation with Homes England to increase our proposal for up to 70 units, and the resubmission of an application for a total grant of ÂŁ559k in November 2019. The application was approved, but reduced to ÂŁ255k because of the limited time available to complete the work before the end of the grant period on 31st March 2020.
pandemic unfortunately limited the possibilities of wider community engagement. The work culminated in two alternative proposals, for 47 and 56 units, located on different parts of the site, which were presented for pre-app planning consultation in July 2020. We look forward to discussions with planning officers in the near future.
Perspectives Because of the seasonal programming of ecology studies, it will be a few months before we have all the necessary information to weigh up the ecological impact of the proposed development. In the meantime, a priority is to stop the ecological degradation of the site, so monthly community workdays have been organised to clear scrub and litter.
Pre-development work: Once grant approval seemed likely we started the process to appoint a consultant team, including notably Mole Architects, whose co-housing project at Marmalade Lane in Cambridge has won many awards, and project managers Bringelly.
Unfortunately, our plans for a major community engagement event have been held up by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have continued to hope a face-to-face event might be possible, but this is looking increasingly far off. In the meantime, Coldean Community Organisation is engaging with the community via social media, and working on a film series to promote discussion about the site.
From January to March we all worked to a very tight programme to carry out the necessary site studies and produce a design for the site. It was exciting to be working with leading architects, and feeding back regularly to representatives of BHCLT and Coldean Community Organisation. The arrival of the
The eventual affordability and sustainability of the project will depend on how much we pay for our long-term finance. We are excited that BHCC is exploring the potential of on-lending Public Works Loan Board funds, which are available at favourable rates. BHCLT ANNUAL REPORT APRIL 2019–MARCH 2020
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OUR GOVERNANCE
There are currently five Directors on the board of BHCLT, who all have personal connections to the issue of housing within the city and who bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and commitment to the work of the organisation. From left to right they are: Martyn Holmes: Martyn is a Brighton resident and founding member of Bunker Housing Co-operative. Martyn is also an academic, community led housing developer/enabler and housing activist. Janet Crome: Now happily retired and living in Brighton, Janet was a social housing professional, who worked for development departments of both large and small housing organisations for over 15 years, before setting up one of the fastest growing housing development consultancies in the country. Prior to immersing herself in the world of social housing, was a Primary School teacher in Inner London. Peter Clarke: Peter is a founder Director of BHCLT who has been working as the Trust’s Treasurer. He is also a founder member of South Downs Eco Community Land Trust with experience in building and architecture, community development and administration of grant-funded and community led programmes.
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Rita Garner: Rita joined BHCLT in the summer of 2017. She has lived and worked in the city since 1986 as a pharmacist and then manager of a wide range of health and social care organisations. She also works as part of the Recess College with individuals and small groups on personal growth and leadership. She works with local community organisations as a volunteer. Jonny Anstead: Jonny is founding Director of TOWN, a housing developer delivering high-quality, sustainable housing and custom build homes. TOWN is the developer partner of Marmalade Lane, a 42-home cohousing project in Cambridge, which is being planned and delivered in close partnership with members of K1 Cohousing, the future residents of the scheme. Prior to establishing TOWN in 2014, Jonny worked for nine years for sustainable land developer Beyond Green, where he led the acquisition, funding and early stage planning phases for a number of major strategic land opportunities including Beeston Park, a 3,520-home urban extension to Norwich.
OUR VALUES AND WHAT GUIDES US • fairer access to stable and secure housing that enables well-being and is genuinely affordable in perpetuity; • vibrant and diverse neighbourhoods that play a positive role in their local and wider communities; • positive contributions to the environment, and low carbon solutions that limit our impact on the planet; • creative innovation for different ways of living, working, and playing together sustainably for the 21st century. • acquiring, developing and stewarding land and other assets; • promoting community-led initiatives, such as housing, community facilities, workspaces, renewable energy and sustainable land management project.
