Mayor offers funding to assist with Community Right to Build Orders

Johnson has launched the 'Build your own home – the London way' scheme to assist with the costs of financing self-build development. Londoners can apply for loans or grants from the scheme.

The Mayor is particularly keen to hear from Londoners who can demonstrate how delivering their proposals might help to bring jobs, training or other employment opportunities, such as apprenticeships for young people, a statement from his office said.

"This project will put Londoners themselves right at the heart of the creative process," said Johnson. "Whether it’s new self-build homes or a much needed community facility, we want to see really innovative ideas coming forward. With the help of the top industry experts we have on board, there’s never been a better opportunity to help shape the neighbourhood in which you live.”

The £8m in funding is made up of £5 million he received from the Government's £30 million self-build fund and £3 million from the Department for Communities and Local Government's £17 million Community Right to Build scheme.

The Mayor's office said that of the £8 million total funding, £5 million will be made available for development finance on a commercial repayable basis for custom build homes and £3 million will be available for grants to organisations interested in applying for Community Right to Build orders.

Johnson has enlisted the help of London architects and designers who have offered to help successful applicants refine their ideas into projects, his office said.

Last year's Localism Act introduced two new forms of development order in the form of the Neighbourhood Development Order (NDO) and the Community Right to Build Order (CRBO).

An NDO is an order that grants planning permission in a particular neighbourhood area for development specified in that order. Specific planning permission will not be required for development granted by the NDO. NDOs can be sought by a parish council or neighbourhood forum.

A CRBO is a particular type of NDO and gives community organisations the ability to take forward development in their area without the need to apply for planning permission, subject to certain qualifications.

"One of the biggest challenges to the successful uptake of neighbourhood planning is access to funding," said Jamie Lockerbie, a planning law expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com. "Although local planning authorities are legally obliged to give such advice and assistance as they consider appropriate to assist with proposals to make Neighbourhood Development Orders, this does not extend to the giving of financial assistance"

"This scheme will provide a welcome opportunity to gain access to much needed funding to assist with the introduction of Community Right to Build Orders in London," he said.