About Us | Our Mission
We believe that the creation of sustainable rural livelihoods is one of the best solutions to our most pressing environmental and social problems.
Small-scale production using, for example, agro-forestry or Permaculture methods, maximises yields, protects the environment and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by reducing fossil fuel use. Such businesses help build a vibrant, living countryside in which humans flourish alongside our cherished landscapes and natural biodiversity. These sustainable projects have a crucial role to play in ensuring food and energy security. They also provide employment, access to local, sustainable food and crafts and educational opportunities for urban visitors, helping to maintain rural skills and to improve ecological literacy. These small scale enterprises also allow residents to be rooted in their rural locality, helping maintain and regenerate rural communities and the services upon which they depend such as local schools and shops. Ecological foot-print analysis show that residents of ecological land based businesses use less than half the natural resources used by the average UK resident and are currently the only form of development in the UK which comes close to achieving One Planet Living*.
Yet in England and Wales there are no affordable residential small-holdings for small-scale producers wishing to practice ecological agriculture.
The Ecological Land Cooperative has been set up to buy land that has been, or is at risk of being, intensively managed and lease it to people that have the skills to manage it ecologically and would not otherwise be able to afford do so.
How does it work? The Cooperative purchases degraded agricultural land and applies for planning permission for low-impact small-holdings with temporary residences. We develop business plans for the small-holdings, provide a water supply and road access. If we can we also provide a shared barn made of natural and local materials, a telephone line, and a micro-generator and an electric delivery vehicle. We then sell 999-year leasehold agreements for the small-holdings at an affordable rate, passing on just costs plus a target return to investors of 6%. If planning permission is given, we can sell on our first three 7-acre small-holdings with planning permission for temporary agricultural dwellings at £50,000. In comparison, a 5-acre small-holding with no planning permission was recently advertised for £95,000, and a 5-acre small-holding with a house at £299,950, yet the net profit for organic small-holders is in the region of £14,000.
After the leasehold is sold, we continue to monitor the sites, with a provision for an annual audit built into the leasehold agreement. If the leaseholders do not adhere to the ecological land management criteria, the Co-operative can intervene. The leasehold agreement also prohibits the property being sold out of affordable and ecological use.
Who gets the small-holdings?
Ahead of our first 3 small-holdings being leased in 2010, we are developing applicant selection criteria. We will make these available as soon as possible. The leasehold agreement already requires that lessees are on medium or below-medium income to be eligible to purchase a small-holding. It is very likely that local applicants will be prioritised, as will those with experience working on similar rural businesses.
*One Planet Living is a term to describe living in such a way that a person uses only their fair share of the world's resources, calculated on a global per capita basis. It is currently estimated to be around 2 hectares per person. The UK average is currently about 5.5 hectares per person.
