Making a CaSE for Long-Term Stewardship

There’s something telling about visiting somewhere a few years after the plans have been drawn and the first homes occupied. Beyond what’s been built, you can see how the place is being lived in and looked after. Despite the grey cloud, there was a clear sense of place when I visited Caddington Woods in April, where I had arranged to meet Kevin Collins, an old colleague, for a tour around the place he calls home and manages the community trust for.

Caddington Woods was a project I first worked on as a Local Authority Planning officer for its Reserved Matters Approvals back in 2015. The 27-hectare Green Belt site in Central Bedfordshire was originally used by General Motors as a testing ground for its vehicles. Proposals were brought forward for a major housing development to help with Central Bedfordshire’s housing needs, and the site now accommodates 325 homes (30% of which are affordable), 35 acres of woodlands, a community centre and a play area. The outline application was originally approved by my colleague Adam Davies (it is a small world!).  

Being a Green Belt development proposal, one of the cumulative ‘very special circumstances’ for the site was its plan to establish a community trust. Made up of local representatives and residents, the trust would take collective responsibility for managing and maintaining parts of the site (public open space, the surrounding woodland, footpaths, play areas and the community building) and would deliver a community bus service, and outreach initiatives to establish connections with existing communities in Caddington and Slip End. The trust was to be funded via the rental income from a number of homes for intermediate rent, which would be gifted by the developers.

I met Kevin when I first started on this project. At that time he was a Ward Councillor for Caddington and Slip End. He was as passionate about the delivery and outcomes of this development as he is today. Kevin lives in the area, knows the people, and understands the way to get the best out of the trust for the community it serves. He knows the bus usage stats off the top of his head, who regularly hires the hall, and who rents the homes that fund the trust.

As we walked around, it felt like people respected the place beyond just their homes. There is a distinct lack of litter anywhere or clutter outside houses. The play areas are well kept, and the public spaces clean but clearly used. Despite the bad weather, children were out on scooters and bikes, and people walked the path that circle the development with their dogs. The spaces are purposeful, supportive and accommodating of the people who live there.

One of the things that makes Caddinton Woods work is how connected it is, something that not all new developments manage successfully is to integrate it with existing communities. The footpath that connects it to ‘the outside’ is covered in tracks and footprints, clearly designed so anyone can walk or wheel between here and there. The pedestrian routes are away from main roads, and shielded by mature trees and greenery. The delivered community bus service is well used (and free), giving the new community access to major amenities in the nearby city, including Luton and Dunstable hospital, and Luton Airport Parkway station, all in an hour on the route.

The model that supports all this functions because of the alignment between long-term funding and long-term care. The income from intermediate rent is reinvested straight back into the community, and the properties operate with a localised letting policy, giving priority to people in need of housing with close connections to the area. The well-used community centre hire also contributes to revenue, and works as a community asset. This creates a self-sustaining loop, where the success of the place directly supports its residents and ongoing stewardship.

There are clear lessons that Kevin shared and about the prospect of community-owned and run stewardship.

·        Stewardship needs structure, but also people. Governance matters, but so does having someone who genuinely cares about the place.

·        Funding mechanisms must be built in from the start. Long-term stewardship doesn’t work without a reliable, embedded revenue stream.

·        Early connection to existing communities helps. Physical and social links help new places feel like a part of somewhere, and give new communities a sense of place. Creating a flow between existing and new makes places feel embedded.

·        Small details matter. Maintenance, responsiveness, and visibility of care can shape how people behave.

Stewardship is often talked about in policy terms, but Caddington Woods shows what it can look like in practice. It’s not just about what gets built, but who looks after it and how. The scheme has won awards for its public realm, and has plans for more community assets by repurposing a former General Motors building into a new performance space. It is refreshing, no matter how small, to have been part of a proposal which has created spaces, places and infrastructure that people feel proud to live in. While the definition of a ‘great place’ is subjective, Caddington Woods certainly ticks a few boxes, and is a testament to those involved in its development and its long-term stewardship. The lessons learnt from this trust's successes can help us to shape and influence the next generations of community trusts that we are involved with, such as Hanwood Park.