News: Who should lead with English Rural?

The Chair of Chilbolton Parish Council David Hall, and Martin Gossling Chair of Chilbolton Community Land Trust, differed over who should lead future discussions with English Rural over development at Gravel Hill.

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CCLT involvement with English Rural

Cllr David Hall confirmed that Chilbolton Parish Council would now only hold housing registration lists for affordable homes, and not for downsize or self-build homes.

Maureen Treadwell said that CCLT’s function had been set out formally, and quoted its rules saying their primary object was:

the business of providing and managing housing (including social housing) and providing assistance to help house people and associated facilities, amenities and services for the relief of financial hardship

Cllr Hall said that CPC would not immediately hand over responsibility for affordable homes to CCLT. CPC represented the wider community, whereas CCLT had only 100 members.

Martin Gossling said “We got 100 members without even trying. I could name fifty people who would join [if we had land].”

Cllr Hall said that CPC was now ready to enter discussions with English Rural, the partner chosen by the Church Commissioners, who own the land at Gravel Hill.

Mr Gossling said “[CCLT] were mandated to talk about affordables. We should be leading that, not the Parish Council,” to which Cllr Hall replied “Absolutely not.”

Cllr Hall added that “We are not in a position to hand anything over to CCLT. Bits of the jigsaw need to be put into place.”

Board member Graeme Henry said “We know so little, it’s like walking around in a fog. We should take up [Cllr Hall’s points] and identify the point of transition.”

Cllr Hall said that CCLT would be involved “further down the line.” He pointed out that an organisational model of how it would work would need to be developed. He added that it wasn’t yet certain that a community land trust was the right way to go about it, nor was there a funding model.

Housing needs and mix of properties

Cllr Hall, along with board members Maureen Treadwell and Peter Collis, had met with Test Valley Borough Council’s Housing team to discuss affordable housing development in Chilbolton.

He had circulated board members with an email to Helen Taylor, Head of Strategic Housing, which outlined the next steps for Gravel Hill. They were to:

  • Develop specific tenure types and eligibility criteria for affordable housing
  • Work with the TVBC housing team to agree the detail of a specific Affordable Housing Needs Survey, with the hope of running it in January 2027
  • Use the identified housing needs and the housing lists to produce a proposal for the mix of properties to be developed
  • Work with English Rural to develop a more detailed proposal for the Gravel Hill site
  • Review options for an operating model to bring forward a community-led development most effectively involving the parish council, the land trust, the landowner and the registered provider

Eligibility criteria

Board member Andrew Bradley was unable to attend the meeting, but had produced a “straw man” proposal for assessing who would be eligible for affordable housing in the Village.

He offered these for discussion and suggested that they could form the basis for options which could be put to a vote of CCLT members.

Applicants should:

  • Be eligible for affordable housing under local authority rules.
  • Be registered on the housing register.
  • Demonstrate a housing need
  • Meet any income and affordability requirements applicable to the tenure type (social rent, affordable rent or shared ownership)

In assessing applicant connection with Chilbolton, he suggested possible criteria:

  • Currently living in Chilbolton (minimum 3 years)
  • Previously lived in Chilbolton for at least 5 years
  • Working in Chilbolton (minimum 16 hours per week, 12 months+)
  • Immediate family (parent, child, sibling) living in Chilbolton for 5+ years
  • Living in neighbouring parishes with a strong connection to Chilbolton

Cllr Hall said that these had been based on criteria used by TVBC. He noted that they differed from those used by Wickham Community Land Trust.

So that work could be completed by the end of the year, Mr Gossling asked Cllr Sue Larcombe and Mr Bradley to circulate a proposal to the board, who would agree it by email.

Financial model

Martin Gossling said that the board should begin to think about an initial financial plan. Maureen Treadwell outlined three options:-

  • A housing association would “do the whole lot”
  • CCLT would purchase the land and lease it to a housing association
  • CCLT does everything, which she said “would need a lot of funding”

Graeme Henry said that as information became available further options might arise. He cited compliance costs and interest rates as variables, but said that the key issue was funding.

Next meeting

The next CCLT board meeting will be held on 8 Dec 2026 at 19:30 in the Village Hall. As usual, it will be held in public and Villagers are invited to attend.