Communities and neighbourhoods

Right to build

This right will enable local people to bring forward small scale, site specific, community-led developments.

Development proposals would need to meet minimum criteria and have the agreement of more than 50 per cent of local people that vote through a community referendum.

It will be for communities to determine the type of development they want to see, including the type and tenure of any housing, including affordable housing.

Any benefits from any development - such as capital or rental receipts - will remain within the community.

In order to be able to use the right, members of a community will need to set themselves up as a corporate body with the purpose of furthering the social, economic and environmental well being of the local community.

Read 'Community right to build - questions and answers' below to find out more about how this right will operate.

Commencement

The provisions in the community right to build in the Localism Act 2011 and associated regulations came into force on 6 April 2012.

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