March 6th - Coffee Morning: Housing

We were very pleased to be joined by Matt Scott, CEO of Thames Life Community Development Trust, and Stephen Hill, who has over fifty years involvement in housing, and was awarded the first RICS 'Social Impact Lifetime Achievement Award' in 2020. 

Matt talked about his work as a community worker with Citizens UK in Barking and Dagenham , which property developers refer to as ‘Barcelona-on-Thames’ because of the opportunities they see there.

His perspective was that community development was about people power and taking action. Citizens UK are pragmatic about taking action but is aware of the problems with leaving everything to the market state.

Council planners and private developers used to represent different interests but are now both focused predominately on market viability and therefore no longer balance competing needs. He believes that civil society needs to further wake up to this.

Stephen talked of how he has been involved with Community Land Trusts (CLTs) since 1989. He said that no one waited for permission to set one up, they weren’t invented by a government, they just happened. He then asked the question of what can we do as individuals and groups to tackle the housing crisis without waiting for permission?

He also outlined how affordable housing that benefits communities is often dependent on the generosity of landowners and gave an example of a farmer in Cornwall who was willing to sell some land cheaply to a CLT. One of the challenges we face is that defining a community is often harder in urban areas than it is in rural areas.

The legal definition of a CLT is that it can only exist for wellbeing of community, which mimics the technical requirements of the planning system and it must have open membership for those who live in the area. This definition was opposed by the then Labour government who couldn’t understand why they were doing something with no funds or plans attached. But that was the point. It was a framework for communities not government.

We then moved onto audience questions.

It was posited that there was no housing market in a meaningful sense and a question asked if there was better language that could be used to describe the situation.

Matt suggested we could use phrases like ‘monopoly capitalism’ and ‘land banking’. Stephen had a view that if developers are capitalists then there should be no state support for them, and all state support should go to provide social housing.

It was asked if it would be better for CLTs to be complemented by government rather than going it alone. Stephen pointed out that when Councils build the housing stock becomes eligible for Right to Buy whereas CLT properties are normally exempt. Matt reiterated the importance of civil society rediscovering its own agency.

The discussion then moved on to the Renters Reform Bill. Stephen was keen for an absolute ban on no-fault evictions and reminded us that around 150 Tory MPs are private landlords. Matt pointed out that Right to Buy has changed the way society functions.

To get a better focus on rent control and renters rights Matt suggested that we would need a massive cultural shift away from the concept of a ‘property owning democracy’. Stephen talked about positive developments in this space such as all the good work being done by renter’s unions such as Acorn.

To close the event, Stephen talked of how areas that have had homes built by CLT have experienced transformative effects on their local communities. Matt talked of his view that old hierarchical models didn’t work so well in the modern world and understanding how we build power is central to community organising, reminding the room that there’s more of us than them. If you can flex enough power you can get a good response.

 

 

 

January 13th - Coffee Morning: Democracy

In Compass we argue that you can't have a good society without a good democracy. But what do we mean by that and how can we achieve it?   Fifteen brave souls among those present agreed to  explain in one sentence what a good democracy meant for them:

- People feel their voices are heard and their views genuinely taken into account within an accountable and transparent system.

- State institutions protect their rights.

- Decisions would be made at the lowest level (closest to the people);media organisations shown to lie would be banned; participation and decision-making would centre around citizens assemblies.

 - The voting system is fair with no hindrance to voting rights and which is independent of any interference from the state or vested interests.

- People feel that their hopes are heard.

- There is good engagement with the community, transparency, clear lines of accountability, freedom of speech and clear separation of powers.

- Transparency and accountability are paramount

- Everyone’s voice is heard in a fair process

- Truth matters

- Putting an ‘x’ in a box every few years is not enough: more direct community participation is required.

- No one is afraid of growing old

- We would have proportional representation.

- Most people participate willingly in decision-making at various levels and in various ways.

- Everyone is equal, rights are respected, especially the elderly and the disabled and parliament is elected by a system of PR.

- There is sensitivity to people’s needs and meta-managerial capacity in its leaders.

- Everyone is kind, listens and takes their turn to speak.

 

Rosalind Eyben then looked at recommendations from recent reports about how to strengthen UK  democracy while  Colin Miller considered how strong, empowered local communities are fundamental for local democracy

CLICK HERE FOR FOLLOW UP READING

 

The meeting heard an extract from a letter Peter Kyle, MP for Hove and Portslade, about Labour's plans for strengthening  democracy should it be elected (when replying in November 2023 to Compass supporters campaigning for proportional representation). Here it is:

" Keir Starmer made clear at the beginning of this year that Britain needs a completely new way of governing – and that the Westminster system is part of the problem. We have a clear and constructive plan to not only restore public faith and confidence in Government, but to place more and more control and decision-making power in the hands of the communities we serve – where it belongs. 

We have already begun the work of laying out how we will practically achieve these goals. The introduction of a Take Back Control Act in our first King’s speech will be our first step to oversee the biggest transfer of power from Westminster in British political history. We will also scrap the House of Lords and replacing it with an elected second chamber which is truly representative of the nations and regions of the UK. We will rebuild British democracy by introducing universal voter registration and extending the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds. 

. That’s why Labour has committed to enter the next election with a commitment to a programme of democratic reform, which would include an open and inclusive process of evidence gathering to look at the options and merits of different voting systems. "

 

We are in the process of uploading details of earlier events to our archive. Please watch this space.