Hello. Welcome.
The underlying principle of a Community Land Trust is that a community itself should take part in the provision and ownership of amenities for that community. Leaving it entirely up to local (or central) government often does not produce the outcomes that the community wants. And leaving it entirely up to market forces is also usually not so good. If the community takes the lead in defining what is needed and in providing it, then the result is likely to be what we actually need and want.
Marshfield is already well set up. We have shops, pubs, sports field, community centre. But house prices are going up fast – mainly because it is such a good place to live. This is skewing the demographic of the village. Most young people cannot afford to buy (or rent) property here. We residents are gradually becoming an exclusively well-to-do, ageing population. The amenity we urgently need is affordable housing to help re-balance the population. This is what the Marshfield Community Land Trust is working to provide. There may be other things to look at later but this is our first priority.
This web site explains how we go about it. Take a look around and please join in or, at least, let us know what you think of it.
We have a good role-model here in Marshfield. The Alms Houses were set up about 400 years ago to provide housing for the needy. They are still doing just that. Our objectives are a bit different but we can still draw inspiration from that achievement.