LOOKING FORWARD
What of the future for BHCLT? Our strategic aims remain the same as this year’s. Our vision and values are in place and well supported. However there are new challenges to be met and dealt with. We have to deliver our aims in an environment that has been considerably shifted by the onset and continuation of covid with its ongoing detrimental effect on so many peoples’ lives and well being. Added to that, there is the distinct possibility of an economic recession with unknown implications, a property market in Brighton which is increasingly volatile, a Local Authority with limited resources for Affordable Housing and our Hub funding is forecast to end March 2021. Our number one priority now is to make sure our Community Share Issue is a resounding success in order to help make our projects and the CLT financially viable for many years to come. The demand for affordable homes which meet sustainability goals has never been greater. We can take heart from the success of Bunker Co-op. It took four years for them to develop and move into Plumpton Road and we look forward to achieving many more projects like that. Another priority is to get more people involved in our work. We will use our community organising skills to achieve that. We look forward to growing our team of 10 enablers, making more spaces to bring members together including open online monthly meet ups and reaching out to a wider audience with listening campaigns such as our lockdown stories. This is means we are more led by you, supporting us to speak out more about the inequalities in our city. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed their time and energy over the past year. BHCLT ANNUAL REPORT APRIL 2019–MARCH 2020
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UPDATE: GROUPS THAT WE HAVE WORKED WITH ALDER
A local group aiming to help provide affordable housing of choice that specifically includes adults with a learning disability in and near to Brighton & Hove, to compliment statutory or charitable provision, that is currently lacking in choice, suitability and supply. tinyurl.com/BHCLTalder
BUNKER
A housing co-operative that is selfbuilding affordable eco-homes for low income households, working on BHCC sites. Bunker completed work on their first two homes this year and families moved in. They have 3 other sites in the pipeline. tinyurl.com/BHCLTbunker
BOLD
(Brighton Older Lesbians Development) A group who are planning to create an affordable-not-for-profit housing development for an intentional community of older lesbians in Brighton to provide shared support into older age.
CCORG
(Coldean Community Organisation) A community benefit society set up to support the development and management of community-owned homes and facilities in Coldean. BHCLT are working with CCOrg and BHCC around site 21a, one of the sites in the council’s Urban Fringe Assessment, to look at ways of providing much-needed affordable homes for local families while also protecting and enhancing biodiversity and providing land stewardship that will enable it to thrive. tinyurl.com/BHCLTcoldean
NUB
A community housing group, working towards a vision of sustainable, secure and eco-friendly housing, within an environment where freedom from unaffordable rent and mortgages allows creativity and local community and economic engagement to flourish. tinyurl.com/BHCLTnub
RAINBOW HILL
Newly established QTIBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Intersex, Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) group looking to develop housing for self-identified QTIBIPOC people and their families.
ROOST
A group born out of the longestablished co-operative movement in Brighton & Hove, looking to create and manage a small community of low cost, economic, eco-homes, on a small, difficult to develop piece of land, unsuitable for mainstream social housing and to use innovative building techniques to make good use of it. facebook.com/roosthousingcoop
S.E.A.S.A.L.T.
(South East Students Autonomously Living Together) Student led initiative for affordable housing, democratic living & long-term sustainability in Brighton. BHCLT are working with SEASALT to buy their first property – supported by our community share offer. tinyurl.com/BHCLTseasalt
SEA CITY HOUSING COOP
An LGBTQ housing project that was set up to enable its members to live with the people they want, in the ways they choose, as they get older: more intergenerationally, more affordably and more sustainably. tinyurl.com/SeaCityHousingCoop
SOUTH DOWNS ECO CO-OPERATIVE
South Downs Eco owns a site on the edge of Brighton with three hectares of downland, affectionately called, ‘The Sheds’. The site currently houses four members in a shared house and they are developing proposal for a larger live/work community. In 2019 the project was established as a Community Land Trust to guarantee that the assets will serve the community in perpetuity. southdownseco.coop/
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STARLINGS
Starlings Housing Co-operative formed because of the lack of affordable housing available in Brighton and Hove. Their vision is a sustainable, low carbon, co-operative community led housing development which will provide truly affordable private rented housing for up to 15 households with a separate communal space. The community will be intergenerational with modular flexible design that will allow for growth as the housing needs of members change. starlingshousing.org
SUSSEX COHOUSING
Still looking for a site. Expressed interest in working on SDNP site near Coldean. Board agreed July meeting that this is not yet one of the 10 sites that we are able to offer, and once sites become more firmly available from the council, they are made available to groups in a specific way. A number of difficulties that mean Sussex Coho is probably not the right fit for this site. Nicola currently looking into a possible site near Lewes. sussexcohousing.org.uk
7 DIALS COLLECTIVE
Vernon Terrace residents are being supported as they are potentially looking to form a CLH group to take over ownership and the management of the 8 affordable rental flats that they currently live in. Contact has been made with the landlord. They have received help with shared resources, internal questionnaires and a skills audit. Moving on to discuss future legal structure and financing options.
