A new wave of people have signed-up to definitely live in the LILAC cohousing development. Amanda, Jenny, Elinor, Brenda, Clive, Sarah and Robin are all new members. It is great to have more people on-board committed to making LILAC happen and being part of the design process. 8 of the 20 households are now confirmed. We also have some new “prospective members” who are very seriously considering joining up.

LILAC have appointed White Design as our architects to design our neighbourhood. They have quickly started an exciting process of workshops with the members and provisional members.

Being a cooperative – owned and run by our members – is a crucial part of what LILAC is about. It also makes us different from many other cohousing projects.

We are taking part in Co-operatives Fortnight which runs 19 June to 3 July. There loads of events happening across the country – see http://www.thereisanalternative.coop/events/fortnight. We have two events:

Thursday 17 June - LILAC Friends meal
A meal at the wonderful Cheerful Chilli vegetarian restaurant near Otley.

Monday 28 June – Cohousing Films

A recent article titled "Huff as hard as you like - you can’t blow a straw house down" features LILAC's plans to build 20 homes built of straw, timber and lime in Leeds. See http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7130995.ece

Environment Minister, Hilary Benn, presented LILAC with the 'Best Emerging Social Enterprise Award' at a recent ceremony. www.thebusinessdesk.com.

A selected list ...

Voices of cohousing (2007, 37 minutes)
http://notsocrazy.net/cohousing.html
trailer at http://www.youtube.com/user/mlietaert

Designing a great neighborhood: behind the scenes at Holiday (2004, 54 mins)
Comprehensive look at process used by Wild Sage Cohousing with lots of
excellent examples.
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/dagn.html

Cohousing in Madison (2009, 20 mins)
informative voice over of slide show by Lou Host-Jablonski
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8izHx9A1tk

Next in our successful series of social events for Friends (100 of them now!) is a visit to the nearest existing cohousing project to us.

Thundercliffe Grange Cohousing has been going for 30 years. There are 12 privately owned flats in this former mansion house. Whilst quite different from LILAC there are sure to be things to learn. Depending on the weather, we can afterwards go for a walk amongst the bluebells in Woolley Wood. More info at www.cohousing.org.uk/thundercliffe-grange

Watch this short news story about LILAC: https://northern-indymedia.org/videos/564

A super green and super cheap eco-village is to be built in west Leeds.
Yorkshire Evening Post
16 November 2009 by aish...@ypn.co.uk (click on the three dots to the left of the @ for full email address)
Click here for the original article.

An as-yet-under-wraps corner of west Leeds has been chosen as the location for the city's first co-housing project.

The futuristic energy-saving commune will be almost completely self-sustaining – with houses built primarily from straw bales, virtually no artificial heating and recycled rainwater running through the taps.

You are warmly invited to the launch of the LILAC Project Development Plan.

Monday 16 November, 7pm (drinks on arrival)
The Carriageworks, Millenium Square, Leeds LS1 3AD

Leeds’ pioneering co-housing development is happening. LILAC (www.lilac.coop) plan to build 20 affordable and super-sustainable dwellings in urban Leeds. Already 4 houses have been reserved, so there are only 16 remaining vacancies.

Most people want to know to know “where?” and “how much?” before getting more involved. For the last year the Development Group have been meeting almost weekly to move the project forward. This has involved meeting with council officers and councillors; attending land auctions; producing a business plan; initial work with architects; assessment of a long list of 11 sites; number crunching; constitution as a legal entity; and many other tasks.

Welcome to the first Leeds Ecovillage Newsletter.

We aim to build a sustainable mixed community in the heart of Leeds, and possibly in south Leeds. The homes will be permanently affordable and built to the highest ecological design standards. We will use the well established model of co-housing and in our first phase we aim to build about 20 homes, housing 50 people. We are using this model because of the social and environmental benefits that come from sharing, particularly in improving quality of life, reducing consumption of scarce resources, and avoiding harm to the environment.

What sets us apart from some other 'eco' projects (like eco-towns) is that we're small scale and committed to democratic and cooperative practices. It will be founded on a Community Land Trust (CLT) and a Mutual Home Ownership Scheme (MHOS) (see below), so that the homes we create will stay affordable forever. We plan to engage with our host neighbourhood in diverse ways.

We are currently finalising our business plan, talking to Leeds City Council about land, setting up a co-operative company to manage the project, and will have a next wave of membership in a few months.

So what is a CLT and a MHOS?

A CLT (Community Land Trust) is a mechanism for the democratic ownership of land by the local community. Land is taken out of the market so that the impact of land appreciation is removed, enabling long-term affordable and sustainable local development. The value of the land is captured in perpetuity, underpinning the sustainable development of a defined locality or community.

A MHOS is registered as a co-operative controlled by its members who are the residents and live in the homes it provides. Each member has a lease which gives them the right to democratically control the housing community they live in. Members pay an equity stake to the co-operative and retain equity in the scheme.

What's coming up?

Over the coming months we will be organizing workshops open to all which will help us develop our ideas. Future plans include workshops on building with straw, hemp and lime and visits to other projects! Check out the website for more information.

Leeds Eco-village monthly open meetings are held at 7pm at the Common Place in Leeds city centre. The full list of upcoming meetings are at the top of our website.

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