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| About This Site |
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The information on this site is provided in good faith as guidance and stimulus to those involved in the Church’s strategy for new housing areas. No responsibility can be accepted for information which is inaccurate, and professional advice specific to particular places should be sought.
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| The articles in this section have been contributed by various people from around the country. |
| An invitation from the Churches New Housing Group | 1st Jun '10 | Invite for pioneer ministers and support staff for new housing areas 22nd June 2010. Attached is an invitation to the Network Meeting we have at Churches Together in England on June 22nd.
The meeting is specifically for network, resource amnd local ministers concerned with the churches engagement in new housing areas. All the details are on the pdf and a booking form is availble throught the CTE website. The meeting is hosted by the Churches Group for New Housing Areas. |
| Kent Thameside Church Planting Project | 9th Feb '10 | Kent Thameside Church Planting Project - Cafechurch – Bluewater
Penny Marsh has written this piece about a Café Church initiative at Bluewater in Kent for the Baptist Times. It tells of a new initiative to bring together people in the new housing area around the idea of 'Café Church'.
View full details ... |
| Steve Williams 2009 new housing Progress | 5th Feb '10 | | Rev Steve Williams is the Bishops officer keeping a watching brief on the new housing developments in the North Thames area and provides this 2009 Progress report. It charts the various developments in the light of the current economic downturn. |
| Report on new housing plans in South Essex | 5th Feb '10 | | The attached report follows a conference held in the region, and looks at the new housing plans in South Essex. It is provided by Rev Steve Williams who is the Thames Gateway Officer for the Anglican diocese which covers the area. |
| Through the Keyhole | 23rd Dec '09 | ‘Through the Keyhole’: a listening exercise in Scotland re new housing and church
There is a perception that a new church in a new housing area could be a bad neighbour. In Scotland, planning permission has been refused before now on the ‘bad neighbour premise’. ‘What are the perceptions of church from people who don’t go to church?’ This report of a survey sought to get a bigger picture. Over the past 2 years the Mission Network of Action for Churches Together in Scotland have undertaken a research study to look at the questions raised. Their findings are in the attached report called ‘Through the Keyhole’. |
| The Joseph Rowntree Foundation | 11th Dec '09 | The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have a programme called the Housing and Neighbourhoods Monitor which contains three areas of information and analysis.
- Maps with a range of housing and neighbourhood indicators overlaid on maps
- Charts which cover long term national trends re housing and neighbourhoods
- Publications supporting the above and other work from JRF
View the Web Site
Also this page |
| Mind the Gap quotes and comments | 9th Dec '09 | | Rev Steve Williams is a member of the CTE Coordinating Gp for new housing areas. He has reflected on the major document ‘Mind the Gap’ with some quotes and comments. The attached document tells you more about Steve. His quotes and comments summarise the main ‘Mind the Gap’ report on two sides of A4. |
| Discussion document: Mind the Gap | 24th Nov '09 | Discussion document: Mind the Gap. Housing supply in a cold climate.
Launched at the Political Party Conferences in September 2009 and published by the Town and County Planning Association, this is a discussion paper by David Pretty CBE and Paul Hackett for the Smith Institute and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. It explores the current economic climate and new housing provision in all its various aspects. The attached is a pdf of the document.
The Town and Country Planning Association, 17 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AS. 0207 930 8903.
Web Link |
| A plea for church leaders | 24th Nov '09 | A plea for church leaders to get involved in planning for new houses.
Ian Chisnall is a member of the Churches Coordinating Group for New Housing Areas. He was one of the original members who asked Churches Together in England to engage with the challenge of how the church should respond to the new developments proposed. He is well placed to make this plea for church leaders to get involved in the planning process as he is involved at strategic levels in both Church and County of Sussex.
