Future Roots Housing Co-operative

Future Roots is an affordable rural cohousing project that seeks to address a number of local needs:

The lack of affordable housing both for those who need to live in or near Langport, and for people within a wider radius in Somerset;
The lack of opportunities for those who are willing to self-build, with sustainability in mind, but who have limited buying power;
The lack of opportunities for those who wish to adopt a sustainable low carbon way of life, as envisaged in the government’s plans for ecotowns and villages, but still largely unavailable on the market;
The lack of opportunities to access land to grow own food or run a small scale intensive agricultural enterprise as a part-time activity;

Future Roots aims to meet these needs by providing affordable opportunity to self-build on a rural site positioned in walking distance from town of Langport with access to schools, health centre, shopping, and employment estates.

The project managed on co-operative principles will provide 8 plots for self-build houses with access to agricultural land allowing residents to grow their own food. Development will be located next to community allotments that proved to be successful and indicate desire of local people to grow own food. Proposed dwellings are one-story timber framed super insulated houses which are affordable, easy to self-build and blend well with rural landscape. Infrastructure will include community building providing shared facilities such as laundry, meeting room and office space as well as shower and toilets shared with allotment users. Part of the land will be used for community orchard and short rotation coppice.