The March 2026 edition of the Connecting Communities in Berkshire (CCB) newsletter has just arrived and you can read it here. This organisation does exactly what says on the tin. As its website puts it, it is “knowledgeable and experienced in finding solutions that best meet the needs of communities…developing partnerships that foster good communications, which in turn build engagement and deliver strong, sustainable communities.”

Any parish council, village hall, community group or charity is strongly advised to keep an eye on its website and sign up for its monthly bulletins. The aims that it espouses are now more important than ever.

This is particularly the case with rural housing, particularly at the affordable end of the scale. As we, and CCB, have considered before, there are a number of challenges at present which are combining in an unwelcome way.

• Many social-housing providers are divesting themselves of properties which, probably in that community and possibly even in the district, are then lost to the social-housing sector.
• Construction and compliance costs have increased.
• Most commercial developers constantly strive to reduce the number of (comparatively unprofitable) homes they’re compelled to build.
• There’s a disconnect between what and where developers do build, what and where housing associations dispose of properties and the actual needs of the communities.

All of this has led to an alarming reduction in the number of social-rent homes in Berkshire, including West Berkshire, and particularly in rural areas. CCB is in the process of compiling information on the exact numbers.

Knowing the figures is one thing. What can be done about it? Fortunately, the CCB newsletter has an article on this very point.

One solution which is (unlike those listed above) within the power of local communities to realise involves community land trusts (CLTs) and/or rural exception sites(RESs). In very general summary, these permit sites which would not normally be considered for development to be approved, providing that a local need is established and an ownership and tenancy structure created which will retain them for the the social-rent market and, in the case of CLTs, also for the permanent benefit of that community.

CCB’s Rural Housing Enabler, Maria Kelly, described how she had recently attended a meeting run by the Stonesfield Community Trust in nearby Oxfordshire to discuss CLTs.

“We explored how groups can work better together to deliver a growing potential pipeline of community-led homes,” she wrote, “particularly in rural areas where finding suitable land and traditional housing associations to develop homes can be difficult.” She went on to explain how such initiatives “can ensure that housing and other assets are available to the community in perpetuity and cannot be sold off privately or otherwise lost.”

There are several important points from this. The first is that, like anything to do with the planning system, we’re dealing with a process-driven system. Various tasks like a housing needs survey to establish demand and a survey of possible sites to establish availability need to be done, and in the right way. Expert help is needed and CCB can provide it.

The second is that even if a housing association owns, builds or acquires a property in your village, there’s no guarantee that it will not be sold off as a private residence. This approach will prevent that from happening.

The third is that the age (which started with the Atlee government’s post-war reforms) where the system would provide what we need is coming to an end. Whether it’s dentists or social care, pensions or health provision, if we want or need something we increasingly have to source it ourselves. The same goes for affordable housing. If a community needs this and expects that the current arrangements will provide it then it will almost certainly be disappointed. They can, however help themselves.

If you’re interested in finding out more about this issue and how CCB can help plot a path through the system to achieve the result your community needs, contact maria.kelly@ccberks.org.uk. For those outside Berkshire, similar organisations with the same broad goals exist as part of the ACRE network – click here for more information.