Our partners at ACRE have shared this press release (below) about growing concerns over the lack of new housing in rural communities – and it makes for interesting reading. Community Action Norfolk, is a member of Eastern Community Homes – which provides a one stop shop for anyone considering community-led housing in the East of England. Community Led Housing Advisor and Acting CEO of CAN, Rik Martin says:
Eastern Community Homes officially launched last month with an online event over three days. ‘Eastern Community Homes: We Do Housing Differently’ saw more than 450 delegates booked in to hear a range of expert speakers share their experiences and projects.
Many of you reading this will know about ThinkingFuel, our collective heating oil buying scheme. And you’ll know that the aim is to help support householders across Norfolk who depend on heating oil to heat their homes, and for whom the unregulated cost of heating oil is a constant worry.
Here at CAN we work closely with Anglian Water on their ‘Love Every Drop’ water conservation campaign. It’s essential to making our communities in Norfolk sustainable for the future. https://www.waterwise.org.uk/As part of this, Waterwise, the national body that promotes water saving good practice, is asking everyone to sign up to their ‘Save 2021 litres in 2021’ pledge.
The Benjamin Foundation is well known across Norfolk and Suffolk for its sterling work in bringing hope, opportunity, stability and independence to children, young people and families experiencing life’s challenges. This includes working to prevent youth homelessness, offering emotional wellbeing support and providing positive activities for young people with limited opportunities.
Your Own Place CIC is a social enterprise that helps people towards living independently. CEO Rebecca White is passionate about helping young people and those facing barriers not of their own making. Rebecca shaes her thoughts on the need for collaboration, team wellbeing, and digital innovation in adapting to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The village hall, church and pub are three archetypal hubs of rural communities. Many communities across Norfolk have just one pub remaining, whilst some have lost even that. A familiar story in recent years is that of saving the village pub, an effort requiring skillful organisation, focused fundraising and commitment from those involved.