Brighton Cohousing - June 2009

• Brighton Cohousing vision workshop

Sat 13 June
2 - 5pm in the Red Room at Phoenix Brighton (the arts centre), Waterloo Place, BN2 9NB

Creating a vision: what, where, who and why. The first step in creating a cohousing project and developing a business plan for carrying it out. If you would like to be involved in this exciting venture, bring your ideas and your flexibility and let's start! It is a good time to be doing it. Developers are giving up land, loans are available for co-operative housing, housing authorities are keen to encourage affordable housing - and there is a lot of interest amongst people who would like to live in a sustainable community.

Phoenix Brighton is the large blue building on Lewes Road, near St Peter's Church at the South end of the Level. We will ask for donations (around £5 depending on what you can afford) to cover costs.

Please let us know if you are thinking of coming - we may be sending out some background materials.
Email i...@brightoncohousing.org.uk (click on the three dots to the left of the @ for full email)
Phone 07855 422 414

We will have a follow-up meeting, provisionally Sat 4 July, but to be agreed by the people involved.

• Report of visit to Hoathly Hill Community

On 23 May six of us visited Hoathly Hill Community near Forest Row and were made very welcome. It is a long-established group of about 27 households and 65 people of all ages, originally based on the ideas of Rudolf Steiner. Recently they have completed a wood-pellet-fired community heating scheme. They run a creche, arts workshops and often have a Saturday cafe which is open to visitors. It seems a nice place to live.

• Threshold Centre, Dorset

Construction of seven affordable housing units is now under way there. It is possible to apply for a shared ownership property wherever you live in the country, provided you have capital or property worth less than £100K. At 31 May there were 2 two-bed, and 1 one-bed units available. Contact the Threshold Centre for up-to-date information. www.thresholdcentre.org.uk