View Ian's WORD document |
| Bishop spoke in Lords debate on new housing | 11th Nov '09 | | The Bishop of Leicester spoke in a debate which covered various aspects of new housing like availability and affordability. See web site. |
| Government map of Growth Areas | 11th Nov '09 | | The Communities and Local Government website contains a map of the growth areas. Click on the PDF icon left. |
| Northamptonshire and Peterborough Churches | 19th Oct '09 | | Churches Together in Northamptonshire and Peterborough have a website page about the new housing developments in their area. The Northamptonshire Churches New Communities Programme and the Churches Officer for New Communities, Bob Purcer, are highlighted. On the web page you can find links to the Project and Planning Group, together with a prayer and resources. See the web site. |
| Churches in Northamptonshire 2009 | 19th Oct '09 | Churches in Northamptonshire: Annual Report for 2009 re New Housing.
Bob Purser, the Churches Officer for New Communities, produced a 2009 Annual Report on the church and housing developments in Northamptonshire. Details of Bob’s post, and the report which lists the various new housing developments and response of the churches, can be found on this link. |
| Government Annual Report for 2009 | 5th Aug '09 | The Government Department with oversight for new housing, ‘Communities and Local Government’ have produced their Annual Report for 2009. This includes the following headlines which are particularly relevant to the current priorities of the Churches Coordinating Group for New Housing Areas.
View full details ... |
| London map of new housing areas | 5th Aug '09 | | The Anglican Diocese of London have had a partnership with Groundwork GIS which has produced an electronic map that can show where the major developments of new housing areas are in the Capital. See web site. |
| Housing and Homelessness | 7th Jul '09 | Housing and Homelessness: The decision makers wasn’t out views
In this leaflet Ian Chisnall urges churches to address the issues of new housing need and contribute to the local decision making process. The leaflet has been produced for all the churches in Sussex and provides practical information as well as an overview. The material here could be reworked for other counties and regional groups of churches.
Ian Chisnall is the Mission and Unity Coordinator for Churches Together in Sussex. He is also a member of the Churches Coordinating Group for New Housing Areas which hosts the Church in New Housing Areas website. |
| Challenging Perceptions of Affordable Housing | 3rd Jul '09 | | The South of England Regional Assembly Regional Housing Board have put together an extensive paper entitled Challenging Perceptions of Affordable Housing. It surveys a lot of material and looks at common myths and how they can be addressed and challenged. |
| Mr Brown on Cash for new social housing | 2nd Jul '09 | Mr Brown spoke of the Government plan for 30,000 new ‘social’ housing and cash which would be made available. The Times reported this cash to be at the expense of schools, roads and health as it was only main injection of money announced.
View the Times Report.
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| Churches and Faith Buildings | 21st Apr '09 | Churches and Faith Buildings: Realising the potential. Gov’t and CofE report March 2009.
To quote the front page of this report, this is a ‘paper to help faith groups identify sources of funding that could develop places of worship to make them better able to deliver public services, and build capacity of faith groups to engage strategically at local and regional levels around delivery of local priorities and access to funding allocations’.
View full details ... |
| Meet your Street | 5th Mar '09 | ‘Meet your Street’: A quiz event which went well in a new housing pub.
 David Brown is an Anglican minister, and has been appointed to the new housing area called Chase Meadow in Warwick. As one of the first events he organized he tried to get people to know each other on their new street, and distributed flyers to a pub event, suggesting people from the street came together. Here you can see from the flyer that the first went well and so a ‘rematch’ was held. As David said, it was a ‘great success and lots attended’ and this, and other initiatives have, led on to people coming to an Alpha course and begin ‘journeys of faith’. |
| New Scottish church plan refused as ‘bad neighbour | 5th Mar '09 | This is a cautionary true tale of how the church is not always viewed as central to community in new developments. A Baptist church in Scotland had a vision for the extensive new development and discussed how they might start a congregation in a new building. As I understand it, they developed the plans and put in application to the Council which went to the local community for consultation. The application for building was refused on the basis that too many of the local residents viewed the proposed church as a ‘bad neighbour’. In the same way that youth clubs, pubs and clubs are sometimes refused planning permission because they attract people to the neighbourhood, need a car park, hold public meetings etc. the planned church was perceived to be a ‘bad’ not ‘good’ addition by prospective neighbours.
