Marshfield Community Land Trust

RECENT NEWS: JANUARY 2026

On Jan 16th Wheatfield Barns homes were declared ‘open’. The event was attended by representatives from Brighter Places, MCLT, South Gloucestershire Councillors, Marshfield Parish Councillors, the Ball family, Winsley White contractors ,members of MCLT and the new residents of Wheatfield Barns . The sun shone and everyone enjoyed looking around the lovely energy efficient homes and site and expressed delight that the project is now complete and the dream of providing affordable homes for local people has at last become a reality. Many thanks to all who have made this possible.

1. After years of work, MCLT are very pleased that their aim to provide affordable housing, which gives priority to those with a local connection, has become a reality. The first 10 rental properties have now been allocated.
2. Wheatfield Barns Phase 2 The 3x3bedroom and 2×2 bedroom shared ownership houses are in the process of being converted to rental properties. If you are interested keep watching here and on the MCLT section of the Tolzey Hall Notice Board for news. Scroll down for allocation criteria.
3. All the new homes have low energy demands and have been constructed to be part of a sustainable development . They are built to a very high quality (what is called pasivhaus standard) with high levels of insulation, triple glazed windows and air source heat pumps, all of which means a quiet, comfy home and reduced running costs.
4. The spacious site is also set in a lovely landscape and is designed to protect local wildlife with bat sleeves, swift nesting bricks under the eaves, hedgehog highways and plenty of hedging and trees.  Homes that Marshfield can be proud of.
5. East of the school Planning Application. MCLT have submitted a response to SGC which opposes the recent outline planning application for 50 houses east of the school, within the Green Belt and Cotswold National Landscape. The planning application from MCLT on adjacent land for the Wheatfield Barns houses was only approved because they were being built for local people on a Rural Exception Site. See Recent Posts for MCLT’s submission.

WHAT IS MARSHFIELD CLT ?

MCLT is a local Community Benefit Society. It can hold assets on behalf of the community, it is not for profit and democratically accountable to its members. It has support from Marshfield Parish Council and South Gloucestershire Council.

We believe in i) collective action for community benefit, ii) working towards net zero, iii) partnership working with other organisations, iv) small scale community led development.

Its current priorities are

i) affordable housing for local people with a focus on social housing ( Wheatfield Barns). For many decades there has been a failure to build homes that are within reach of local people and MCLT aim to help provide affordable housing for Marshfield which will give long term security to tenants.

Our Wheatfield Barns development which shortly will have people living there, , brings to life the aim of the scheme to enable local people to afford to live in the village and possibly return to their home village, rather than be forced to move elsewhere for accommodation and work.

ii) locally generated clean energy and energy conservation.

The MCLT Energy Working Group are exploring options for generating community energy which is now being discussed favourably at government level. They also have events, some of which are in partnership with Retrofit West, which aim to help people use their energy more efficiently and save on energy costs.

WHO WE ARE : MCLT Board of Directors

Christine Eden, chair: Oliver Shirley, vice chair: John Fuller, secretary: Simon Turner, treasurer: Ian Dawes: Ian Jones: Tony Kerr: Caroline Page: Simon Pressdee: Ros Snow.

HOW TO CONTACT MCLT

QUERIES OR COMMENTS TO: christine.eden@marshfieldclt.org OR secretary@marshfieldclt.org

Postal address at end of this post.

WHEATFIELD BARNS From the south

Application criteria Applicants with a local connection to Marshfield and a housing need will be given priority in the allocation of all Wheatfield Barns homes. If there are no suitable applicants from Marshfield, applicants from surrounding local parishes will be considered.

FULL DETAILS OF THE HOUSING PRIORITISATION SCHEME ARE AVAILABLE UNDER RECENT POSTS. SEE PARAS 4 AND 5 FOR FULL DETAILS OF LOCAL CONNECTION CRITERIA. https://marshfieldclt.org/wheatfield-barns-draft-housing-prioritisation-scheme.

Read on for a brief summary.

Applicants for the rental properties have to be registered with South Gloucestershire Council HomeChoice and show that immediately preceding the date of advertising the Affordable Dwelling they were a Local Needs Persons i.e. that they were in Housing Need and had one of the following Local Connections:

Applicants satisfying para. 4.1 have the highest priority. This covers those who have been resident within the Parish of Provision (which is Marshfield) for a current continuous period of at least three years, or a continuous period of at least five years in the preceding eight, or a continuous period of at least ten years within the last twenty years.

 Applicants satisfying 4.2 have the second highest priority. This covers those who have been in Permanent Employment within Marshfield for a continuous period of at least two years, or have a Close Family Member who is living and has lived in the Parish of Marshfield for a continuous period of at least five years, or been resident within the Parish of Marshfield for a continuous period for at least the past two years. 

These priorities then cascade out to surrounding parishes.

Questions to: christine.eden@marshfieldclt.org

Marshfield Community Land Trust Ltd is Registered with the Financial Conduct Authority ( 7361), Registered under the Cooperative Benefits Societies Act 2014, Registered Office, Tolzey Hall, 41 High Street, Marshfield SN14 8LR