VISION

The Dorset Eco-village (DEVA) is a plan to create a pioneering eco-village and informal community. DEVA aims to embody sustainable living in all its aspects: ecological, personal, social and economic, and to provide learning on these themes through a major visitor facility, The Natural Living Centre. DEVA will be both an informal, mutually supportive cohousing community, and a catalyst for sustainable living locally and beyond.

DEVA aims to evolve and demonstrate practicable ways to address a number of issues which are especially acute in rural areas, such as affordable housing, renewing the local economy and food links, creative ageing and sustainable transport. The proposals for DEVA have evolved from over three years of research, both general, and locally-focused in Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire.

KEY FEATURES

The aim is to create linked elements which together generate high awareness, visitor and income flows, and act as an economic and social catalyst for the locality. The combination of housing and employment, based on sustainable principles, will create an eco-village, and this concept is expected to attract high levels of public and media interest. The elements will be refined by further discussion with the local community, and by research.

The target overall land uses are: employment 3-6 acres, housing 4-7 acres, amenity land 5-10 acres.

The key features proposed are:

• Housing: A significant housing provision is central to this project in meeting local needs, creating a true eco-village, and demonstrating sustainable living in practice. The initial plan includes 100 units of housing, of which 40 will be affordable/social housing, with a range of tenure options operated by a housing association partner.

An important innovation in the plan is the cohousing model: this combines self-contained dwelling units with shared facilities, which are specified, owned and managed by the residents: see below for more detail of these facilities. Cohousing is well-established in Denmark, and rapidly gaining interest in the UK and elsewhere: its potential benefits include affordability, promoting sustainable living through shared resources, and the social support of an informal community.

All housing in NLC will meet Eco-Homes Excellent rating for sustainability, and will demonstrate several aspects of sustainable living, and thus link with the educational aims of the whole site, eg:

• A range of ecological building designs
• Ways to provide affordable housing, eg self-build, shared ownership
• Lifestyle issues for sustainability, eg car pool, community market garden, live-work units
• Demonstrating sustainable energy production and waste methods

• The Visitor Centre: The focus will be on learning through experience, entertainment and specialist advice, for about 100 people per day, 30,000 visitors per year: including individuals, families and special interest groups. The Centre will serve both out-of-town visitors (sustainable tourism) and local needs. It will provide a showcase, hub, and growth platform for many existing and future initiatives in Dorset, both public sector and businesses. The learning content will cover all aspects of natural, sustainable living, such as:

• Seeing and learning about eco-housing, energy, transport

• How to renew local communities, creating mutual support and inclusion, eg for older people and disadvantaged groups
• Creating social enterprises to renew local economies and meet local social needs
• Personal lifestyle, healthy eating, stress management
• Care for the environment through organic food production and conservation

• Community Facilities: These will be available to local residents, as well as visitors and residents at NLC. Their scope will depend on research to define the best mix and location of facilities for the local area. At minimum the NLC facilities will include a multi-use meeting space, a dining and kitchen unit for lunch and supper clubs (eg single parents, over-60’s, special interest groups), also guest rooms, laundry and other provision for the on-site housing residents. These facilities will be promoted to encourage mutual support and self-help, with special focus on older people, one-parent families and other special needs groups in the area. The function/meeting rooms, spa and café for the eco-lodge will be designed for shared use with the local community.
• Eco-lodge: This is intended as a flagship for the whole site, and a major boost to green tourism in Dorset. The main building will have a restaurant, spa, café and meeting rooms which will also serve the local community. Capacity of around 60 bedrooms will be provided by lodges, using a range of ecological designs (eg straw bale, passive solar).

The eco-lodge will offer a range of sustainable tourism packages, which will also benefit the wider local economy. Examples of the sustainable tourism elements are: bike rentals, work in local conservation projects, visits to local food and craft producers, fishing, guided walking trails, and the on-site facilities of NLC. The eco-lodge will also serve individuals using the Visitor Centre and business clients.