Jim Currin. |
| The Beacon at the Bridge Development, Dartford | 5th Mar '09 | | Bart Woodhouse is a Methodist church planter who has been working in new housing areas near the Dartford Bridge for a few years now. ‘The Beacon’ is the name of each small group which has established and multiplied. They have grown organically and now plan to have a celebration service together in a new school in Spring 09, as you can see from their website. |
| EcoTowns | 5th Mar '09 | Government consultation re EcoTowns extended to 30th April 2009
Following the release of the full written judgment of recent legal proceedings, the consultation on the draft Planning Policy Statement (PPS) and Sustainability Appraisal on eco-towns has now been extended to Thursday 30 April. Copies of the relevant documents are available from this web site.
View full details ... |
| Community Cohesion and Planning: CLG Guidance | 21st Jan '09 | | The Government department ‘CLG’ has published Guidance on meaningful interaction: How encouraging positive relationships between people can help build community cohesion. This guidance sets out what the Government knows about meaningful interaction, based on research findings and the views of expert practitioners. It’s also aimed at local cohesion practitioners and policy planners and includes some good practice. Feedback on whether this information is accurate is very welcome. See web site. |
| Thames Gateway Report on 2008 - Rev Steve Williams | 21st Jan '09 | Part of Steve Williams job as an Anglican Vicar is to keep a watching brief on the new housing developments in the Thames Gateway region north of the River Thames. Here is his report for 2008 which makes interesting reading as it provides a snapshot of the proposad developments, effects of the credit crunch and response of the church in the region. Steve also hosts a website.
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| Philip Wood: Missioner : Blog | 16th Dec '08 | Philip Wood: Missioner for New Housing Didcot and Grove, South Oxfordshire.
Sometimes life is a bit like making a spaghetti sandwich. Just when you're busy cramming it all in on one side it falls out the other! I suppose this blog is an attempt to cram as many of my concerns - missiology, Anabaptist theology, natural history, housing, etc - in one place as possible. It's my intention to post key resources and reflections on the blog as there is need. I'm a Mennonite working for the Methodist Church in South Oxfordshire. With another hat on I'm also convener of the Chilterns Anabaptist Group. Originally from Bury near Manchester I am Circuit Development Worker with the Wantage and Abingdon Methodist Circuit. The role entails a focus on major new housing development (currently Didcot and Grove) but I have a particular interest in 'Emerging Church'/'Fresh Expressions'. |
| BBC South East reports new building coming to a ha | 19th Nov '08 | Various news reports from around the country indicate how the economic climate is affecting the planned rate of new house building. This report of the Thames Gateway says it is nearly coming to a halt: click here
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| Ecotowns Government Update 04.11.08 | 7th Nov '08 | A new consultation on Ecotowns that has just been posted on the CLG website today, following a private briefing by Margaret Beckett yesterday.
View full details ... |
| Faith Facilities in New Communities report 02.11.0 | 7th Nov '08 | The East of England Faiths Council and GO East ran a conference on 4th November 2008 in Cambridge. As part of the day Cambridge Horizons (the company set up by the local authorities to promote the regeneration agenda in the sub region) launched the results of a study -
"Faith facilities for the future - A new study considering faith facilities within new communities"
This link below takes you to the relevant page on their web site. From there you can get the full report (54 pages) or the Executive Summary.
This is a study that has been undertaken for one sub region. 14 recommendations were made including one that suggested a free 0.5 of an hectare being made available for religious use per 3,000 houses and another which suggests that some of their recommendations should be included in Planning Policy. |
| Eco Towns Progress Report | 29th Oct '08 | Government Eco-towns
Following the annoucement, by Gordon Brown on becoming Prime Minister in 2007, that the government intended to build 10 new eco-towns, 57 proposals were put forward and a short list of 15 was published in April 2008. Following a period of public consultation and further investigation an update was published in July 2008.
View full details ... |
| Homes and Community Agency | 27th Oct '08 | | Ian Chisnall is one of the founding members of the Churches Coordinating Group for new Housing Areas. He attended a launch meeting of the new Homes and Community Agency in London and reports. |
| Ten Top tips for Church in New Housing Areas | 16th Oct '08 | Bob Purcer and a network in Northamptonshire have put together a very handy leaflet for church leaders to engage with the new housing areas. Ideal for giving to small groups and individuals to discuss, with advice and practical ideas, it can be applied to any area considering what to do.
