This document has four main sections:

A.  Key Features and Benefits

B.  Planning Issues

C.  Supporting Information

D.  Conclusions

E.  Architect's Drawings

A. KEY FEATURES AND BENEFITS 

1. Demonstration of sustainable living: The Centre will have one of the lowest ecological footprints in the UK.  It will show how to cut carbon emissions for travel and food, which use twice as much energy as home heating.  Cohousing enables a low-impact lifestyle by sharing resources, such as biomass (wood pellet) heating, car pooling, and market gardens: all of which will be part of this scheme.

The Threshold Centre will be an innovative, leading edge example of best practice both locally and nationally.  Its plans have already attracted numerous national media features, and endorsement from leading environmentalists like Jonathan Porritt.

            The Centre’s proposals are a more sustainable use of existing buildings than their currently permitted uses, and will pioneer low-impact rural living. 

2. Affordable housing provision: The proposals include 14 residential cohousing units, of which 50% will be affordable housing:  4 rental, 3 shared ownership, operated by East Dorset Housing Association, who are a partner in the development.  This will be the first mixed tenure cohousing scheme in the UK, and cohousing is endorsed by the Housing Corporation as a valuable new form of social housing.  21 people on the local Housing Register have expressed strong interest in living here. 

3. Zero carbon emissions:  With a biomass (wood pellet) boiler for heating, and photo-voltaic panels for electricity, the Centre will achieve zero net carbon emissions as defined in level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. 

4. Education Programmes:  The Centre will be the first in the UK to combine cohousing with training and residential facilities.  Programmes will serve both the local community and residential visitors, with topics including:  cohousing, organic market gardening, personal health and lifestyle, creative ageing, and ecological building.  This will also involve local partner organisations such as Dorset Centre for Rural Skills and Ecos Trust.  Programmes will range from informal open afternoons, through structured 1-5 day workshops, to longer-stay individual study visits.  All of the facilities and residents of the Centre will be involved in the educational programmes, and all form an essential part of the learning resources. 

5. Green Tourism and Economic Development: The Centre will raise local skill levels in growing sectors such as green tourism, ecological building and organic gardening. It is pioneering green tourism in the area: this includes visitors arriving by public transport, travelling by bike or foot, and using locally grown food. There is strong demand for longer-stay facilities, eg 1 week to 6 months, from people wanting to learn by in-depth experience about living sustainably. With guest rooms in the farmhouse, the Centre is uniquely placed to meet this need.  The Centre will help create a Green Tourism Network to assist the district’s economic development. 

6. Research on cohousing:  Cohousing is a relatively new form of housing provision in the UK, but its benefits are well proven elsewhere.  By having self-contained dwelling units with shared facilities, residents enjoy both independence and the benefits of community.  The Centre will lead a research programme on the health and well-being benefits of cohousing, both generally and for older people.  The Department for Communities and Local Government is one of several major bodies which have recognised such potential benefits from cohousing. 

7. Cutting Car Use: Because cohousing enables ride-sharing and on-site social life, car movements can be substantially reduced.  The Centre will operate a car pooling scheme, a limit of one car per household, and other measures to minimise car use for residents and visitors.  Overall car use will be half the level under currently permitted uses of the site. 

8. Community Market Garden: Some food is already grown on-site and a further 1 acre of adjacent land has recently been leased.  This will be worked on organic methods by residents, visitors and local volunteers, and will provide most of the vegetables and fruit for the Centre’s residents and guests. 

9. Community Interest Company Constitution: The site is owned by the Threshold Cohousing Centre CIC.  This is a regulated non-profit body with two external governor shareholders: Ecos Trust and East Dorset Housing Association.  They will help ensure that the resident group achieve the educational, social and environmental aims of the project.  In line with the non-profit, educational aims of the whole project, the 7 owner-occupied units will be 95% shared ownership, with the CIC being credited with a 5% share.  The Company will publish a Management Plan each year, showing its performance and aims on educational, sustainability, economic benefit and other criteria. 

10. Planning Undertakings: A range of unilateral planning undertakings form part of the proposal: these have been produced in conjunction with a leading planning QC and Solicitor. They include a series of provisions to ensure that the residential units may only be used as part of an educational cohousing facility.  A fallback provision is included which provides that, in the unlikely event of the current project failing, the whole site must be sold to East Dorset Housing Association or another Registered Social Landlord and that the whole site may then only be used for affordable housing. 

The proposed scheme aims to provide an education and sustainable living centre with the cohousing residential element ancillary to the main educational use.  In summary, the planning application submitted December 2007 includes:

·        Converting the main farmhouse into an educational use and guest accommodation;

·        Converting the Timber Barn (currently used as a workshop) into three affordable rental one-bedroom dwellings;

·        Converting Sette Brook Barn (which has formerly been used as a children’s nursery) into four terraced cottages.  Two of these will be affordable dwellings;

·        Change of use for the existing seven cottages from holiday use to permanent dwellings (two of which will be affordable dwellings) with cohousing use conditions.