• Public Service Facilities: Some of the employment land will be reserved for use by public sector projects arising from local need. These could include community, education or health care facilities.
• Sogent Business Park: The Social-Green Enterprise Park will create a cluster of service support, contacts and customer traffic which can catalyse economic development in this growing sector. Sogent will provide growth capacity for new and expanding enterprises in sectors already growing in Dorset, e.g. food, health care, green building products. Achieving this vision requires close collaboration with SWRDA and the district council, and probably some funding support. Examples of the benefits could be:

• Skills training and use of local materials to provide affordable housing
• Boosting local organic food production, processing and retailing
• Services and health products to serve the fast-growing elderly population

• The Affordable Housing Centre: A focus of expertise on all aspects of this issue, eg finance, planning, legal, design, community involvement: with on-site experts, data and network resources, and the eco-village to provide tangible examples.
• The Natural Health Centre: With a focus on training and treatments (eg nutritional counselling) which use the resources of the site and enable clients to achieve a sustainable lifestyle.
• Restaurant, Shop and Community Market Garden: These features will be linked so visitors learn the taste and health benefits of organic food and Slow Cuisine. It will be a showcase for food from the locality and from the on-site teaching garden.
• Sustainable Transport: This is a key to renewal of rural communities and economies, and also central to this project. NLC will provide sustainable-transport to minimise car use by residents, visitors, and the surrounding locality, creating a reproducible model for villages and towns.

ORGANISATION STRUCTURES

Two main organisations are involved in the creation of DEVA:

Dorscoh: the Dorset Cohousing Group is an informal network for people interested in cohousing in Dorset. Six Dorscoh members have already established The Threshold Centre at Cole Street Farm near Gillingham in North Dorset, and one aim of that project is to serve as a small-scale pilot demonstration for the Dorset Eco-Village. For more details, see www.thresholdcentre.org.uk

The Rural Renewal Company is a social enterprise limited company, formed by Alan Heeks in 2003, to act as a lead developer for the creation of this project, and as a consultancy to assist the development of other cohousing and sustainable living projects. RRC has already established a network of potential partners for the project, including housing associations, an eco-builder, and funding sources. RRC has so far used the name The Natural Living Centre to describe the whole project, and in early 2005 commissioned Halcrow to undertake a professional scoping study on the concept. For more information on the project plans and the company, see www.ruralrenewal.co.uk

As currently envisaged, the relationship between RRC and Dorscoh will work as follows. RRC will acquire a purchase option on the potential site, and will raise funds, some of them possibly from the potential residents (i.e. Dorscoh members) to obtain planning permission. Dorscoh members will have some input to RRC’s work in planning the whole project, and will have a leading voice in creating the residential housing facilities. RRC will transfer the freehold of the housing land to a non-profit trust to be owned and managed by the housing residents. These residents will also be one of the stakeholders in a community land trust or similar body set up by RRC to own and manage the rest of the site.

HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED

1.    Ecovillage residents steering group: this group has been meeting monthly
since January 2006. It consists mainly of potential residents, plus a couple of professionals supportive of the project. The Steering Group will help set the framework for the cohousing community, will lead the process of recruiting residents, and will work with RRC in the design, local consultation and implementation of the cohousing facilities. Criteria for membership of the Steering Group include:
 - Sharing the established aims and values of the project
 - Willing to make a significant unpaid time commitment (at least two days per month)
 - Relevant personal and/or professional skills

If you would like more information about joining the steering group, please contact Daniel Kronenberg: email dankron@hotmail.co.uk

2.    DEVA potential residents network: this is an information network for people interested in living in DEVA. If you would like to be included on this list, please contact Daniel Kronenberg, email address above.

3.    RRC: executive and professional teams: the Rural Renewal Company welcomes contacts from potential new members for its executive team, and from professional advisors, who share the values of the project. To explore this further, please contact Alan Heeks, The Threshold Centre, Cole Street Farm, Cole Street Lane, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5JQ. Telephone 01747 835835.

4.    Funding: contacts are welcome from people who would like to consider a loan or investment in the project.