Northamptonshire Churches New Communities project.
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| Eco-towns update | 16th Oct '08 | | The Government proposals for eco-towns that grabbed the headlines a few months ago, are being discussed. Various resources and documents from the Town and Country Planning Association are available from their website |
| Eco Towns | 11th Jul '08 | | Gordon Brown announced the Eco Town initiative and this link gives the full list of proposed places. The commentary explains the thinking behind the proposal. A full response has been sent back from the Churches Coordinating Group for New Housing Areas in response to this consultation. |
| Housing Policy | 4th Nov '07 | Alastair Darling promises funding for housing in Comprehensive Spending Review
View full details ... |
| First 'carbon neutral' village | 22nd Oct '07 | Housebuilders to build first 'carbon neutral' village
A site has been identified for the construction of the UK's first energy efficient or 'carbon neutral' homes.
View full details ... |
| Crackdown on developers who don't build | 22nd Oct '07 | Government plans crackdown on developers who don't build
The government is planning to clamp down on building developers who hold on to valuable land which has been granted planning permission to benefit from increases in value.
View full details ... |
| 3 Million New Houses - do we need them? | 22nd Oct '07 | | This deals with the issue of how many new houses we need to build within the UK. The current plans are for 1.8 million new dwellings but Gordon Brown, when he became PM, said that this would rise to 3 million. Steve Williams looks at the reason we need more homes and some of the implications. This paper, alongside several others, can be found on www.thamesgatewaychurchofengland.com. |
| £500 million grants attacked | 22nd Oct '07 | �500million grants attacked by LGA: warning of danger of quantity over quality. The £500million funding that Housing Minister Yvette Cooper has announced (reported in last HJ Digest) to encourage local authorities to identify sites for new homes has been attacked by the Local Government Association.
View full details ... |
| 'Garden grabbing' on the increase | 22nd Oct '07 | The process of garden grabbing, building new housing in the gardens of existing houses, sometimes knocking down the existing house to free up more land, is on the increases and accounts for over half of new development in 28 district council areas and over 40% of new housing development in a further 25 areas according to Greg Clarke, Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells.
View full details ... |
| Liberal Democrats pledge to build more homes | 22nd Oct '07 | The Liberal Democrats have pledged, if elected, to build more homes than the government's existing building targets. Lib Dem spokesman Andrew Stunell said that the party wants 2.6million new homes to be built over the next 10 years compared to the 2million pledged by the government.
View full details ... |
| Living in hope | 25th Sep '07 | | England's housing developments are rarely logical or well designed, Richard Simmons, the chief executive of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment tells Peter Hetherington, but sustainability should change all that : click here |
| Thames Gateway South Essex | 18th Sep '07 | What's happening to the Thames Gateway within South Essex?
A progress report from the Church of England's Thames Gateway Officer - September 2007
View full details ... |
| Green paper proposes three million new homes by 20 | 3rd Aug '07 | The long awaited housing green paper has been announced by the government. Housing Minister Yvette Cooper introduced the green paper saying it was 'the most significant programme of house-building for decades' and 'an ambitious positive response to the growing challenges that many people face.'
View full details ... |
| Sub-national economic development and regeneration | 3rd Aug '07 | Budget 2006 announced that the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review would be informed by a series of policy reviews, one of which was a review of sub-national economic development and regeneration to consider how to strengthen economic performance in regions, cities and localities throughout the country. Web Site - click here.
Mr Ian Chisnall |
| South East England Regional Assembly | 3rd Aug '07 | Visit this web site for an interactive game by the South East England Regional Assembly.
Mr Ian Chisnall |
| Councils to get prime role in adding three million | 3rd Aug '07 | | Gordon Brown is planning to abandon key Blair era policies in order to accelerate the most ambitious housebuilding programme in decades, The Observer has learnt. Web Site - click here. |
| Brown appoints new Communities Secretary... | 16th Jul '07 | Brown appoints new Communities Secretary and makes Housing Minister cabinet level job. New Prime Minister Gordon brown has announced that Hazel Blears will be Communities Secretary in the government he formed on 27 June 2007. She takes over from Ruth Kelly who is moved to the Department for Transport.