·        Erecting a small a timber clad building to house a biomass (pellet wood) fuelled central boiler and fuel store.  The roof will be used to generate electricity using photo-voltaic panels.  It is anticipated that these systems will enable the Centre to achieve zero carbon emissions. 

Overall, the education facilities and affordable cohousing units represent 65% of total floor space, with owner-occupied cohousing units being 35%.

A detailed Planning Support Statement has been produced by Land Use Consultants, a leading national planning consultancy, which provides full details of the proposals, and an appraisal in relation to local, regional and national planning policies.  As part of this process, the current, proposed and alternative uses of the site have been extensively reviewed against local plan policy 1.10, Re-use and adaptation of rural buildings in the countryside.  The proposals include evidence from Rural Dorset Tourism and others which confirm that the currently permitted use of 7 dwellings on site as holiday cottages is not economically viable.  Evidence is provided, including a letter from County Highways, showing that preferred alternative uses for the site, eg business, recreational etc, are not viable on the grounds of traffic generation, economic viability and other factors.

The Planning Appraisal demonstrates in detail the ways in which the proposals contribute to the aims of North Dorset’s Sustainable Development Strategy, and to priorities in the Corporate Plan for Improvement, as well as fulfilling various aspects of regional and national planning objectives. 

Planning Undertakings: 

The Planning Support Statement appendices include the following proposals, which are designed to ensure that the proposed development delivers its educational and sustainability aims, and that the residential units can only be used for cohousing.   

These are Heads of Agreement which have been drafted in collaboration with Clive Newberry, Senior Planning QC, and David Stephens, Senior Planning Solicitor at Battens Yeovil.  A Section 106 Agreement based upon this document will be submitted to the Planning Authority.  Unless otherwise stated, these conditions apply to all leases, including those with the Housing Association for shared ownership or rental use. 

Definitions:

The Company:  Threshold Cohousing Centre Community Interest Company, which owns the freehold of the site.

Resident Adults: This includes: all adults who are named leaseholders on leases with the Company, or with the Housing Association for shared ownership units; named adults holding rental agreements with the Housing Association, and other adults, such as partners and relatives, for whom a unit at the Threshold Centre is their principal residence for any period of 3 months or more.

The Site: The land and buildings at Cole Street Farm, which are operated for education and cohousing purposes as the Threshold Centre. 

Undertakings:

1.      Cohousing leases:

The freehold of the whole site may not be sold or subdivided in any way, except that leases may be granted on the 14 residential units, provided that they contain the following provisions:

  i.        All fit resident adults will contribute an average 20 hours per month of unpaid time to work on education and community tasks, such as leading workshops or site visits, handling enquiries and bookings, maintenance, administration, catering, cleaning.  If this commitment is not met, the Company has the right to invoice the resident for hours not provided at the cost of substitute labour.

 ii.        Every resident household which owns a part-share of a lease (ie all resident households except social rental units) must become a shareholder and member of the Company which owns the site freehold and operates the shared facilities.

            iii.       All households commit to paying a share of the operating costs of the shared facilities.

 iv.        Residents agree to limit the number of vehicles owned and used on site to one per household and to commit to ride sharing, car pooling and other steps to reduce carbon footprint wherever possible.

v.         All adult residents commit to attend one group meeting up to 4 hours in length per month

vi.        All residents agree to be bound by further group agreements approved by a 75% majority of households

vii.        In the event that an owner-occupier leaseholder wishes to sell their lease, they agree that for an initial period of three months they will only sell to someone nominated by the Company, and at a price set by an independent valuer.  Any new leaseholder must accept all the terms of the leases as described here.

viii.       All individuals who are named as leaseholders or rental tenants of residential units undertake that this will be their principal residence, and that they will be in residence and fulfil time obligations for at least 44 weeks per year.  Longer absences or subletting requires the prior agreement of the Residents Group.

ix.        As part of the educational use of the site, all resident households will allow up to four educational groups per year to enter and view their residential unit.

x.         Any purchaser of an owner-occupied unit at the site must become a member and shareholder of the Company, and accept all of these lease obligations.

xi.        Disputes:  all residents agree to be bound by the internal disputes procedure, which provides for informal mediation and then an external arbitrator.

xii.        Sanctions:  this defines sanctions which may be implemented in the event of a substantial and persistent breach of these agreements by any resident.  Persistent breach means that the breach has continued for at least three months, that it is of substantial importance, and that the breach has not been remedied despite a written request and application of the disputes procedure.  In such an event, an owner-occupier lease may be terminated by the Company, and the Company will have the responsibility to find an appropriate purchaser of the lease, at a price set by an independent valuer.  For shared ownership and rental units, it will be the responsibility of the Housing Association to terminate the occupancy, ensure that alternative accommodation is found, and to find a replacement household.

xiii.       Lease termination:  the company can terminate all owner-occupied leases in the event of the company becoming insolvent, or an 80% vote by shareholders to terminate the project.   

