Hugh Russell reports on the latest developments in campaigning on community assets and the future of community led housing.
As reported by Casey Edwards in the Summer 2022 issue of WHQ, the Communities Creating Homes team at Cwmpas has been campaigning on the issue of enhancing community access to land and assets for the purposes of delivering housing for some time now. Our goal is to support communities to deliver affordable housing themselves (often in tandem with key partners, such as housing associations) and, in order to achieve this, it’s crucial that we engage with the structural barriers in their way.
One of these barriers is undoubtedly a failure in Wales, thus far, to devolve powers to community level which would enable people to take control of assets such as land and buildings in their area, with which to meet local needs. Opportunities to address this gap in community empowerment have come and gone in recent years without significant progress. The excellent scoping report from the Institute for Welsh Affairs (IWA) Our Land: Communities and Land Use (2022) notes that:
‘Communities in Wales continue to have fewer statutory rights than in Scotland or England, despite the widespread support of two commissions for at least the same level of community empowerment measures as in England, and with reference to going further than both England and Scotland.’
Early in 2022, Communities Creating Homes released our report Community Ownership Of Land And Assets: Enabling The Delivery Of Community-Led Housing, complete with a list of recommendations designed to move Wales toward a more progressive position on community ownership. These included the introduction of a Community Empowerment and Ownership Act, to fix community empowerment into legislation, as well as the establishment of a Community Ownership and Empowerment commission to stimulate innovative thinking on community ownership of land and assets in Wales (including research and recommendations on taxation, valuing land, capturing value etc.). We also called for the creation of discrete funds with which to support the development of both community-led housing, specifically, and to develop social infrastructure in Wales.
After a busy period of lobbying on behalf of community groups for these recommendations to be delivered, we were recently joined by the minister for climate change to discuss her position on the issues raised. As such, now seems an appropriate moment to take stock of what’s been achieved, what the current position is and what the future might hold.
The initial response to our report was a positive one, with an inquiry announced in April by the Senedd’s Local Government and Housing Committee specifically looking into the issues raised by our paper, as well as that of the IWA, to be launched that Summer.
Following this we received a formal response from the minister for climate change, detailing how Welsh Government intended to respond to our recommendations. Much of this letter was positive, with, for instance an acceptance that the establishment of a commission on Community Ownership and Empowerment was something that would be considered, but it was made clear that any such work would have to pay due regard to the results of the Senedd’s inquiry, so any progress on these matters would come after that process.
The inquiry offered a further opportunity for Cwmpas and dozens of other groups and individual activists to have their views heard on the issue of community empowerment. After a succession of evidence sessions and visits with community groups, the inquiry published a report, Community Assets (2022), in October. To our satisfaction, this report mirrored many of our recommendations, including those on the Commission, on funding pots for community development, as well as one on consideration of legislation. The inquiry also concluded that specific funding for community-led housing would be beneficial.
In November, reflecting the cross-departmental nature of the issue of community empowerment, the minister for finance and local government Rebecca Evans responded to the inquiry’s recommendations, welcoming them on behalf of Welsh Government. The vast majority of these recommendations were accepted, or accepted in principle, in those cases where intent and desire is undermined by lack of resource.
To clarify what these responses mean for the future of community-led housing, the Communities Creating Homes team held a special event in November, attended by Julie James, minister for climate change, and a broad audience of interested parties, eager to hear more about recent developments in the long-running campaign to improve community access to assets. A panel made up of representatives from Cwmpas, the Institute for Welsh Affairs and Gwynedd-based community group Partneriaith Ogwen, joined the session to offer their insights and questions to the minister.
Agreed in the response was a recommendation we’d made in February for the development of a commission to stimulate innovative thinking on community ownership of land and assets in Wales. The minister described her thinking, intending for this commission to be modelled on the Homelessness Action Group (HAG), which involved expert stakeholder input and provided a quick first report, setting out what was required to tackle immediate needs, before directing Welsh Government as to how to address longer term problems. The minister asked for Cwmpas to be involved in the stakeholder engagement and we will ensure that community-led housing is considered throughout.
The minister provided confirmation that regardless of the progress made on better understanding what Welsh communities need by the commission, and despite calls from ourselves and others, there was simply no capacity to legislate for community empowerment in this term of government. She encouraged all of us on the call to continue to lobby on the issue and ensure that it makes the manifestoes of as many parties as possible ahead of the next election. She also talked enthusiastically about doing what can be done within the current legislative context, noting that she was happy to discuss removing barriers to existing funding streams, for instance, as well as to addressing community capacity (learning from the second homes pilot to ensure that Welsh Government are getting ‘expert help into communities, not relying on volunteers’). She also noted the recent formation of a cross-departmental Communities Policy Board within Welsh Government as evidence of a move to a more community-focussed approach.
Welsh Government has accepted or accepted in principle 15 of the 16 recommendations made by the Senedd inquiry. The sole rejected recommendation was for the establishment of a specific fund to support the delivery of community-led housing. Despite the apparently stark nature of that exclusion, the minister was clear that the door to community-led housing funding remains open. Communities Creating Homes are working with Welsh Government officials on a route to funding via an existing funding stream which we are optimistic will provide a regular source for community groups to apply to in future. The minister told us that she shares that optimism and gave us some insight into her thinking on the issue: she noted her commitment to existing community funds (which she said will continue to evolve) and set out her intention to include a review of existing funding streams in the terms of reference for the commission, which will give opportunity for discussion of how best to fund community-led housing.
Overall, the minister’s comments and the formal response to the Senedd Inquiry give scope for optimism. Welsh Government are taking community empowerment seriously and we will seek to influence the next steps in the best interests of community groups. There remains work to do and we can expect to still be making the case for community empowerment legislation into the next Senedd term, but reflecting on progress made over recent months it definitely feels like community empowerment (and thus community-led housing) is heading in the right direction in Wales.