View full details ... |
| OFT launches investigation into new houses | 16th Jul '07 | The Office of fair Trading has announced that it will investigate the new housing market after it expressed concern that housebuilders were restricting the availability of land to limit the supply of new houses and force house prices to increase.
View full details ... |
| House prices still increasing by £50 a day | 16th Jul '07 | The latest data from the Nationwide Building Society shows that house prices are still increasing on average by £50 per day giving an annual rate of property inflation of 11.1%, the strongest in two years.
View full details ... |
| Developers face restrictions on building to avoid | 16th Jul '07 | Housing developers are likely to face further restrictions on where they can build to avoid future flooding. Baroness Young of the Environment Agency stated that they would not hesitate to take 'stern action' against builders building in flood plain areas under new powers that the agency has been given. The EA believes that most of the 27,000 homes soaked in the latest bout of flooding are relatively new. Approximately 15% of all new development being undertaken is in a flood zone, as is 30% of developments proposed fro 2016-2021.
Independent on Sunday 01/07/2007 |
| Social housing | 16th Jul '07 | Local authorities and ALMOs brand release from HRA 'unaffordable'
View full details ... |
| Housing Policy | 16th Jul '07 | Call for more social housing in the South West.
Rural housing 'enablers' independent brokers charged with representing rural communities and funded by DEFRA- have called for the number of social homes for rent in the South West to be increased.
View full details ... |
| UK's first zero carbon houses built | 16th Jul '07 | The first 'zero carbon' houses have been built featuring environmentally friendly features such as rooftop wind turbines, solar panels, grey water recycling and extensive insulation.
View full details ... |
| Private Housing | 16th Jul '07 | House prices to reach 10 times earnings?
Average house prices are could increase so much that they reach levels that are 10 times average salaries by 2026 if the supply of new housing is not expanded according to a new study by the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit, a new independent advisory unit within CLG.
View full details ... |
| PM's first announcement re new housing | 16th Jul '07 | The new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in his first address to the Commons highlighted housing among one of his top priorities. Going further than the Rogers Report and the Barker Review in the past, he has now suggested that we need to build 3 million homes by the year 2020.
View full details ... |
| The Church on the Heath | 15th Jun '07 | | The Church on the Heath was planted in 2000 to serve the new community at Elvetham Heath, as an initiative of Churches Together in Fleet (the adjoining town). The church met in a hall for 6 years until the church building was constructed. For more information about this and other initiatives, see 'New Housing, new partnerships?' by George Lings (Encounters on the Edge issue 23) - web site. |
| Housing Justice | 15th Jun '07 | Gordon Brown has promised that housing will be one of the main priorities of the government that he will lead when he takes over from Tony Blair at the end of June.
View full details ... |
| Brown proposes five 'eco-towns' | 15th Jun '07 | A key feature of Gordon Brown's housing announcement which caught much media attention was the proposed construction of five new environmentally friendly towns to feature 10,000-20,000 new homes each and to be constructed on brownfield land.
View full details ... |
| The Church at Gamston | 15th May '07 | This vision to set up a church in Gamston came from Rev. John Wood, who was the vicar of St. Luke's Church in West Bridgford at the time. He realised that there was 'no heart' to Gamston - it was just a housing estate with a promised school and local shops which had not yet materialised apart from a Safeway. Some people on the estate felt isolated due to the lack of facilities and the necessity for a car to get to 'civilisation'.
View full details ... |
| Greenwich Peninsula | 14th Mar '07 | On the Greenwich Peninsula it all started in 2003 with a meeting between representatives of the Greenwich Multi Faith Forum, the borough's Ecumenical Borough Deans, the Borough Council, and Meridian Delta Ltd (the developer appointed to build new homes, offices and schools on the Greenwich Peninsula and an arena and entertainment district in the O2: formerly the Millennium Dome).
View full details ... | | Contributor : Greenwich Multi Faith Forum (Rev Malcolm Torry) |
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