Martin Large

Fellow’s Profile

Martin Large

Fellow’s Profile

Martin Large

Land for people: how Commons Land Trusts work

Fellowship

Themes

Focus

Improving community development by understanding the value of community land trusts

Countries

Fellowship year

2003

Locality

South West

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Biography

I am a founding director of Stroud Common Wealth Ltd, a non-profit community land trust (CLT) and social/co-op business enabler based at The Exchange, a social business workspace we run in Stroud, Gloucestershire. We are currently developing another workspace at Stroud Brewery.

Concerned about the lack of affordable access to housing, land and farmland, I used my Fellowship to research CLTs for housing and farming in the United States in 2003. Joining a team led by Bob Patterson and Pat Conaty of the University of Salford's Community Finance Solutions and New Economics Foundation, plus Steven Hill, we ran CLT National Demonstration Projects from 2004 to 2010, developing pilot CLTs, getting CLTs defined in law, proof of concept, and setting up a national enabling body communitylandtrust.org, which now has more than 400 CLTs.

I also developed community farmland trusts with Fordhall Farm from 2004 to 2006, The Biodynamic Farmland Trust in 2011 and Oakbrook Community Farm in 2019,using charitable community benefit societies for raising community shares for land purchase.

The Fellowship was about learning for lasting community benefit through meeting people similarly engaged, giving permission to action research.

Disclaimer

All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

Disclaimer

All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

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