ENABLING LEASE
Washington Street – Thousand 4 Thousand took on the lease and family have moved in!
FINANCES AND SUSTAINABILITY Our organisation has, up to now, depended largely on grant funding. Total income for the financial year 201920 was £416,769, of which 91% corresponded to grant income (including £255,276 of Homes England CHF grant for the Coldean project). Our net income after expenses was £12,395, on which we will be liable to Corporation Tax (£2,300) for the first time. Through fee income, solidarity contributions and residues of reported grants we have built total unrestricted reserves at 31 March 2020 of £77,619. Throughout the reporting period our financial planning was based substantially on the availability of Community Housing Fund grants, for direct funding of the Enabling Hub and project funding to group projects, which made it possible for the Hub to receive fees for enabling services. Our current Hub funding is programmed to the end of February 2021, and the funding for project pre-development costs closed in March 2020. There is currently no clear prospect of these grants being extended, although the National CLT Network continues to lead a campaign for the Government to include them in the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), which will likely take place in Autumn 2020. The absence of these grants will make Hub funding difficult, but also creates serious problems for groups to develop their projects, and pay for our services. We are currently reviewing our alternatives, and our current strategy assumes the continuity of the Enabling Hub in some form. Over the next five years we will continue to apply for available grants, but given the uncertainty of these programmes, we are working to ensure other income sources will be available to sustain BHCLT’s work. Building financial sustainability through mutual support and solidarity is the key to growing a strong movement in the city. Creating a sea change in the cost of homes
and improving the sustainability of the way we live will take time, so we need a long-term plan to recycle resources with each new wave of CLH groups. Our leading groups have committed to the sustainability of our movement, by agreeing to make solidarity contributions, which means that future projects can benefit from the recent period of grant funding. As well as developing professional services, we are building skills and experience among our groups, and therefore the potential for sustainable peer support in the future. At the same time, we aim to secure the ownership of properties and land in perpetuity for community benefit as an additional source of income. We will need to ensure that our charges are at a level that keep CLH projects viable for local groups, whilst at the same time keeping the pipeline of properties and land coming forward for new groups. At the end of February, we launched our Community Share Offer to fund this work. Our accountants, Third Sector Accountancy prepared the accounts for April 2019 to March 2020, for approval at the Annual General Meeting on 17th September 2020. In accordance with the requirements of the Financial Conduct Authority, the Directors are therefore presenting a resolution to the AGM to disapply the requirement to carry out a full audit, given that our turnover is below £10.2 million, and our assets are below £5.1 million. However, our turnover this year passed £90,000 so we are required by the Financial Conduct Authority to appoint a qualified auditor to prepare a report on the accounts and balance sheet, and we have contracted Third Sector Accountancy for this purpose.
Peter Clarke
HOW TO INVEST: Our investment
partner Ethex is managing the administration of this share offer for us. Ethex is a not-for-profit web platform which makes investing easy to understand and do.
TO INVEST, PLEASE VISIT www.ethex.org.uk/BHCLT
Brighton & Hove Community Land Trust Society number: 7502 Registered address: 3 Christchurch House, Bedford Place, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 2QJ Website: www.bhclt.org.uk
N A C E W R E H TOGET D E L Y T I N U MAKE COMM RIGHTON B N I G N I S U HO G N I V I R H T & HOVE A Y T I C R U O F PART O
www . bhclt . org. uk