The aims and aspirations of Jaywick Sands Community Land Trust:
The purpose of setting up a Community Land Trust is to have a legal entity that can acquire assets and in particular housing, on behalf of the community, locked in perpetuity for the benefit of the community known as Jaywick Sands.
- To improve the area known as Jaywick Sands for the benefit of the inhabitants of the area
- To acquire and or develop properties to rent at affordable rates to the residents of Jaywick Sands
- To acquire and or develop any other properties/land for the benefit of the community of Jaywick Sands
- To encourage the goodwill and involvement of the wider community
- To foster community spirit and encourage civic pride
Project one – office/hub/café and flats
Our first aim is to acquire the property known as 98 Broadway Jaywick Sands.
With this property, we can establish an office in Jaywick Sands that will give the CLT a physical presence in the area from which we can operate and interact with the community face to face.
We then want to develop the remaining ground floor area to include a meeting space from which we can offer a drop-in centre, offering a place locally from which the community can pick up leaflets and forms for a wide variety of information, with volunteers on hand to offer help and advise as to which way to proceed with a large range of topics from housing to benefits and healthcare not as experts but as a signposting service.
We would also envisage this space being hired out by outside organisations bringing services right to the heart of the local community.
With the remaining ground floor space, we will be opening and running a community drop-in café, The aim of the café is to have a place where the locals can meet up for a cuppa and a slice of cake. This it is hoped will provide somewhere to go helping to alleviate social deprivation and loneliness.
We do not want to go into opposition with any other local group but rather to work alongside and with, an example of which is we are organising a summer festival on the 24th august 2019 in and around the Resource Centre in the Brooklands area, in partnership with Inclusion ventures.
Finally, we intend to re-apply for the now out of date planning application to build a first-floor extension in which we will have 2, 2 bedroom flats. These we will be renting to any locals that may require them at the current housing benefit rate plus £5 .00. per bedroom. Once all of the above is completed it is expected that the building will become self-financing with even a small amount of profit to be carried over to help kick start other projects.
Looking further into the future Jaywick Sands Community Land Trust intends to become a major landlord in the Jaywick Sands area. We will achieve this by purchasing homes from the open market, renovating them to acceptable standards and then renting them to the local community on the same basis as the flats described above. This it is hoped will have a two-fold effect locally both by stimulating the housing market and by bringing the average rents down to a more sustainable level. We will also be looking for any opportunities to become involved in the new build sector either as sole builders or in partnership with any outside bodies that wish to develop buildings, including both the local Authority (TDC) and any other private sector groups.
Alongside the housing aims we would also look to develop any other community assets that the local community would like to have, this could range from a small scale gym/sports actives to training facilities to community-owned and run shops, in fact, if the community would like and benefit from something then we would try to archive it.
We would also become an employer and training opportunity for our local community with a commitment to source any future employees from the Jaywick Sands area and or from within the Tendering district. Furthermore, we will be committed to offering apprenticeships to our local youths, thus helping to train and employ as many locals as we can
Our overriding aim is to promote all that is great and positive about Jaywick Sands, fostering both community spirit and civic pride, to take ourselves out of the most deprived area and into the most up and coming areas of England.
Stronger together because people need community.
