Clay Park consultation feedback & resouces
Many thanks to the 50 people who turned out on a damp Saturday to come to our community consultation. We really appreciate the conversations we had and the feedback you've given us.
If you weren't able to make it, all our consultation materials are available here.
Here's a high level summary of what was on display and our plans; you can click on the links to view the relevant documents with further information.
Summary of our plans & consultation materials
As we expected to meet some new people who didn't know much about us, we had posters About Us and Community Land Trusts, and a timeline of our history and progress over the last decade. That brings us to where we're at now and our current plans including proposed changes to the scheme and our options:
Since we got planning permission in December 2017, we've done the technical design in order to tender the contract and appoint a contractor. We found a contractor, but after long negotiations, they pulled out and we had to re-tender, which delayed us. Last summer, our new contractor costed the Clay Park scheme, which came in massively over budget. We had to undertake a huge value engineering (cost cutting) exercise to reduce the costs, resulting in some significant changes to the materials and design (please see the value engineering poster).
In spite of this, the scheme is still over budget by around £630,000. Since October we have been exploring a range of scenarios to solve this, including looking into grant funding, talking to our funders and SHDC, and modelling different housing mix scenarios including looking at self-build plots. We have two scenarios work financially which we're taking forward:
- Build some additional market units to generate £630,000 profit.
- Become a ‘Registered Provider’ (regulated provider of social housing, like a housing association) in order to receive grant for the affordable rental units.
We are currently planning to pursue both options in order that we have a backup, or in case it becomes apparent that one option isn’t viable. There is some uncertainty around how long it will take to get through planning or register to
be an RP, but for either scenario our draft programme shows construction starting in March 2021 (and completing 21 months later).
We explained what has been cut due to value engineering, and gave a summary of the finance to show the deficit, and briefly addressed some common questions which come up in response to the overspend and ways to handle the deficit. We're still planning a highly environmentally sustainable scheme however, and we want to find other ways to fund the community building as we believe it's an important part of the scheme. We asked for your feedback on the community building, and we'd appreciate you sending us your comments (to info@transitionhomes.org.uk).
We presented various plans: the site plan which has planning permission and the proposed new site plan, information on the flats and information on allocations, including our allocations policy.
We also have to raise more funds - as a charity we are currently supported primarily by grants and donations, and would appreciate your support if you can give us a one off or regular donation (you can send a cheque, make a bank transfer, or fill in this Standing order form). You can also become a become a member of the CLT for £1 - just fill in this form and return in to us with our payment.
Feedback from the event
Here's a summary of the feedback we received at the event and responses to some of the questions and issues raised. Please send us any feedback you have to info@transitionhomes.org.uk - it's all welcome, good or bad, as it helps us to understand the community's concerns.
Consultation event - who was there?
Attendees: about 50
Existing CLT members: 9
CLT member sign-ups: 14
Cash donations: £33.47 and standing order donations: £216 annually
Thank you for your support, which will cover the costs of the consultation and support our core costs.
Who was in the room?
Clay Park neighbour: 3
Dartington resident: 10
Totnes, Harberton, Littlehempston, Rattery or Staverton parish resident: 27
Wider area: 5 (Stoke Gabriel, Buckfast, Buckfastleigh, two out of county)
Interested in living at Clay Park: 24
- Rental: 6
- Shared ownership: 6
- Market: 12
For more information
If you have any queries which aren't answered on our webpages, please contact us on info@transitionhomes.org.uk
For ongoing updates, please sign up to our mailing list and follow us on Facebook.
Transition Town Totnes 