2.      Management Plan:

The company will issue publicly and to North Dorset District Council an annual Management Plan, reviewing performance against past goals, and defining future goals.  The topics to be covered by this plan will include:

i.           Local economic benefits (eco-tourism, training, etc.)

ii.          Provision of education and training programmes on cohousing and other aspects of sustainable living

iii.          Food growing on the site and adjacent land

iv.          Environmental impact and overall sustainability 

3.      External Governance:

i.           The Company will publish, make available for public inspection and provide to North Dorset District Council its management constitution, which will confirm its aims as a non-profit project to provide demonstration and training about cohousing and sustainable living; affordable housing; and eco-tourism facilities.  The constitution will also require the appointment of 2-4 governor shareholders external to the board of the Company.

 4.      Fallback Provision:

In the event of the Company becoming insolvent, or a vote as defined above to terminate the project, the company undertakes to terminate all owner-occupier leases, and to sell the freehold of the site and all facilities to East Dorset Housing Association (or other Registered Social Landlord), for the sole purpose of providing 100% affordable social housing on the site to which the use of the site shall be restricted. 

5.      Sustainability

The proposed development will meet the following sustainability standards. 

i.     The whole site will achieve zero emissions as defined in level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, ie zero emissions from heating, hot water, ventilation and lighting.  This will be verified by an accredited Code for Sustainable Homes Assessor. 

ii.    The 7 new residential units will achieve a 100% improvement in Delivered Energy Rating over the Target Energy Rating, as defined in SAP 2005.  This will be verified by a report from an accredited SAP Assessor.

D. CONCLUSIONS

This section reproduces the conclusions from the Planning Support Statement.  

The Threshold Centre CIC is directing substantial investment into the development of Cole Street Farm in order to ensure its position as an exemplar sustainable living and education centre.  The proposals include: educational facilities, also used as social facilities for residents, and accommodation for paying guests in the main farmhouse building; 14 ‘cohousing’ units, half of which will be affordable social housing; and renewable energy systems.  They also include a dedicated market garden in close proximity to provide food for residents and guests.

1.         The principle of the development in this location and the design process and parameters that have been followed comply with national, regional and local policy, in addition to other relevant local documents and strategies, as follows:

2.         Sustainable development: the proposal meets the needs of people in North Dorset who would like to belong to a cohousing community; helps reduce the shortfall in affordable housing in the District; provides a sustainable living resource for educational purposes; incorporates renewable energy generating equipment to enable the proposal to meet its target of becoming a zero emissions development; involves development on previously developed land and the effective and efficient use of existing buildings; promotes transport efficiency and reduces the number of trips from the Threshold Centre compared to the existing permitted uses; and has a projected ecological footprint of 2.4 global hectares, substantially less than the current best practice for conventional housing.

3.         Location: national and local planning policy seeks to prevent residential development outside settlement limits.  However, far from being conventional housing, the sustainable living centre is essentially an educational business use involving the adaptation and re-use of rural buildings.  It has been demonstrated that alternative uses are not viable and that the proposal meets the tests of Local Plan Policy 1.10 and the relevant supplementary planning guidance.  These material planning considerations, together with those outlined in relation to sustainable development, address positively the first reason for refusal of the previous planning application.

4.         Housing provision:  although North Dorset does not face problems of housing supply, there is a shortfall of affordable housing and the need for cohousing is not currently met.  With the help of the East Dorset Housing Association, the proposals will make a significant contribution to meeting these important and demonstrable needs.  The sustainable living and education centre’s education and training programmes in sustainable living, delivering cohousing communities, organic market gardening, personal health and wellbeing, and sustainable building will provide social and economic benefits in meeting the known demand for such programmes in the local community.  Significantly, the proposal also supports the Community Strategy, ‘Shaping our Future’ by providing affordable housing, promoting an innovative way of meeting housing need in the District through a Community Interest Company, and by delivering a sustainable housing development.  These factors address fully the second reason for refusal of the previous planning application.

5.         Given that the most of the social, community and recreational needs of residents and visitors will be met at the Centre, it will place very limited demands on community infrastructure (such as community centres, schools, open space, libraries etc.) in the area.  This addresses the third reason for refusal of the previous planning application. 

6.         Highways and transport:  by virtue of the Centre’s relative self-containment, the need for residents and visitors to travel will be minimised.  It is highly accessible on foot and by bicycle and in close proximity to public transport services.   A sustainable transport programme will be implemented and monitored.  The proposals therefore comply with highways and transport planning policy.

7.         Design: the design process has involved a series of design iterations to arrive at a high quality design that includes sustainable design and construction features whilst ensuring compatibility with the surrounding area.

8.         The proposals therefore respond positively to the reasons for refusal of the previous planning application (application number 2/2006/0105) as set out in the decision letter.  However, a number of additional concerns were also raised in the Case Officer’s report which this revised scheme seeks to address.  These concerns, and how they are addressed by the revised scheme, are summarised in the table below.

9.         Overall, the proposals are innovative and well considered.  They meet important and demonstrable needs, respond positively to the reasons for refusal of a previous planning application and concerns raised in the Case Officer’s report, and will make a very positive contribution to the area and its community.  Planning permission should be granted.