About ELCLT

We Are A Not-For-Profit Charitable Company Dedicated to the East End...

The East London Community Land Trust (ELCLT) is a not-for-profit Industrial and Provident Society (IPS). It is governed solely by its members, and anyone who lives and works in east London can join. Each year we elect from amongst our number our own Board of Trustees.

An industrial and provident society is an organisation conducting an industry, business or trade, either as a co-operative or for the benefit of the community, and is registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965.

Our constitution establishes ELCLT as a ‘Benefit of the Community’ IPS. Community Benefit Societies (“BenComs”) are incorporated industrial and provident societies that conduct business for the benefit of their community. Profits are not distributed among members, or external shareholders, but returned to the community.

Unlike a company limited by guarantee, an IPS generally has a share capital. However, in a not-for-profit IPS like ours, shares are not made up of equity shares which appreciate or fall in value with the success of the enterprise. Rather they are par value shares, which can only be redeemed at face value. The profits and losses of the company are therefore the common property of our local members. Shares in the East London Community Land Trust cost just £1, and to ensure parity and fairness amongst members voting is on a "one member one vote" basis, not weighted according to the value of an individuals shares.

Also, the East London Community Land Trust has been the recipient of small individual donations, and funding from the Tudor Trust and the Oak Foundation, which are charitable foundations.

By bringing together representatives from our local schools and mosques and churches and residents' associations and every type of social institution in east London. Anyone who lives or works here can become a member and influence what we do. We also run public planning sessions and events for non-members.

No organisation can ever claim that they totally represent 'the community'. In a place as diverse and as busy as east London, your unlikely to ever get 100% consensus on anything. But what we can do, and continue to do, is to make membership open and affordable to anyone who wishes to join; we put on public planning events for local residents even if they are not members so we can allfeed in our ideas to our proposals; and we actively build relationships with local civil society institutions that represent large communities (such as schools and churches and unions) within the areas in which we work.

The CLT operates within the physical boundaries of a targeted locality. It is guided by – and accountable to – the people who call this locale their home. Any adult who resides on the CLT’s land and any adult who resides within the area deemed by the CLT to be its “community” can become a voting member of the CLT.

We currently have nearly 1,000 individual local members in the East End, and work closely with representatitves from Central Foundation Girls' School, Bow Boys School, Mile End Residents' Association, Epainos Ministeries on Litchfield Road, Queen Mary University of London, Tower Hamlets UNISON, the East London Mosque, Mile End Cemetry Park and many others.

The East London Community Land Trust is a totally independent organisation, driven and governed solely by its members who live and work in East London. We were established without any input by any developer or housing association.

With each project we undertake, our members and our Board debate and then elect any partnerships they wish to enter into. However, these are open commercial arrangements – decided upon through a clear and transparent tender process – and based upon the Trust and local people’s interests above anything else. Our commercial partners differ according to our needs for each project.

Sadly, the well-intentioned commitments of some planning authorities to encourage more community involvement within regeneration projects has led to some ‘local community interest companies’ being established as a front for those who have been in the business a long time. We think this is a really disappointing and cynical development, and understand why people are wary of it. All we can say in response is that, if you are genuinely interested in community-led regeneration, find out how large and diverse an organisation’s membership is. ELCLT currently has almost 1000 members from many different communities all across east London, and encourages you to get involved and make your voice heard.