Serena Bedford wanted to raise her children in the Devon village where her family has lived for more than 100 years. Soaring house prices and a lack of local social housing meant her hopes were out of reach. But by the end of this summer Serena, husband Gavin and their two boys will have their dream home.
The Bedfords are one of six local families who have spent the past five years transforming two acres of former farm land on the outskirts of the village into a new affordable, eco-friendly homes development.
The journey – from raising money to buying the land, negotiating planning agreement and bringing all the utilities on site – has been long and tough. All the families are members of the Broadhempston Community Land Trust (CLT), which means committing to at least 20 hours of labour a week. “Before I started out I hadn’t even used a drill,” says Serena. “I’m now familiar with lots of power tools. It’s been really really hard work, as everybody works full-time and most of us have families. The hardest thing for me personally has been saying ‘no’ to the boys because we have to build the house.”
But the hours of devotion will bring the Bedfords a home for life. The land trust will retain a 25% stake in the property while the family automatically qualifies for 25% “sweat equity” in return for labour. The Bedfords can buy another 50% on a rent-to-buy basis. If they move they can only sell at 80% of the current market value and only to a local family who need a home.
Local political will to make the project work has been vital. “The council gave us planning permission at the outset and has encouraged us all along the way,” says Serena.
Teignbridge district council is one of 11 vanguard councils testing the self-build water to help ministers meet their commitment to double the number of self-build or custom built homes by 2020. The council believes self-build creates a variety of new housing stock and boosts local demand for materials and services. It created a list of individuals interested in self-build a year before these became a statutory requirement, this April, for councils to collate a self-build register.
Teignbridge’s local plan specifies that any private housing developer will have to make 5% of the plots available as self-build.
But Teignbridge’s self-build project officer, Charles Acland, says the council doesn’t have the handholding resources needed to increase the supply of affordable self-build homes. “There are few examples of it in this country. Perhaps we can learn from our European neighbours,” he says.
It’s a view shared by MP Helen Hayes, chair of the housing taskforce inquiry established to look into new sources of housing: “If Berliners can build one in six homes this way, then Londoners and Mancunians can too.”