The Threshold Centre

The Threshold Centre is a non-profit project to create a sustainable education centre, affordable housing and green tourism facilities from old farm buildings in a quiet setting south of Gillingham, in the parish of East Stour. The Centre's main aim is to demonstrate and teach about cohousing and sustainable living. Cohousing combines self-contained living units with shared facilities to provide affordability, informal community, and a more ecological lifestyle. This summary describes the proposals for which a planning application was submitted in December 2007 and now finally approved. Building works are now in progress for completeion in January 2010.

(Below) Architect's impression of the Centre following proposed building conversions.

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.

B. Planning Issues

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.

C. Supporting Information

The Planning Support Statement includes an explanation of the rationale for the scheme, an extensive Sustainability Statement, as well as a Planning Appraisal. The Appendices to the Planning Support Statement include:

- The Threshold Centre Business Plan: this sets specific targets for the numbers and type of educational programmes to be run following planning permission and completion of conversion work. It also emphasises that the demand and the benefits of the proposed educational programmes have been well proven by 3 years of operation on a pilot basis within the current facilities and permissions. The Plan also includes a financial and risk assessment: the revenue risks are low, since both the income sources and cost structure have been largely proven by 3 years of operation to date. The capital risks have been managed by provision of fixed-price estimates for the costs of the building conversion work, and by adopting a joint venture approach to these costs with the Housing Association.

- Evidence of demand for the cohousing units at the Centre, including research carried out with households in need of affordable housing on the local housing register: 21 of these households have visited the Centre and expressed strong interest in living here if possible.

- The research brief for the assessment of the health and wellbeing benefits of cohousing, agreed in principle with the University of Aberystwyth.

- Sustainable Transport Programme: this explains the measures already used to reduce private car use, such as a daily meeting to arrange car pooling and ride sharing. The projected total car movements per week arising from the proposals is 254, which is 48% below the historical peak level allowed under current permitted uses of the site.

- Ecological Footprint Analysis: this provides details of an independent analysis, produced by Sustain, a leading Environmental Consultancy. This has assessed the energy consumption and waste generation of the current residents, and projected the benefits of the proposed facilities. This gives a projected ecological footprint of 2.4 global hectares per person for the Threshold Centre, which is less that half the average level for North Dorset or the UK. It is also below current best practice in the UK: BedZed in London, which is a new build urban project, achieves a footprint of 2.6 global hectares, highlighting the additional benefits which the Threshold Centre achieves from cohousing and from on-site food production.

- Unilateral Planning Undertakings: these are detailed in Section B above.

- A letter from East Dorset Housing Association confirming their commitment to the proposals, their view of its benefits, and their undertaking to act as a Governor Shareholder and to acquire the site in the event of the current project failing.

- A list of consultees, and copies of 24 letters of support: these include Three Rivers Partnership, all the neighbours on Cole Street Lane, other local residents, and leading sustainability figures such as Jonathon Porritt.

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.

Concerns raised in the Case Officer's report	How addressed by the revised scheme
Social housing provision
The original proposal included 18% social housing, which was subsequently increased to 36%. It was originally focused on Low Cost Market Housing.	The revised proposal has 50% social housing provision, all of which is affordable rented or shared ownership.
The original proposal did not involve a Registered Social Landlord.	This was revised to include an Agreement in Principle by East Dorset Housing Association (EDHA) to take on this role. EDHA are fully committed to the new proposals and have invested substantial resources in their preparation. They are co-funding the new facilities, will act as a Governor Shareholder of the non-profit ownership of the company, and will participate in leading some of the educational programmes.
Doubts were expressed as to whether social housing with cohousing use commitments would appeal to households on the local Housing Register.	The research cited above demonstrates that there is substantial interest locally in this innovative form of social housing.
Sustainability
The previous scheme was not considered to offer a significant advance over current best practice in conventional new housing.	The revised scheme includes expanded renewable energy systems in order to achieve zero emissions status for the whole site. The new buildings will achieve 100% improvement in delivered energy rating over Building Regulations.
Additional land
The commitment to secure additional land as part of the original submission was regarded as insubstantial. This was considered to weaken the justification for a rural location for the project since there is limited space on the current site for food production.	0.4 hectares of farm land has now been leased on the south side of Cole Street Lane. This land, together with land at Cole Street Farm, will meet the food production needs of visitors and residents to the Centre.
Meeting space for local groups
The original proposal included a 63m² meeting room, partly for use by local community groups. This was criticised as being an inappropriate location, which might generate unacceptable levels of traffic.	The inclusion of a meeting room for use by local community groups has been deleted from the revised proposals.
Access and traffic levels
Whilst County Highways raised no objection to the original proposal, being satisfied that projected traffic levels were acceptable, concerns were raised in the Case Officer's report that some proposed uses might generate additional traffic and that the location was too far from public transport and basic services to be sustainable.	The proposed scheme has been amended by removing the meeting space use for local groups and by focusing on more longer-stay visitors. As a result, car movements for the new scheme are projected to be 48% below the peak level for current permissions compared to an 18% reduction for the original proposal. In addition, the recent opening of Orchard Park Garden Centre (on the eastern side of Shaftesbury Road) means that a food store, bus stop and other facilities are significantly nearer, making the location more accessible and sustainable.
Sette Brook Barn
Sette Brook Barn was assessed by the Case Officer as 'new build' given that over half of the original walls were to be demolished and replaced.	The revised proposal retains the current walls largely intact.
Education and housing
Concern was expressed that the original proposal did not show a clear or strong enough link between the education and housing uses. It was also felt that the proposals could not be clearly distinguished from conventional housing in a rural location.	The revised proposals have addressed these concerns in the following ways: - The legal body which owns and operates the whole project has now been registered as a regulated, non-profit Community Interest Company with explicit educational aims. All educational activities make use of the facilities on site, in particular the residential cohousing community and its contribution to higher levels of sustainability. - All residential units onsite will be either shared ownership or social rental. The owner-occupied units will be 95% shared ownership, with 5% held by the educational Community Interest Company. - Unilateral planning undertakings are proposed which ensure that all residential units are used for cohousing and that all households are involved in the educational programmes. These commitments clearly differentiate the proposal from conventional market housing. - The educational element has been further strengthened by the agreement with the University of Aberystwyth to conduct research on the health and well-being benefits of cohousing facilities at the Threshold Centre. - The Constitution of the Community Interest Company includes the appointment of external Governor Shareholders with relevant expertise in sustainable education and social housing provision.
Fallback Provision
The original proposal was criticised because the residential units could become conventional open market housing if the current project were to fail.	A unilateral undertaking is proposed that, in the event of the current project failing, the whole site may only be sold to East Dorset Housing Association or another registered social landlord, and may only be used for 100% affordable housing. EDHA have stated their willingness (Appendix 12) to acquire the site if this were to happen.

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.