Powell, Owen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6229-9912, Neward, James and Orton, Polly (2026) YorSpace: The Role of a Community Land Trust in Driving Community Asset Development. Project Report. YorSpace CLT.

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Abstract

This report sets out what we learned from a 6-month project exploring how YorSpace, York’s community land trust (a community benefit society), can catalyse and develop more cooperatively owned assets across the city. York faces stark affordability pressures: sky‑high housing costs push key workers, hospitality staff, artists and social enterprises to the edges, while commercial rents make it hard for community groups to find stable space. Community ownership points to a different way – keeping land and buildings local, anchoring wealth where it’s made, and prioritising long‑term social good over quick private returns.
The project has deepened relationships across the city through potluck gatherings, a public‑facing Community Engagement Day, and a Stakeholder Engagement Event. These activities collectively generated 21 project proposals, ranging from cultural venues and community hubs to vacant shop reuse models and new forms of housing, and surfaced structural and cultural barriers that need addressing. They also demonstrated how creative, low‑threshold engagement can build confidence, spark imagination and allow people to see themselves as part of shaping York’s future.

Item Type:	Monograph (Project Report)
Status:	Published
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
School/Department:	York Business School
Institutes:	Institute for Social Justice
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/14863

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