Community invited to invest in housing to secure future of historic property

PEOPLE ARE being invited to invest in a community housing trust’s share offer which aims to secure homes linked to a historical property in Todmorden.

The Fielden Acre community share offer, which launches on Saturday, seeks to raise £ 220,000 which will allow Calder Valley

Community Land Trust ( CLT) to buy the houses and land around the historical Fielden Hall, next to Centre Vale Park at Ewood Lane, Todmorden.

Additionally, some of the money will be used to pay for upgrading the buildings.

Now the houses around the hall have come up for sale and by buying these houses and land, the CLT can ensure that they stay as affordable housing and make sure the hall remains a community resource, stopping future private development on the land.

Community share offers are a popular way to finance communityowned purchases, said Simon Brearley, chairman of Calder Valley CLT.

He explained how the investment would work and said the trust believed what it was doing was in line with the original 19th century Fielden family’s philanthropic intentions as it was founded as a school by Sarah Fielden.

He said: “Pioneering philanthropist and educator Sarah Fielden helped make Todmorden the town it is today when she established a school on the site back in 1871.

“Now, in the 2020s, we have the chance to use community shares investment for a very modern kind of philanthropy. People can invest from £ 250 to £ 20,000.”

The trust has already successfully attracted £ 50,000 matched funding from the Community Shares Booster Programme.

This will be added to the total raised, when individual investors have invested £ 150,000.

One of the town’s residents who is supporting the share offer is Happy Valley and Downton Abbey actor Kevin Doyle. He said: “This share offer will help keep our heritage and ensures affordable places to live.”